Film Review: Valentino (1977)

James Dean. Marilyn Monroe. Bruce Lee. Heath Ledger. All those Hollywood stars secured their immortality by dying before their time. The earliest to achieve that feat was Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor and star of Hollywood silent films, whose death in 1926 at the age of 31 caused mass hysteria all of the world and cemented his status of Hollywood’s greatest icons. As such he was subject of number of biopics, including Valentino, directed in 1977 by controversial British film maker Ken Russell.

The film begins when casket with Valentino’s body lies in funeral parlour, which is besieged by thousands of grieving and riotous fans, most of them women. Later, some of the women that Valentino knew personally come to pay respect, which is an opportunity for newspaper reporter to ask questions about Valentino’s life. Through flashbacks plot follows Rudolph Valentino (played by Rudolf Nureyev) during his life in America, from his humble beginnings as taxi dancer and gigolo in New York, from where he runs to California after seducing wife of powerful gangster. There he seduces silent film actress Jean Acker (played by Carol Kane), which would briefly become his wife. This, however, brings him in contact with Hollywood studios and influential screenwriter June Mathis (played by Felicity Kendal) who would have him cast as a lead in Four Horsemen of Apocalypse. On the set of the film that would become great hit Valentino is spotted by flamboyant actress Alla Nazimova (played by Leslie Caron), with whom he would star in another hit Camille. At the set of The Sheik, film in which he played his most iconic role, Valentino is seduced by Nazimova’s lesbian lover Natacha Rambova (played by Michelle Phillips) and becomes her husband. Their marital bliss is, however, comes under the strain of Valentino’s unprecedented fame and popularity, clashes with greedy studio executives and, finally, constant debates about Valentino’s sexual orientation, which would ultimately lead Valentino to prove his manhood in a stunt that would ultimately claim his life.

Ken Russell has built his reputation by filming biopics which employed a lot inventive editing and direction, as well as combination of grotesque, sarcastic humour and eroticism that often shocked the audience. Valentino is often referred as one of his lesser works, greeted badly by critics and audiences (except in his native Britain) and ultimately rejected by Russell himself as his least favourable film. Some might find reason for that in somewhat unusual and rather risky casting for the title role. Rudolf Nureyev, immensely talented Russian ballet dancer who became famous for defecting from Soviet Union, had next to nothing of acting experiences and little physical resemblance to actual Valentino; his attempt to speak with Italian accent is usually unconvincing. However, he does a solid job and truly shines whenever script requires his character to dance. The rest of the cast is also solid, especially Michelle Phillips who handles some of the erotic scenes quite well, despite her and Nureyev detesting each other on the set.

Russell recognised that 1920s, when the plot takes place, used to be the age marked by excess and that is something which was suitable to his style. The film features outlandish costumes and very detailed work on production design. The result is series of memorable images, but also one rather unnecessary scene in which Valentino, after being briefly jailed under charge of bigamy, becomes target of extremely cruel abuse by jailer and other prisoners. This incident, which, probably never happened and, like many other details in this film, had little to do with real history, is introduced only as a way to deliver shock content in amounts that were to be expected according to Russell’s reputation. Russell is, however, much more imaginative in other scenes, especially in very ingenious and spectacular way that give his own interpretation of the events that would ultimately lead to Valentino’s death. Although flawed, this film has enough quality dance numbers, imaginative scenes and humour to be recommended even to those viewers who care little about early Hollywood history and first stages of modern celebrity culture.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

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