Storyline

In 1926, the tragic and untimely death of a silent screen actor caused female movie-goers to riot in the streets and in some cases to commit suicide - that actor was Rudolph Valentino. Ball-room dancer Valentino manipulated his good looks and bestial grace into a Hollywood career. His smoldering love-making, tinged with a touch of masterful cruelty, expressed a sexuality which was at once both shocking and sensual.—Ørnås and Brian McInnis

Plot Keywords

leading man, actress, wife, manager, reporter, boxer, hedonistic, passionate, outlandish, sultry, new york city, hollywood, calif., movie set, funeral, dance floor, boxing ring, fame, polyamory, sexual conquests, acting, masculinity, rise, transformation, love, 1910s

Short Review

I think Ken Russell was a bit too hard on himself here. It's not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination but it does lose steam by the last hour and ends abruptly. I have a feeling that Russell's frustration (besides the money and hollywood's expectations) with this one was in part because he was remaking Citizen Kane about celebrated classic Rudolph Valentino and .... I mean those are two extremely high bars. And he definitely doesn't come close to either, unfortunately. But so what.Valentino strongly succeeds in its casting. Rudolf Nureyev is really perfectly cast as Rudolph. What he lacks in subtleties of acting he makes up in beautiful and nuanced movement - the naked sheik scenes are so beautifully orchestrated, a shifting tableau of beauty that hammers home the (well deserved) sex-symbol message in the most in-your-face but chaste way. Then there's all of the women - Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips, Felicity Kendal, even Carol Kane - who all hit it out of the park and leave deep impressions of who they were and how they figured into his life. A feat thats certainly impressive when it's happening in somebody else's biopic - usually all of the side characters feel more like cameos than living and breathing figureheads in the person's life.The movie lacks in its pacing. It gets lost in Natacha Rambova for a little too long, and it lingers too long in the boxing ring. But there's still burning moments of Ken Russell Brilliance(TM) - including the flower veil at the funeral, the sheik moments, the powder puff singers, ballroom dancers around the boxing ring and the hordes of women scenes. A lesser Ken Russell for sure, but that's still high praise in my opinion.

Trailer

Streaming Service

1. Amazon Video : Rent from $1.99, Or $0.00 with a Prime membership