As a positive - it doesn't seem vertically stretched as the PAL editions are.

Gary W. Tooze

***

 

ON THE PAL EDITIONS: This DVDs contains Jess Franco's reconstructed version of Orson Welles' incomplete film about Don Quixote. Both DVDs warns us about the bad and varying quality of the multiples sources used to assemble the film, shot over a period of 14 years.

Overall the images are similar and lack detail and contrast, damage and dirt are visible, and there are also several instances of more serious frame damage. Still, I've seen worse.

The sound is better off. Both English and Spanish tracks are clear and easy to understand. There may a bit of noise in a few scenes but nothing serious. The French subtitles on the Gaumont, although are not burned-in, can't be disabled.

Unfortunately the interesting extras are on the Gaumont and are only in French without any subtitles. The first interview is with Aline Schulman, who has translated the novel in French. She talks about Cervantes and Don Quixote. The second one is with author and scholar Jean-Pierre Berthomé about Orson Welles and the history of the film. Next is a modest photo gallery with some behind-the-scenes shots, which are of much better quality than the actual film. Finally there's a filmography and short text biography of Orson Welles, again only in French.

Image is a virtual tie although the VellaVision appears to have some contrast boosting. Both are poor and both have the same audio features. The Spanish edition offers ugly yellow English subtitles.

 - Pieter Boven