Valentino is a 1977 biographical film co-written and directed by Ken Russell and starring Rudolf Nureyev, Leslie Caron, Michelle Phillips, and Carol Kane. It is loosely based on the life of silent film actor Rudolph Valentino, as recounted in the book Valentino, an Intimate Exposé of the Sheik, written by Chaw Mank and Brad Steiger.
The genesis of Valentino began with producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff, who began developing the project in 1975. Russell was selected to direct, and he co-wrote the film with Mardik Martin. Told through flashback following Valentino's 1926 death, the screenplay focuses heavily on Valentino's relationships with several women, chiefly his second wife Natacha Rambova, as well as addressing the published rumors of his alleged homosexuality.
Filming of Valentino was originally planned to occur in Los Angeles, but Russell chose to film in Spain and England's Elstree Studios instead due to budgetary issues. Principal photography lasted 21 weeks from August 1976 to January 1977, and the shoot was marked by tensions between stars Nureyev and Phillips, who clashed over their approaches to the material, as well as between Nureyev and Russell.
Released in October 1977, the film received mixed reviews from critics, some of whom lambasted it for its critical, and sometimes satirical depiction of Hollywood and the pressures of the film studio system; other critics praised the film for its lush visuals and performances. Despite the mixed critical response, the film received three BAFTA Award nominations, for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design. Russell later described his decision to make the film instead of The Rose with Bette Midler as the biggest mistake of his career.Ten big things I have learnt from my mistakes – Times Online
In his memoirs, Winkler called Valentino his "least favorite or worst film... by a large margin".
Plot In 1926, thousands of fans mob the wake of recently deceased film star Rudolph Valentino in New York City. When order is restored at the funeral home, a series of important women in Valentino's life come to mourn. Each remembers him via flashbacks: The first of these women, Bianca de Saulles, knew Valentino when he was a taxi dancer and gigolo in New York City, working under a woman named Billie Streeter. Upon meeting him, he shares with her his dream of owning an orange grove in California. After mobsters rob Valentino, he decides he must make the move west. Specifically, Bianca reminisces of a day when she witnessed Valentino romantically dancing with male ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, teaching him how to do the tango.
Next is a young movie executive and screenwriter named June Mathis, who has an unrequited love for Valentino. She first meets Valentino in California, where he upsets Fatty Arbuckle by grabbing the starlet next to Arbuckle and romancing her into becoming his first wife, actress Jean Acker. Acker's glamorous and luxurious life motivates Valentino to try acting himself. Mathis recalls seeing him in a bit part in a movie and, based on that alone, recommending him for a larger role in her next project, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The hugely successful 1921 film launches Valentino to superstardom, and she is proud to have discovered him.
Alla Nazimova subsequently makes a flamboyant entrance at Valentino's funeral. She proceeds to make a scene and, when the photographers ask her to repeat it for the cameras, she obliges. Nazimova claims a relationship with Valentino and recalls working on Camille with him. Next, Nazimova's friend, art designer Natacha Rambova (and second wife of Valentino) enters and tells reporters that, even though she and Valentino are physically separated, they are still close via the spirit world. Her flashback shows that she was at first Nazimova's lover, but took advantage of Valentino's infatuation with her to help her social climb. During the filming of The Sheik, Rambova seduces Valentino with a seven veils dance. Despite knowing he is in the midst of divorcing Acker, she insists on going to Mexico so they can marry. Once they return to the United States, Valentino is arrested for bigamy. Because Jesse Lasky refuses to pay bail for Valentino, he has to spend the night in jail, where the guards deny him bathroom privileges and, with the other prisoners, taunt him about his lack of masculinity. The result is his complete humiliation.
On the set of Valentino's subsequent film, Monsieur Beaucaire, Rambova and Sidney Olcott take over directing. Two stage hands, wondering if 'Rambova calls the shots in bed, too', toss a pink powder puff onto Valentino's lap. Rambova demands that whoever did it come forward or she and Valentino will walk off the set for good. Valentino finishes the picture, but Rambova insists he refuse future work at Paramount until Lasky meets certain demands. Lasky suspends them and the couple end up broke. A man named George Melford approaches them, offering to help them book personal appearances for Mineralava, a beauty product company. The tour is a success, and, with Melford's help, Valentino and Rambova negotiate a good deal with Lasky.
Later, Valentino reads a newspaper article questioning his manhood and implying he is homosexual. The article outrages Valentino, who challenges the reporter to a duel. For 'legal reasons' the duel becomes a boxing match. Rory O'Neil, who happens to be a professional boxer, stands in for the reporter. The fight becomes a ballet of sorts, and flashbacks to the dance with Nijinsky parallel the match. Valentino eventually lands a blow which wins him the fight. However, he now begins to exhibit signs of an ulcer.
O'Neil asks for a rematch, this time a drinking contest. Despite his ulcer, Valentino accepts. Although Valentino defeats O'Neil again, his excessive drinking exacerbates the ulcer, which perforates when he returns to his home that night. He dies crawling on the floor, unable to reach an orange he had drunkenly played with and dropped on the floor.
Cast
Analysis Historical accuracy Film historian Gene D. Phillips notes that the grand set pieces and events exhibited in Valentino, including the dramatic prison sequence, the lavish Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse film set, and the climactic boxing match, all fit neatly within the narrative framework as they are rooted in some historical basis. "They are in each case founded on facts which are magnified but not distorted," Phillips suggests. Alexander Bland, who wrote The Nureyev Valentino: Portrait of a Film (1977) which chronicles the making of the film, states that "only in isolated sequences—Lasky communicating with an ape, a powder-puff cabaret, couples fox-trotting round the boxing ring—has Russell let his fancy of the lead... Russell has taken liberties, but he has not strayed into license." Summarizing Russell's handling of the film's historical accuracy, Bland further elaborated:
Some scholars have noted the film's interpolation of certain events and characters, particularly the film's presentation of Alla Nazimova as she dramatically enters the funeral home to mourn Valentino: (in reality Neither Alla Nazimova nor Natacha Rambova attended Valentino's funeral) Film scholar Joseph Lanza suggests that Russell "folds the personages" of Nazimova and actress Pola Negri—another woman who had a close relationship with Valentino, but who does not appear as a character in the film—together. Lanza cites the fact that, per contemporaneous press accounts, Negri famously fainted several times during her visit to Valentino's wake, while there is no evidence suggesting the same of Nazimova.
Treatment of Valentino's sexuality Russell sought to explore elements of Valentino's sexual life, including documented rumours encircling Valentino during his lifetime that he was homosexual, which no film adaptations of his life had done before. Russell attempted to contact Jean Acker, Valentino's first wife, to discuss the reasons for their short-lived marriage (the two separated the day after they were married), but Acker, 80 years old at the time of production, refused to speak to Russell.
Film scholar Brian Faucette notes that the film continually shows how "the people who interact with Valentino are constantly trying to discover his sexual orientation ... Russell does imply that women value Valentino as a sexual object but that Valentino is not a man interested in selling his body for money."
Production Development The idea of a biopic of Rudolph Valentino was considered by producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff. "What excited us was the idea of Valentino as the first personality created by the mass media instrument in its infancy, and the inconsistency between his own life and his screen persona", Chartoff said. Winkler and Chartoff commissioned writer Mardik Martin to begin researching Valentino's life and develop a screenplay. Both Winkler and Chartoff were admirers of Ken Russell's films, and sought him to direct the project. The three had a meeting in London, and he ultimately agreed to direct.
Russell helped write the screenplay along with Martin, which went through several drafts, making sure to "zoom in on a few incidents and expand them to produce the maximum effect." Faucette further observes that the film's opening dance sequence between Valentino and Nijinsky "allows Russell to hint at the idea that Valentino may be dancing with this man because of sexual desire, rather than out of mere professional obligation ... The way that this scene is staged implies that the viewer has become a voyeur of an intimate moment between lovers."
Casting
Rudolf Nureyev, a Russian-born dancer, was initially asked by Russell to appear as dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, after Russell had uncovered lore that Valentino had taught Nijinsky the tango in New York; Russell envisioned the film's opening sequence consisting of this interaction. However, after several unsuccessful attempts at casting the role of Valentino (Paul Clarke, a dancer who was initially cast, died of a heart attack prior to production), Russell proposed to the producers that they ask Nureyev to instead star in the title role. Nureyev had previously been considered to play Valentino by director Vittorio De Sica in a biopic that never came to fruition. After meeting with Nureyev in Amsterdam in 1975, Winkler and Chartoff concluded: "There was no doubt in any of our minds as the evening ended that the part was his. The Nijinsky role was subsequently granted to Anthony Dowell. Because Nureyev had a years' worth of dancing obligations booked at the time, the production was postponed until 1976 when Nureyev had availability. Though he agreed to the project, Nureyev had some reservations based on Russell's reputation for being strong willed: "We both have strong personalities and opinions, but it was his film, and naturally he knows far more about films than I do."