Directed by the late, great Ken Russell and released in 1977, Valentino begins with the news of the famed actor's untimely demise at the all too young age of thirty-one. Newsreel footage shows us how his legions of female fans are inconsolable over the news, swarming the funeral home where his body lies in a scene that is essentially a riot. It is, in Russell's grand tradition, an exercise in excess and strange visual style.

After that initial sequence, things are put back into place, order is restored and there is some calm. From there, we learn how Rudolph Valentino (played by ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev) touched the lives of a few different women he was involved with over the years. This is set up through a series of flashbacks as each one of these women show up to pay their respects and get in on some photo opportunities (photographers are omnipresent in this world). First up is June Mathis (Felicity Kendal), a screen writer who was involved with the actor. Through her story we learn how Valentino immigrated to the United States from Italy, where he was born, how he worked menial jobs at first and then got work as a dancer, hoping to earn the money he would need to buy a farm in California. When he runs afoul of some mobsters, he splits to Los Angeles but still hopes to buy that farm one day. In L.A., he finds work dancing in nightclubs where he starts to draw more attention than he initially expected. This is a positive at first, until one night he grabs a woman named Jean (Carol Kane) and pulls her out to the dance floor, much to the dismay of her jealous date, Fatty Arbuckle (William Hootkins). Surprisingly quickly, he and Jean are married and he decides, after learning about the film business through her, that he should try acting and it's hear we learn how June Mathis would wind up ‘discovering' him.

From there, Alla Nazimova (Leslie Caron) shows up to grieve, giving the photographers exactly what they want. She then talks about how Valentino was cast as Armand and she as Camille in the production of the same name. Of course, this turns out to be doomed, in its own way. Natacha Rambova (Michelle Phillips) follows, telling of a love triangle of sorts and how she knew Valentino was destined for stardom. When she and Valentino worked together on The Sheik, they would become intimate and when he would split with his wife, they would travel together for a while. They are married south of the border before the divorce is finalized, however, and they are, upon their return to California, charged with bigamy which leads to a lengthy downward spiral of events for the couple culminating in a scene where Valentino challenges a reporter to a boxing match for casting aspersions on his sexuality (a fascinating sequence in which Russell shows us how boxing and dancing sort of morph into the same thing, at least in his world). At the same time, the health problems that would eventually claim the young man's life start to make their presence known…

If this isn't the world's most accurate portrayal of a Hollywood star, at least as far as ‘the facts' are concerned, it hardly matters. Russell directs this picture with an insane amount of style, but not at the cost of substance. There's a lot going on here, the visuals doing an excellent job of complimenting the storyline and the storyline doing an equally excellent job of complimenting the visuals. Russell does an interesting job of recreating some famous scenes from a few of the actor's better known works (giving the picture some occasional ‘film within a film' moments where Russell goes all out in blending fantasy with reality) and really shows off some fantastic set design. There are a lot of period appropriate art deco motifs that are duly exploited for the camera and scores of colorful costumes, backdrops and furniture pieces on display in pretty much every frame of the film. If nothing else, this is an amazing looking film, a picture ripe with sumptuous visuals and an expertly choreographed exercise in taking things completely over the top (this is Russell, we'd expect no less).

As to the story itself, it is well told. Co-written by Russell and Mardik Martin and based on the biographical book Valentino: An Intimate Exposé Of The Sheik, it does a fine job of summarizing the man's life and some of more famous works. Accuracy may not necessarily be a strong point. Was Valentino really forced to urinate on himself while incarcerated and was he really jailed next to a chronic masturbator? Russell was open about the fact that he wasn't going strictly by the book on this one, and that's covered well in the commentary included on this disc. The performances, however, are quite strong. Casting Rudolf Nureyev was an interesting move. The role might have been better suited to someone with more traditional acting experience than he, but he moves gracefully and impressively during the film's many dance sequences and if the resemblance that he shares to the film's subject isn't uncanny, it is close enough. A young Carol Kane is good here, as is Felicity Kendal and particularly Leslie Caron, really playing up to the photographers as she drapes herself over Valentino's coffin.

As it is with a lot of Russell's work, the devil is in the details. There are a lot of little touches here, subtle bits and pieces that make you think about what they mean, that get into your brain a little bit. This, combined with solid performances and some amazing art direction, make Valentino a very worthwhile film indeed, just enjoy it for what it is rather than what it isn't.

Video:

Valentino looks pretty nice on Blu-ray from Kino, offered up in a 1.85.1 widescreen transfer in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. While some small specks pop up here and there you're not going to notice anything stronger than that in terms of print damage and while the expected amount of film grain is present it isn't intrusive or distracting. Colors are quite nicely reproduced here and black levels are good if only occasionally a little closer to dark grey. Skin tones look nice and natural and there are no problems to note with any overzealous noise reduction, problematic compression or obvious edge enhancement while detail and texture are typically both strong throughout the film.