Valentino (1951)
Italian immigrant Rudolph Valentino makes it big in silent Hollywood, but he ends up struggling between his career and the woman he loves.
- Lewis Allen
- Emmett Emerson
- George Bruce
- George Bruce
Rating: 4.286/10 by 7 users
Alternative Title:
Country:
United States of America
Language:
English
Runtime: 01 hour 42 minutes
Budget: $1,300,000
Revenue: $1,550,000
Plot Keyword: biography, movie star, film director, upscale dance club
"I believe that my success is based on the fact that I have never appeared twice with the same leading lady!" Anthony Dexter is really poor in this largely fictitious biopic of screen legend Rudolph Valentino. Lewis Allen's lacklustre and wordy depiction of the latter stage lives and loves of this most iconic of actors is actually quite boring at times. He woos the fictional "Joan Carlisle" (Eleanor Parker) and most of the film follows their turbulent relationship's ups and downs with only their mutual respect and fondness for director, and her husband, "Bill King" (Richard Carlson), drawing them together without sparks - a scenario only made worse after they made one hugely successful film together. Come to think on it, Carlsen is maybe the only thing in this that comes away with any sense of credibility. It is very stage bound in presentation, and the melodrama isn't really helped by quite an intrusive score from Heinz Roemheld who seriously overdoes the violins at times. A man of his standing, with a reputation for being as ruthless as he was a Lothario, really did deserve better than this slushy mess that ends as it runs - disappointingly. Pity.
