...he was intelligent, quiet, and without vanity."
-Charlie Chaplin
Welcome to our first segment of Silent Saturdays! We've got a special post for you today on one of the leading men of the silent era and we carefully selected one of his films to go along with it. That being said, we should probably clarify that there will not always be a mention of both a star and one of their films in every segment. There will be times when it will just be one or the other.
Today it just happens to be both. And we have also strategically planned this so that it is just shortly before Valentine's Day so that maybe you can get into the mood for a little romance, not just because of our star's name, but also because he used to be one of Hollywood's biggest heartthrobs!
Rudolph Valentino
Born May 6, 1895
Died August 23, 1926
Rudolph Valentino was born in Castellanata, Italy in 1895 under the name Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina D'Antonguolla. His mother was a wealthy Frenchwoman, and his father was an Italian veterinarian.
Growing up, Valentino did not enjoy school or academics, yet out of sheer expectation that he should do something with his life, he received a degree in agriculture at Genoa. Once he achieved this, Valentino decided to move to Paris in an attempt to find work and make a life for himself. Having no luck, he soon felt forced to return to Italy. His efforts to find work were equally futile in his homeland, so he left for America in 1913 at the tender age of 18.
Many people probably would not guess that Valentino went through a homeless stint shortly after his arrival in the USA. He found himself penniless in New York City and had to wander from place to place looking for any kind of work he could find. He learned the value of hard work as he made his living via a wide variety of different jobs, from a position as a taxi dancer to working in landscaping.
It was completely by chance that Valentino ended up on the west coast. While in NY he befriended the de Saulles family. Blanca de Saulles was a foreign heiress in her own right, and when she and her husband went through a divorce, Valentino voluntarily testified on her behalf that her husband had been unfaithful. His testimony before the court enraged the wrong people, and he soon found himself in prison to be kept out of the way. Once he was released, Valentino considered leaving due to the fact that his name had been in the papers and he was out of a job because of the bad publicity. He finally made up his mind to move away from the east coast when word got out that Blanca de Saulles had murdered her husband. Afraid that he would be called upon as a witness for her again, Valentino packed his bags and joined a traveling musical, which put him on the road to Hollywood.
The musical troupe only took Valentino as far as Utah before it ran out of steam. Valentino rather enjoyed his time with them, so he soon earned himself a part in a travelling production of Robinson Crusoe Jr. This took him to San Francisco, where he found work with a small part in a play called Nobody Home. Eventually his path crossed with Norman Kerry, who was very impressed with the 22 year old and encouraged him to come to Los Angeles and pursue a career in moving pictures. Valentino became Kerry's roommate for a time, and while waiting to see where acting would lead him, he worked as a dance instructor. His first smaller roles were as dark or villainous characters. Although he was initially just glad to have work, Valentino soon became tired of being typecast into these roles. He continued on, though, and was given a small part in Eyes of Youth (1919), which earned him recognition from Hollywood screenwriters. He was given a more prominent role in The Delicious Little Devil (1919). Still unable to break the typecast as a "heavy" character, Valentino decided to try returning to New York. While traveling for work he read The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Shortly thereafter, when he learned that Metro had bought the rights for a film adaptation, he immediately went to their headquarters. When he arrived on their doorstep it was only to discover that they had already been searching for him to play the role of Julio Desnoyers. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse was released in 1921 and was extremely successful. Audiences were impressed with Valentino's performance, already falling in love with him. The studio, however, was unwilling to give him bigger parts. He was next cast in Uncharted Seas, which, while it was not a big career move, it was very successful in another way, being the first time he met and worked with his future wife, Natacha Rambova.
Rambova decided to bring on Valentino to collaborate with her, actress Alla Nazimova, and others, for the upcoming film Camille. Valentino was perfect for the leading role of Armand, and he played it well. Unfortunately, the film, which was based on a novel written and set in the 1800s, was considered too modern since it was portrayed in the 1920s.
Valentino would make only one more film with Metro. He then left to sign on with Famous Players-Lasky, which was much more commercially promising. Lasky recognized the star potential that Valentino possessed and decided to cast him in the lead role for his film The Sheik (1921). The film is what launched Valentino into stardom, and much of its success can be attributed to his acting skills. His character was an Arab, and instead of presenting him in a stereotypical fashion, Valentino strived to portray him as something other than a vindictive savage, stating, "People are not savages because they have dark sins. The Arabian civilization is one of the oldest in the world--the Arabs are dignified and keen-brained." Five more successful films were made with Lasky that year. The next year, Valentino was cast as a Spanish bullfighter in Blood and Sand (1922). Once filming was complete, he married actress Natacha Rambova, although their marriage did not become official until later that next year. By 1923, Valentino was unhappy at the Lasky studio, so after a consultation with his lawyer he officially declared a one-man strike. This created an interesting dilemma since Valentino would not act for the studio, yet he was not allowed out of his contract. Eventually the studio gave him permission to accept different types of employment.
Valentino finally began to act again in 1924, when he established a new contract with Ritz-Carlton Pictures, which allowed him more creative license. He starred in 4 pictures with Ritz-Carlton, Monsieur Beaucaire (1924), A Sainted Devil (1924), The Hooded Falcon (1924), and Cobra (1925). During all of these films, Valentino worked with his wife as a creative team. Most of the budget for these films was used for costumes and set design, but Ritz-Carlton felt that was excessive so terminated the contract.
United Artists had been trying to lure Valentino to their studio for some time, so now was their moment to make the actor a deal he couldn't refuse. He ended up accepting a contract from United Artists that offered him a larger salary, the only drawback being that his wife was not allowed to work with him on sets or as part of the creative team. Despite the fact that Natacha was granted a large sum of money from the studio to put into her very own film, she was still very upset that her husband accepted the contract, and it greatly hurt their marriage.
Valentino starred in The Eagle (1925), but did not work on another film for the rest of that year. The next year, he grudgingly consented to make what would be his final film, The Son of the Sheik (1926), which would be released just a month before his death to great critical acclaim.
Many people were not aware that Valentino was very creative outside of the film industry. Those who knew him claimed that he was a sensitive person who had a great love for writing. He published his own book of poetry entitled Day Dreams in 1923. He also wrote many extended poems and articles for numerous magazines, many of which were consolidated and published after his death.
Valentino was ill for part of the summer of 1926, but he thought nothing of it until he collapsed in public on August 15. When taken to the hospital it was discovered that he was suffering from acute appendicitis, and emergency surgery was performed. At first, Valentino seemed well and on a good road to recovery. His doctors were hopeful and gave words of encouragement to the press. Unfortunately, he soon developed peritonitis while still in the hospital. The doctors realized that there was nothing to be done and that the young star would die. Sadly, it was very common for doctors to keep a fatal prognosis from their patients. So, Valentino, unsuspecting of his fate, sat up making plans and talking about his future until he lapsed into a coma. On August 23, 1926, Rudolph Valentino died at the age of 31 without ever regaining consciousness.
Around 100,000 people, most of them women, lined the city streets to watch Valentino's funeral procession. Suicides were reported, and a 24 hour riot broke out over the funeral home, where services were being conducted as mourners attempted to break into the already overcrowded building. It was one of the most tragic public displays of grief for a public figure until the funeral of Princess Diana in the 1990s. People were heartbroken over the loss of one of the leading men of Hollywood, who had contributed so much to the film industry. In the span of his short but promising career, Rudolph Valentino starred in 38 films. He was also the first important public figure in Hollywood to acknowledge the work of another actor, presenting John Barrymore with the only medal he possessed in honor of his work. Yet none of Rudolph Valentino's 38 films that he made in his short career were acknowledged with any medals or tokens of appreciation.
"A man should control his life. Mine is controlling me."
-Rudolph Valentino
"Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas on which women paint their dreams."
-Rudolph Valentino
Camille
1921
Starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino
Based on the 1852 novel of the same name, Camille tells the story of a courtesan by the name of Marguerite (Nazimova) who lives in a fashionable European apartment and entertains scores of men, as well as other guests at her infamous parties. She is also very ill with consumption, although she does her best to conceal her coughing fits from her friends and others in her social circle.
On a social outing to the opera, Marguerite captures the attention of a promising law student named Armand (Valentino). Armand discovers who she is and later manages to get into one of her private parties. Wishing to have a word alone with her and therefore following her, he sees that she is ill and does not want anyone else to know. So he approaches her and tells her that he loves her and implores her to let him stay and take care of her. She thinks that he is out of his mind and rejects him at first, but he is persistent so eventually Marguerite relents and begins to care for him.
Armand and Marguerite live together, happily spending all of their time with one another. Armand's father hears of the relationship and is greatly upset, knowing that it could ruin the reputation of both his family and his young son. He takes it upon himself to approach Marguerite and beg her to leave his son to put his life back together if she really cares about him at all. Marguerite sees and understands what he is trying to do, and she refuses at first. However, after thinking about it, she realizes that as a tainted woman with poor health, she is ruining Armand's reputation as a gentleman and his promising career. Wishing to protect Armand, she decides to leave him, so she writes a goodbye letter. Not knowing where else to go or what to do with herself she finds an old wealthy client of hers who takes her on.
Armand becomes deeply depressed when he returns and discovers the farewell note. As he spends time brooding over his broken heart, he eventually turns bitter and begins to lash out by publicly living a destructive and hedonistic lifestyle. As chance would have it, he and Marguerite both end up at the same Parisian casino one night. Marguerite tries her best to keep a respectful distance, but she cannot deny that she still loves him. Angry, Armand embarrasses and rejects her in front of everyone.
Sad and ashamed by Armand's words that night, Marguerite decides that she is tired of the life she has been leading. She wants to become a more respectable woman in the hopes that Armand will see her efforts and come back to her. She renounces the life of a courtesan but quickly begins to run short on money. Sadly, at the same time her illness takes a turn for the worse, and she becomes bedridden, not even able to afford a doctor. Not healthy enough to find or sustain a job, Marguerite falls into debt and most of her belongings are repossessed; all of them but one--a book that Armand gave her as a gift and which she begs them to let her keep.Eventually, knowing that she is dying and is still very much in love with Armand, he is sent for, but he is unable to arrive until shortly after she dies.
This film version of Camille was highly criticized at the time of its release for being too modern. And truthfully, the setting of the story was ahead of its time. The art and set designer of the film was Valentino's wife, Natacha Rambova, and she made the story modern rather than portraying it in the 1800s as it was originally written. Now, however, we can look back and appreciate it as a very artistic and historical portrayal of life in an elitist circle in 1920s Europe, and at the same time it is a successful portrayal of a piece of classic literature, thereby making it a successful film adaptation.
For more pictures of Valentino, this is an excellent tribute video:
The 1921 silent film version of Camille starring Rudolph Valentino is a surviving piece of cinematic history, and you can view it in its entirety on our Facebook page:
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