Valentino did not have an easy start. After doing the rounds of the producers' waiting rooms for some time, he managed to get himself taken on as an extra at five dollars a day. According to Alexander Walker, "he made his first appearance in 'Alimony' (1917) as a costume extra", in a dance sequence. Subsequent appearances were all more or less the same, short, fleeting scenes as an Italian macho, medieval knight in armour, and even an Irishman. Some film historians are of the opinion that he also appeared at the beginning of his career in the following films: "The Battle of the Sexes" (1914), "My Official Wife" (1914), "Seventeen" (1916) and "The Foolish Virgin" (1916).
In 1918, he was finally given a leading role, in "A Society Sensation" He plays a high-society character who gets cramp while swimming and is saved from drowning by the female lead (Carmel Myers). The "great lover" was yet to appear. Subsequently he made a series of low-budget films, shot to a tight schedule, but in 1919 appeared in a film that was to prove decisive for his career, "Eyes of Youth" by Albert Parker. The female lead was Clara Kimball Young. Valentino plays the part of a correspondent and, in the tavern scene, conveys "an admirable delicacy unequalled by any other cinematographical actor of the time". Although he appears in only one reel of the film, the sensation was such as to guarantee him the part of Julio in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". It was the screen writer June Mathis who suggested Valentino to Metro for the part, after seeing him in "Eyes of Youth". In the tango sequence, a slow unravelling of sensual poses and slothful lasciviousness, Valentino gave all that he had to give, under the impeccable direction of Rex Ingram, In this, the film which marked the beginning of his long working relationship with June Mathis, Valentino enchanted the public with his unique grace of attitude and effortless expressiveness. The film in its entirety demonstrates his versatility and capacity to modify his style. Thanks to June Mathis, his gifts were given many other occasions to express themselves.
After "The Four Horsemen", he made "Uncharted Seas" opposite the great beauty, Alice Lake developing and refining his acting style. From 1921 on Rambova began to influence his career. "Camille" (1921) remains part of cinema history, less for the performance of Valentino, than for the art-deco design of Rambova and the extraordinary acting of Alla Nazimova. Valentino made up for this with "The Conquering Power" an adaptation of Balzac's "Eugénie Grandet". The director was again Rex Ingram, one of the most important in the silent era. Alexander Walker writes: "Ingram had great instinct when it came to identifying the key to an actor's appeal. He would keep filming throughout an actor's performance and then isolate the moments in which he seemed most spontaneous". In this 1921 film, Valentino was stretched to the absolute limits of his by no means inconsiderable abilities interpreting the part of Charles Grandet.
Then came the end of his relationship with Metro. "The Sheik" his first film for Famous Players Lasky, marked a definitive turning point in his career. It was directed by George Melford, who, used to making action films, sought for dramatic effect in every scene. The result was little more than a rudimentary cartoon, somewhat crude in terms of development, but redeemed by Valentino, whose performance won for the film an unmerited success. Box-office takings brought home to the producers the dimensions of the phenomenon that had fallen into their hands, while the sheik's abrupt ways with women consecrated Valentino as the silent screen's most irresistible lover. From here began the rise to fame, as brief as it was vertiginous. In these first two years of his new-found popularity, Valentino made no less than nine films, followed by a two-year pause as he and Rambova made war against the companies. In general, Rambova was given to fighting with producers and directors, on the assumption that a talent such as Valentino's deserved films of equivalent artistic quality, rather than the usual run-of-the-mill Hollywood product. In February 1923 a business proposal from a certain George Ullman bailed the temporarily unemployed actor out of his financial difficulties. He resumed activity with "Monsieur Beaucaire" for which Rambova designed the sets. The film did not have great success, but, directed by Sidney Olcott,Valentino, as usual, gave himself completely to his role, displaying a new, infectious irony as he moved through a long series of extravagant poses typical of the dancer.
His last three films were shot after his finally leaving Famous Players-Lasky, and also constitute the triumphal climax and end of his career. He broke up with Rambova and made "The Eagle" superbly directed by Clarence Brown and "The Son of the Sheik" with the expert director George Fitzmaurice. When the latter film reached the screen, Valentino was already dead.



INDEX ITALIAN SPANISH