Nureyev as Valentino. Leslie Caron in a nice role. and spirit of period. basic ingredients of a film. not astonishing. but almost seductive. new exercise of Ken Russell to present his world in usual colors and fragile shadows. a homage-film who desire give not exactly fragments of a life but skin of a myth. and the work is reasonable. this is the point to begin to discover the movie. sure, Nureyev was not the best option. but it is far to be a error his performance. only perfect example for good intentions and art to use his rare gift to cover the not inspired acting. a Russell film. this is the definition for this exotic, strange and nice movie.

Ken Russell could certainly do a period picture. Detail, feel, mood, elegance and style, you name it. In his depiction of 1920's Italian heart throb Hollywood star, Rudolph Valentino, all these key aspects are in place.Lacking some of the more outrageous flourishes of sexual and violent depravities that marred/enabled (depending on your point of view) many other of Russell's flicks, this is still certificate 18 with some moderately explicit nudity.The locations are inspired (the desert filming scene is superbly done), such as the Russell Coates Museum in Bournemouth and the dancing and set pieces dazzling and amazing. However, somehow the film doesn't gel as a whole and working out why is near impossible.Some say that the casting of the Russian ballet icon, Rudolf Nureyev as Valentino to be a major fault, but I disagree. Sure, he's stilted and with the wrong accent, but he absolutely looks the part and with that immensely athletic body of his, well....and the dancing is as you'd expect. As the dashing sheik in the desert, just mentioned, he looks uncannily like the real thing.Maybe that the film covers a lot of ground and at a full 2 hours, there's a lot of visual information. Sometimes it feels that there isn't the narrative clarity to support all that and we don't always know what is going on. Or, at least I didn't.The late, great Ken has produced a fine film but one that ultimately doesn't quite work.

As in all of his biography films Ken Russell takes no prisoners. A series of warped biographies on composers (Mahler, Tchaikovsky, List)incensed more than entertained audiences and critics. Laced with dark humor, vibrant costuming and Russell's sardonic use of the composers works in conjunction with his colorful and outlandish compositions the films were visual feasts that bordered on character assassination. In Valentino, Russell comes to America to offer his take on silent Hollywood and its biggest star of the era, Rudolph Valentino. Russell is relentless in his depiction of the exploitative and greedy nature of producers who in the opening scene stand over Valentino's body lamenting financial loss. Russell also works over newspaper reporters, actresses, Valentino's ex-wives and a comedian known as Fatty (Arbuckle?). Dancer, Rudolph Nureyev is no actor but as Valentino his poorly pronounced flatly emoted English fits and contributes to his sympathetic character. As in all Russell films there are scenes that are lush and grandly staged (ably assisted by ex-wife, Shirley Russell's original and over the top costuming) such as Leslie Caron's entrance at the funeral home, the fight sequence where ball room dancing takes place in between rounds, the producer with the pet gorilla in his living room, and a cult fan gathering outside Valentino's mansion. This film quickly sank from sight when it was released and thirty years later consensus remains the same. I personally believe however that Valentino is a sharply drawn dark humored satire that spits cynicism at two institutions (Hollywood and the media) that it depended heavily on for its success. Valentino succeeds on every level and that was probably its problem.

A reasonably interesting film. I knew very little about Rudolph Valentino, so I haven't much to say about the film's veracity. However, after a few Oliver Stone movies, I know better than to assume that what I see in a historical film is accurate. Michelle Phillips was quite attractive, although I think she may be a better singer than actress. And as for Rudolf Nureyev, surprise, surprise, he can dance. I guess all those years in the Bolshoi finally paid off. His acting skills seemed to be a bit wanting, though. I expect that Ken Russel went for the excessive melodramatic style to evoke the period, so maybe he wasn't as bad as people thought, maybe it was partly due to Russel. Leslie Caron was good, even though she seemed to slumming a bit here. Overall, worth a look, for Miss Phillips brief nude scenes, if nothing else.