Valentino Nearing The End


Rudy A Loser at Love in Cobra (1925)

Rudolph Valentino as apostle of gloom, just the way viewers in 1925 didn’t want to see him, so Cobra flopped, massively it’s said. This was an independent project for Rudy, but money wasn’t his, for he had little of that, being debt-ridden as was case for most of time he’d been a star. RV stood for extravagance we associate with idols of yore, buying antiquity on oversea jaunts like he was C.F. Kane, indulging expansive tastes of anchor wife Natasha Rambova. They were kaput by time Valentino did final few that were maybe his best, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik. UA chief Joe Schenck fronted costs for Falcon Lair just to cinch the deal (RV retreat and final address). Cobra and weaker ones before put Rudy’s boxoffice in hazard. He played against type and eschewed action plus smolder his legions liked. They’d been burnt on frankly peculiar stuff Rambova cooked up. She was perceived no good as creative mentor, and what misdirected him to wear a slave bracelet in homage to her? Was Rudy too henpecked, or merely considerate, to balk?




What’s good about Cobra is low-key Valentino doing emotional scenes, plus humor, to belie nostril-flare of the first Sheik and parts of others where weak direction were more to blame than him. Rudy’s face is fuller in Cobra, oncoming maturity that reminds me of Ricardo Cortez by the mid-thirties. Seeing Cobra leaves little doubt of RV thriving at precode had fate spared him. Speech would have been no barrier, as he spoke four languages and had but mild, if pleasing, accent (more French than Italian, said some). What rescue there is of Cobra comes courtesy Valentino. The picture had been rushed due to another project flaking out (The Hooded Falcon, treatment by Rambova, and over $100K blown w/o one scene shot). Art direction by William Cameron Menzies is another plus. Cobra if nothing else is polished in best sense of silents reaching technical apex before takeover of sound. There is an Image DVD from years back, derived off prime elements. A Blu-Ray or HD stream of Cobra could do wonders.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Striking 50's Club Scene

Image
  This Could Be The Night (1957)  Pleases In B/W Scope A picture that J.J. Hensecker would have enjoyed if J.J. Hunsecker had been a real person, and perhaps a last to depict New York on Damon Runyan terms. MGM even arranged to have Earl Wilson host a trailer, him a columnist who would certainly have frequented spots like where action happens here. He appears on-camera with chanteuse Julie Wilson and mentions that he hasn't seen her around town lately because she's been in Hollywood mak ing this movie, such insider talk maybe a turn-off to rurals otherwise disposed to go see This Could Be The Night . It would probably have lost money anyway, this being 1957 when most of what MGM released lost money. For director Robert Wise, Night came between hit that was Somebody Up There Likes Me , and Until They Sail , a feature trio to argue Wise's reliability for polished product. Wise could take good material and reliably make it very good, like story-and-tempo minded filmmake
Read more

Jet Aces On Short Rations

Image
Hell's Horizon (1955) Takes To Low Columbia Ceiling Slow build to a Korean air mission where bomber crew will sustain or crack-up according to character they've revealed in Acts One-Two. John Ireland is chief pilot, tip-off to modest cast otherwise aboard: Bill Williams, Hugh Beaumont, Jerry Paris, Bill Schallert. Love Is Splendor-ish girl interest is Marla English, borrowed from Paramount, striking Eurasian pose a la Jennifer Jones in the 20th Fox hit. Marla would be a cult chiller throb as The She-Creature , which she probably didn't find half so rewarding as this part, a better calling card for elevation out of B's (ME would instead quit biz altogether). Horizon saves its fuel for determining mission, which came excitingly at point where I'd almost lost hope for this Columbia release of a "Gravis Production," the independent set-up by producer Wray Davis and writer-director Tom Gries. Money man for Gravis was actually Jack Broder of Realart fame, who
Read more

Cagney Still Off The Reservation

Image
Something To Sing About (1937) Is Grand National Up From Poverty Row What did the James Cagney pact achieve for Grand National? Plenty, judging by trade reportage. Imagine a biggest of stars jumping a major ship to sail with barely a skiff. It was beyond an anomaly. Grand National went from a jack to a king overnight. Their product would be welcome in top venues, seldom the case for independents before. Broadway example was a deal worked between GN sales management and circuit owner Harry Brandt, whose Globe and Central Theatres became “home of all Grand National pictures,” beginning with Something To Sing About for a September 20, 1937 Globe opening ( Film Daily , 9-13-37). With Cagney at their service, Grand National might actually crack barriers protected by the eight majors, his name leading an assault on doors too long shut to outsiders. It wouldn’t quite work out that way, but GN sure raised a sweat on status-quo the behemoths thought they had solidly in place, and the trades, pl
Read more