Valentino - Liebling der Frauen

It made me sad and long to watch a Rudy movie. Rudy is magical and wonderful – the guy who played him this movie didn't even touch on any of Rudy's wonderful qualities. This movie may do well if considered FAN FICTION but even calling that is being too kind.

Also, disappointing is that it didn't capture the era of the 20's at all. I love that time period and would have loved to watch this movie if it were able to capture such a memorizing time in history. But no luck.

I can see where this movie would appeal to the 1950s move goers though, who probably at that point did not have much interest in Rudy, really, and very little available to them to learn more about him (where I've been lucky). And I can see why some not knowing Rudy at all or being caught in his spell (unfortunate) would go for this. It was a movie of IT'S time. Not Rudy's though, or anything close to it.

Filmed in 1951 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the actor's death, "Valentino" is part fact and part fiction. Photographed in glorious Technicolor, the true charm of the film is the uncanny resemblance of actor Anthony Dexter to the silent screen legend.

Although some characters are fictionalized and some were real with name changes, the film moves along nicely, especially when the title character does some tango dancing under the direction of Lewis Allen. Young people will not enjoy this film, unless they are into older movies.

But for older viewers, watch this film if you can. I don't believe it's on VHS or DVD, but hopefully, it will be one day.

This motion picture was an unsuccessful film, lost in a quagmire of fiction and caricature. Dexter who portrayed the Great Lover made a great performance including a dance of a fine Argentine tango. The naked truth is the story had everything of a good movie but strange facts happened before the shooting. The real past Madam Valentino, Natacha Rambova threatened legal action against Columbia Pictures if they attempted to portray her in the picture. Valentino's siblings Alberto and Maria did successfully sue for this unauthorized biography. So did Rex Ingram's wife, the actress Alice Terry, for the movie's portrayal of her having had an affair with Rudy both before and after her marriage to her director-husband. Final Conclusion: Columbia has changed the script and lost a masterpiece. In truth the film has been done too early when the principals personages were still alive. Nevertheless the movie released has charm due to Valentino myth and to unforgettable Dexter performance. Applauses from an old Valentino and Dexter fan. Adalberto P. Rodrigues

ANTHONY DEXTER, thanks to make-up artists and costuming, makes a believable stand-in as Rudolf Valentino, the silent screen's biggest male heartthrob, but creative license had to be taken with the screenplay because many of the participants in Valentino's life threatened to sue. The result is a rather lifeless bio smacking of Hollywood artifice.

This standard treatment of the Valentino story is interesting mainly because it gives a pretty accurate look at a period during the 1920s when silent films were the rage. It also provides some nice eye candy in the form of ELEANOR PARKER and PATRICIA MEDINA, both easy on the eyes and capable enough actresses to bring some life to a rather dull screenplay.

All of it has been photographed in luscious Technicolor under Lewis Allen's direction. He gets the most out of the dance sequences and it's here that Dexter's Valentino really comes to life. Otherwise, it's a pretty one-note performance throughout. Director Allen lets DONA DRAKE do her usual job of strenuously over-acting the role of a hot blooded Spanish dancer who is too aware of Valentino's roving eye. There are times when Dexter's Valentino resembles George Raft rather than the silent superstar.

RICHARD CARLSON and OTTO KRUGER do nicely as director and producer, and other parts are well played. I have no idea how much of the script is strictly fiction but it seems to capture the essence of the Valentino story, showing his early reputation as a gigolo and his eventual climb to stardom through a series of well mounted adventure romances.

Eleanor Parker gives the story class with her performance as Joan Carlisle, a co-star Valentino is continually getting a brush-off from, and eventually marrying Richard Carlson's character. The on again/off again romantic relationship between Parker and Dexter is at the heart of the story. How much of it is strictly fiction, I don't know.

His illness and subsequent death comprise the last scenes, but the dramatics involving disclosure of his affair with Carlisle seems like a creation of the scriptwriter. The mysterious lady in black who brings a rose to his gravesite every year is mentioned and gives a touch of mystery to those final scenes.

Nice attempt at a bio, but it's an uneven, surface profile of the star and never gets one deeply involved in his story.

I was just 15 when I first viewed this magnificant film, I found out later it was Anthony Dexter's first. No one could have picked a better leading man, he looked the part. I know movie make up can do a lot ,but this was him as if Rudy were alive. I myself would like to see it once more before I pass on. I have wrote to AMC ,no luck, and it is not on a tape! A very first rate film if you can get to see it you will not be disappointed. A good evening film for all the family. Emery J.Bittmann