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Touches You

The Worst Film Ever

Sorry, this movie sucks

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Along with greats like Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino was one of the greatest and most famous actors of the silent era. Starring in silent classics like "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and "The Sheik", Valentino was an absolute star in his day. Sadly, he died at the young age of 31, just one year after the release of this masterpiece.Mixing elements of comedy, drama, action, romance, and even thriller, "The Eagle" is an astonishingly entertaining work that can please almost any film fan, whether they're an obsessed movie buff or an average movie goer. Don't avoid it because it's a silent film and you're afraid of reading, because if you do avoid it you'd have missed out on something truly spectacular and one of my new all time favorites.

I, like many on my side of the big pond, have a cheap, shoddy and very poor DVD transfer copy of The Eagle from InstantVision LTD (IVL). The music is rubbish, inappropriate and repetitive with no thought, (or care for that matter), given to the importance of music accompanying a silent film. Music can, when used effectively, accentuate certain parts of a silent movie such as having soft music for romantic/sad moments in the plot and lively music for party/action scenes. Sadly the IVL release has three random pieces of music on a loop, which sadly near ruined the movie for me and made it difficult to sit through and it was nothing more than a lottery of getting the right music at the right time. So IVL, in my opinion, have committed what can only be tantamount to movie manslaughter. I'll stop short of movie murder as I'm sure the intention was there to put out a good product and anyone who releases silent movies these days will usually get a big thumbs up from me anyway.Gripe aside, I'll proceed with the movie itself. The Eagle is basically the Zorro legend transported from Spanish owned Los Angeles, to Imperial Russia, which is a bit of a white lie really, as Alexander Pushkin's story 'Dubrovsky' was originally written in 1832 but first published posthumously in 1841, pre-dating Johnston McCulley's Zorro creation by over 80 years. (It's amazing what information you can get from Wikipedia).Rudolph Valentino plays Vladimir Dubrovsky and Officer of the Imperial guard of Czarina Catherine II, played by a strangely attractive Louise Dresser. Just before what is to be a regal inspection of her troops, Dubrovsky, borrows the Czarina's horse to rescue two ladies in a runaway carriage.One of the lady's is Mascha Troekouroff, played by the very beautiful and not at all strangely attractive Vilma Banky. Dubrovsky is smitten with her at first sight and his feelings are not exactly unreturned.After the rescue, they part company, but the Czarina has witnessed his act of derring do and she too takes a shine to him and orders him to report to her chambers that evening.He's goes thinking that she may want to give him some award, She's asked him there in the hopes he will give her one. However, Dubrovsky refuses the advances of the sex-mad Czarina and deserts his post and becomes a wanted man. His timing couldn't have been worse as he soon gets word that his families house, land and estates have been forcibly taken over by the evil Kyrilla Troekouroff, (James Marcus).Having alienated the Czarina who's very command would have corrected the problem, he heads for home seeking revenge. his task is not made any easier by the revelation that the damsel in distress he rescued is actually Kyrilla's daughter.In order to protect his identity he assumes the masked alter ego 'The Eagle' and undertakes a kind of Robin Hood/Zorro role, and with his band of followers sets out to deprive Kyrilla of his ill gotten gains and restore then to the rightful owners. He also assumes yet another alias in order to do infiltrate Kyrilla's inner sanctum, (and possibly get off with his daughter as well), that of Marcel Le Blanc, French Tutor hired by Kyrilla for his daughter's education. Dubrovsky is now in the perfect place for his planned revenge.The Eagle is arguably Valentino's best film. I've seen the Sheik and Blood & Sand, and were not particularly enamoured by either, in fact the whole 'Valentinomania' is sort of lost on me as I don't think he was a brilliant actor and am certain that had he lived, he would not have made the transition to sound. So I was left with a 'what was all the fuss about' feeling.I did, However, think that Vilma Banky was superb as was Louise Dresser, but the highest accolade I reserve for director Clarence Brown. His direction is flawless and it's no wonder that Louis B Mayer would soon have him at MGM to direct Greta Garbo & John Gilbert in many of their 'period' movies such as 1927's Flesh & The Devil.I enjoyed The Eagle, but thanks to the IVL DVD issue, I enjoyed it more with the sound off. I suggest you do the same. However, I'd rather watch Tyrone Power in the Mark of Zorro instead it's virtually the same story but a much better film.Enjoy!

Russian lieutenant Vladimir Dubrovsky (Rudolph Valentino) vows vengeance against a man named Kyrilla (James A. Marcus) after Kyrilla used treachery to steal Dubrovsky land, which left his father a dying, ruined man. Eventually hiding his face under a mask and assuming the identity "The Black Eagle", he and his band of followers set out to bring down Kyrilla. However Dubrovsky has even more reason to hide his face because having offended the Czarina of Russia by spurning her affections, she has issued a warrant for his arrest dead or alive for desertion from his regiment. Further complicating Dubrovsky's plans is he unexpectedly winds up falling in love with Kyrilla's daughter Mascha (Vilma Bánky).Well it's certainly unpredictable, you have to say that. This one certainly has plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing what might befall our hero next. Valentino it cannot be denied is excellent in the lead role as an heroic bandit with irresistible charm. This does deliver romance and some tense moments for our ill-fated lovers. The problem here is that really "The Black Eagle" never quite seems to deliver the goods when it comes to action, his most impressive moments firing a shot at a key moment and as expected coming to the rescue of his damsel in distress time and time again. Also the ending doesn't quite seem to ring true given previously established events in our story. Still certainly not bad of its type, just a straightforward romantic adventure, almost fairytale-like, in a fashion.

During the last six months or so, I have seen at least a dozen of Valentino's films--probably more. And apart from THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALPSE, this is probably his best film among them. Unlike THE SHEIK and SON OF THE SHEIK, this film seemed to have aged pretty well and I enjoyed the film immensely. In so many ways, the film made Valentino seem less like a prissy male lead, but a more Errol Flynn or Douglas Fairbanks-like character--handsome but rugged and manly. He played a character much like Robin Hood, but instead of stealing from the rich, he and his band of kin attacked the forces of an evil Russian family that has stripped them of their land and fortune and he nicknames himself "The Eagle". And, while Valentino had every reason to want to kill the patriarch of this clan, not unexpectedly for a Valentino film, the evil man has a sweet and beautiful daughter--who is destined to fall the Eagle. All-in-all, a nice blending of romance, adventure and sentiment into a timeless movie that is still very watchable today. Good stuff.