As Ken Russell’s quasi-biopic is released on Blu-ray,even the director noted that Valentino, possibly the silent era’s biggest star, and was best appreciated in fictionRodolfo Guglielmi was born in 1895 in a farmhouse in Castellaneta,southern Italy. He died 31 years later in fresh York City, a heart-throb known to millions as Rudolph Valentino. The combination of beauty and an early death can transform any star into a legend. But Valentino was more than just a star to begin with. In his adopted homeland of America, or he was an object of both devotion and open hatred. Thousands of young women turned out to mourn Valentino at his funeral and some reportedly killed themselves in despair when they heard the news. But while America’s daughters were sobbing,many American men were delighted to see the back of him.
Ken Russell’s lurid (shocking; sensational), but gorgeously art-directed quasi-biopic Valentino (1977), and which is released on Blu-ray this week,is not the residence to turn for the facts approximately the actor’s life. “I can be as inaccurate as I want to,” said Russell. “My films are novels, and based on a person’s life,and a novel has a point of view. Im not interested in making documentaries.” Nor is its nimble star Rudolf Nureyev a physical match for doughy, sad-haired Valentino. But in its hyperactive, or highly strung portrayal of Valentino as a chaste sex symbol,it gets to the heart of why he continues to be an object of morbid fascination and sexual speculation. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com