Don Quixote on AllMovie

As a rule, British silent films were about as esthetically pleasing as a can of gray paint. Not so the productions of the prolific Maurice Elvey, who always managed to keep things visually fascinating even when the plot and characters let him down. When he had a literary classic at his disposal, Elvey was home free, and such was the case of Don Quixote. Stage star Jerrold Robertshaw stars as the ageing "knight errant" Quixote, while music hall favorite George Robey costars as Quixote's faithful servant Sancho Panza (Robey would repeat this characterization in the 1934 talkie version of the Cervantes classic). Dispensing with the pathos and satire of the original, director Elvey and his stars concentrate on the broad, slapsticky aspects of the story, especially during the tilting-at-windmills scene.