VALENTINO    1977Directed by Ken Russell128 minutesIn English

Whatever project the eccentric British director Ken Russell was involved in, you can expect it to be overblown, wild, imaginative, and out-of-control. That was certainly also true of this crazed biopic on the life of the famous Latin Lover Rudolf Valentino. Back in the silent film era, Valentino was all the rage, the heartthrob of women all across the western world. They threw themselves at him, they rioted for him, they committed suicide because of him.
 This movie starts off at the end, at Valentino's funeral, and then progresses through flashbacks. The cast is utterly amazing... we have none other than the famous Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev himself starring as Valentino. The film also features Michelle Phillips as Valentino's wife Natasha, along with Carol Kane and Seymour Cassel. Russell's excesses and extravagance made this flick notorious, and although the film did well in Europe, it bombed in America. One reason why it was hated so much by the Yanks is that Russell didn't depict Hollywood as the place where dreams come true, but as the place where dreams are smashed and broken.

Just as with all of his other movies, Russell uses biographical details and flamboyantly fuses them with his own bombastic fantasies, that often border on the grotesque. The costume designs are mind-blowing, and at times even heart-breaking, and were done by the director's wife Shirley Russell.This will be a high-definition projection of this over-heated cult extravaganza.