Rudolph Valentino

  • Beyond the Rocks (1922)

    Beyond the Rocks (1922)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, March 2021) As much as I try to be sympathetic toward silent drama movies, it doesn’t always work out — watching them is a reminder that the art of film advanced considerably with the advent of sound, and perhaps nowhere as much in the ability to present melodrama as something more subtle. Perhaps the best reason to watch Beyond the Rocks is because you’re curious about the legendary romantic icon Rudolph Valentino, or silent film star Gloria Swason — the film is a melodramatic romance featuring both of them, and it’s an illustration of what filmmakers considered irresistible at the time. Modern viewers will have trouble seeing past Valentino’s slicked-back hair or Swason’s bob — but that’s part of the point. What’s less easy to forgive is a script that delights in having the male lead rescue the female lead from a series of dumb dangerous outdoor sports accidents, and a final act that draws out something very obvious. On the flip side, the film clocks in at a refreshing 80 minutes, whereas silent movies often ran much higher in-between interminable title cards and slack editing. I still don’t quite like the result, but I feel better knowing that the film is no longer considered a lost film, as it was between the 1940s and its rediscovery in 2003. As such, the occasional moments when the image is completely garbled are a reminder of how that one singly copy is how close we were of losing Beyond the Rocks entirely.

  • Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)

    Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, February 2020) I had three reasons to watch the 1921 version of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and none of them can be considered good ones. First, I wanted to measure this film against its far more popular 1962 remake; second, it was as good a reason as any to experience a Rudolph Valentino role away from his popular image as a seducer; and third, it was right there at the top of my list of the most popular films of 1921 that I hadn’t yet seen. Perhaps the most interesting point of comparison between this story of a family divided by war and its remake is that this one is about World War I; the remake would update it to include Nazis. As a nearly hundred-year-old film, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is unsurprisingly rough, and not just around the edges: while it was among the best that Hollywood could offer at the time, it’s not always an easy watch. As usual for films of the time, the camera never moves. As is specific to this film, the copious dialogue (adapted from a novel) regularly interrupts the flow of the film through title cards. But it’s still interesting: the production clearly had money to spend in large-scale sequences, and the resolutely anti-war message of the film remains effective. Meanwhile, Rudolph Valentino is both the Latin lover of legends and not too bad in a dramatic role. As a dive into 1921 cinema, this is probably as good as any film not from Chaplin, Keaton or Lloyd ever gets: it’s a serious drama that toys with ideas that would be once again very relevant less than twenty years later, and it does show the beginning of cinema as a feature-length narrative form. Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse didn’t go beyond my expectations, but it wasn’t a disappointment either. (I still like the flawed remake better, though.)