25: The Eagle

USA  91m  Dir: Clarence Brown  Key Cast: Rudolph Valentino

Based on: Dubrovsky by Alexander Pushkin (Novel)

Rudolph Valentino was one of cinema's first heartthrobs and though there's a bit of romance in store for his character of Vladimir Dobrovsky he spends much of the film almost parodying his usual roles and unleashing his comic skills which are rather fine. He clearly was a lot more than a pretty face and was a talented actor too. 

Dobrovsky is a Cossack who risks his own life to stop a runaway carriage, connecting with it's pretty occupant (Vilma Banky) and attracting the attention of the aging Czarina (Louise Dresser) who attempts to seduce him. The tone is a little inconsistent but the segments work excellently on their own terms- the carriage save is dramatic and Dobrovsky awkwardly trying to avoid having sex with the Czarina is as funny as any silent film I've seen. 

Dobrovsky runs away and is sentenced to be executed by the angry Czarina. He heads to his country home only to find it has been taken over by the villainous Kyrilla whose daughter it turns out is the pretty woman from the carriage. He then takes on the guise of the masked 'Black Eagle' to terrorize Kyrilla and also the woman's French tutor- he must then try to balance his conflicting feelings of restoring his families honour and his love of Kyrilla's daughter. 

The film continues to be tonally inconsistent throughout. Whilst the dramatic sequences are well done, for me it works better as a comedy and it feels like they should have leant more towards that angle. Valentino is great in this film, managing to balance being a cool action hero and an awkward young man when the occasion calls for it. His performance feels straighter than the likes of Chaplin or Keaton but his comedy skills match the actors more known for their comedic work. 

The ending of the film is dreadful and doesn't really satisfyingly end the story. The Czarina inexplicably changes her mind and no longer wants to execute Dobrovsky and he fails to do anything about restoring the family honour. He survives and gets the girl but it really feels like he ought to have got one over on Kyrilla. 

Director Clarence Brown does some great things in this film, the highlight being a tracking shot over a long table of food surrounded by diners which is unlike anything I've seen in 20s cinema before. He's able to put in little artistic flourishes that frankly the plot doesn't deserve.

This would be a fairly forgettable and tonally uneven film but it's saved by some strong direction by Brown and an excellent comedic performance from Rudolph Valentino.