Don Quixote (1933) is a British-French film adaptation of the classic Miguel de Cervantes novel, directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, starring the famous operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin.
The mill workers are seen returning from their labor, and unlike the novel, Don Quixote is caught up by the windmill but not thrown.
Totally defeated, and brought home imprisoned in a cage, Don Quixote sees that his niece, the village priest, and Sanson Carrasco (who in this version is the niece's fiancee, as in Man of La Mancha) have burnt his beloved books of chivalry.
The shock literally kills Don Quixote; he collapses and dies in Sancho's arms, while the townsfolk, who only a few moments prior, were laughing and jeering at him as he sat in the cage, are deeply moved and now kneel in respect for the dead "knight".
In a bit of trick photography, the pages of the original 1605 edition of Cervantes's novel arise from the flames rather than being consumed by them - a sign that Don Quixote has achieved immortality.
Dulcinea, who appears in the film, is depicted as a not-too-bright milkmaid, and cruelly, she is among those who laugh the hardest when Don Quixote is brought back in a cage.
Immediately after the opening credits, we see a page of a medieval romance, and the figures on it seem to come to animated life.