I have always personally believed that, despite occasional typecasting and overacting in some films, Italian actor Rudolph Valentino’s acting skills did shine bright in his more romantically-oriented films. Unfortunately his acting ended up overshadowed by his heartthrob reputation and the tragic consequences of his death, with only 31 years old in 1926.
Valentino plays the impoverished Italian nobleman, Count Rodrigo Torriani, a philanderer who was often in the company of beautiful women. In the beginning of the film he befriended an American tourist (Jack Dorning) and, as he had shown a deep understanding of antiquities during their talks, Dorning invited Torriani to work with him in New York, as an antiques export. The proposal was gladly accepted.
A short time after arriving in New York, Torriani realized that he would not really get rid of his weakness for beautiful women. He fell genuinely and purely in love with Dorning's secretary Mary Drake, but she did not return his interest, which was an irony because it was the first time Torriani has ever loved a woman.
On the other hand, he has also met Elise, a gold digger, who was looking for a rich husband. Elise was immediately interested in Torriani, thinking he was rich, but Torriani had no interest in her whatsoeverf. When Torriani told her that all the money actually belonged to Dorning, she directed her attention to him even though she had never forgotten Torriani. Having realized that Dorning was interested in Elise, Torriani encouraged him to have a relationship with her, which quickly happened.
Dorning fell madly in love for Elise and they soon got married. However, after around one year of marriage -although Dorning was still in love and happy – it became clear that Elise was being unfaithful to her husband. To make things worse, Elise started to make advancements to Torriani again, to the point of forcing herself to him in his office. Torriani, in consideration for his friend, resisted her seduction as much as he could but, when she invited him to go to a hotel with her, he ended up accepting her proposal. But, as soon as they arrived at the hotel, Torriani felt guilty of betraying his friend and left the hotel immediately before anything more intimate happened between them both.
It turned out to be a wise decision because the hotel caught fire that same night, killing both Elise and one of her other lovers (who she called to stay with her in the hotel after Torriani left). The bodies of both people were so severely burned that it was not possible to identify them. After having learned of his wife’s disappearance, Dorning was heartbroken. For a while he could not know where his wife was or if she would ever return. He fell into depression and Torriani took care of him, unable to return what happened at that night at the hotel. He did not dare to make his friend suffer by knowing which kind of woman Elise was.
After a while, while browsing through Elise’s papers, Dorning found letters of some of her lovers to her and he also found out that she was in the habit of frequenting that hotel that caught fire and she was probably one of people who passed away. He also found out a letter of Torriani to Elise, refusing her love. Dorning was proud of his friends loyalty, but it was the moment when Torriani confessed everything that happened that night between him and Elise and that it was him who had taken Elise to the hotel the night she died and that he felt too guilty to remain in the United States and that he would return to Italy. Dorning answered saying it was better if they both forgot what happened and that Torriani could return to Italy to rest, but he asked his friend to return after a while and keep on working with him.
Torriani indeed returned and it seemed that everything would run smoothly, but it was not what happened. Mary Drake seemed to be finally interested in Torriani, but he was still feeling too guilty about Elise’s death and could not immediately return her interest due to his grief. After a while, he heard that both Mary Drake and Dorning were dating and that Dorning was very happy with her. He talked to Dorning and he confirmed to Torriani to be deeply in love with Mary Drake.
After having heard of it, Torriani decided to renounce to the only woman he has ever truly loved. He lied to her claiming he was still the same womanizer of always and, feeling guilty and determined not to be on the way of his friend’s happiness for a second time, Torriani left the United States and returned to Italy, this time definitively.
One year later Valentino passed tragically away and his funeral has caused an unprecedented commotion. His successful career lasted only around five years (from 1921 to 1926). His fate in talkies is only a matter of speculation, as all his films were made during the silent era. Nevertheless, I do believe that if he got to totally avoid typecasting in ethnically-stereotyped films and devoted himself to romantic dramas, it would have solidified his career and make him being more seriously taken by some critics. But unfortunately there was no time for it.
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