A Strong Revenge (USA,1913)

This is one of one reelers (short films that lasted around 11 minutes) made in the beginning of Keystone studios (which had been opened on the previous year in California) with simple plots and straightforward gags, including overtly fake facial hair, exaggerated gestures, actors falling on their butts and even weird dancing (the latter being pretty much the case in this film). Mabel, so sweet and cute, had two suitors, who fought each other in order to have her affection. Mabel invited one of them (Schnitz, the grocer, a character played by Mack Sennett himself, who was the founder and director of Keystone Studios in real life) to her party. The problem is that Mabel also invited her other suitor (Meyer, the cobbler, a character played by Ford Sterling, one of the most popular comedians of the studio in its first years). Of course it would trigger the rivalry between both men even more.

A short time later we could see that Meyer bought some fresh cheese. The reason of it was not disclosed at first, but the audience would know it really soon. Unfortunately it turned out that the cheese did not really smell well (actually, it stink). Some time passed, both men got ready for the party and “dressed for the occasion” as one of the intertitles says. Meyer arrived at the party and gave some flowers to Mabel. People were dancing happily and Mabel and Meyer joined them in the ballroom. Then Schnitz arrived and he brought flowers to Mabel too. He gave them to her and started dancing with Mabel, pushing Meyer away from them. Meyer did not take this insult easily and would take a revenge in the first opportunity. Actually, “Schnitz scents trouble” as both men confronted each other, Mabel got upset and the environment of the party, which was happy until then, became tense.

The reason of the sudden change of vibe is that Schnitz started to stink all of a sudden, scaring off even the other guests. He tried to puff perfume on himself to disguise the problem but it seems the situation worsened because virtually everyone left the party altogether. Schnitz was insulted, tried to dance with Mabel again (to her despair) even though they were both literally alone in the ballroom now. An argument was started and Schnitz left the party in anger, carrying with him the flowers he gave to Mabel. Then Meyer was delighted because he could have Mabel all to himself and his rival was defeated. However, when Schnitz returned home he found out that the cheese on his shoe and he would not accept to be deceived his way and decided to fight back. He returned to the party, talked to a boy, who asked Meyer to go outside. While both of them talked, Schnitz discreetly put the cheese on Meyer’s pocket.

The party continued, the guests were dancing in the same ballroom, having fun while Schnitz was watching from a window the result of his plan to embarrass Meyer in front of everyone and the guests run away from the ballroom as soon as Meyer returned to the house. Mabel got angry, gave back to Meyer the ring he had previously given her while Schnitz laughed in joy. After a while, Meyer found out the cheese in his pocket. Meanwhile, Schnitz entered the party while the disgusted guests were packing the living room as no one wanted to return to that stinking ballroom. When Meyer saw Schnitz he threw the cheese on him and another argument took place, but it did not last long because both Mayer and Mabel fainted due to the strong smell while Schnitz watched it in shock. 

Although the plot might seem too simplistic for nowadays’ audiences, those short films stood well the test of time as they have gags that can be easily understood to this day, which might explain the success of those slapstick comedies in their own era. The charm of a film that simply entertains and relaxes is something hard to resist, regardless of era.

Hiroshima, Mon Amour (France - Japan, 1959)

Directed by Alain Resnais and written by Marguerite Duras (the famous French novelist), this film is considered groundbreaking for many reasons and it is still studied in cinema universities around the world for its language, narration, lyricism. It is one of the most acclaimed films of the French new wave and for a good reason. Innovative, strong and emotional at the same time, complex and simple, silent and subtle, this film runs smoothly and gives a plenty of sensations to the audience.

How to talk about a tragedy without being too graphic? We are aware of the atomic bombs detonated in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively on August 6^th and 9^th , 1945 and the horrifying loss of lives and suffering that they caused. How to keep the memory of facts alive in a touching, respectful way? It was an even more relevant question back to the production time of this film considering that those matters were shown on screen only 14 years after the tragedy.

Alain Resnais intended to make this film as a documentary at first but after a while he decided to add some fictional elements to it. It started with an embraced couple covered with nuclear dust. The woman is a French actress who went to Hiroshima to make a film about peace. The man was a Japanese architect. They both had an adventure that lasted a little more than 24 hours. She is in the last day of her work and then will immediately return to France. He would like her to stay a little longer. They are foreigners and also married to other people and are well-aware that their romance cannot possibly last. They are not named.

They started to talk. She said she had seen a lot from Hiroshima and he disagreed saying that she had seen nothing. This is the opposition between being on the place where the facts actually happened versus being away from the facts but having heard of them later on. She claimed that she had seen it all because she visited the city, she was in a hospital, in the museum. He still disagreed although he was not actually in Hiroshima when the bombs exploded because he was in the army. But he had family there and he was born in Hiroshima. Here we see a dichotomy that will last throughout the film, which is forget x remember.

A fragmented narration, being led by the memory of the characters. She told him about her first love, a German soldier who she met in her home city of Nevers while it was occupied by the Nazi army. When the war was about to end and both were planning to elope, he ended up being killed. Her family and neighbors found out about her relationship and she was deeply ostracized by her family and community, to the point that her family disowning her and her father had to close his pharmacy because of the shame. After some time of intense suffering she left her home city and went to Paris and she arrived in Paris on the day of the Hiroshima bombing. It is interesting that the day of bombing meant a new beginning both in her life and in the life of her Japanese lover.

The actress had this big trauma about the death of her love when she was younger, she continued to live, but those experiences remained inside her and they resurfaced when she was in Hiroshima, as physical and historical distance do not prevent people from having their memories with them. Even when we are no longer consciously aware of the past, it is still there in our subconscious mind, only waiting for an opportunity to return in full force.

The film was very competent in portraying the eroticism of the couple in a touching and non graphic way, at the same time showing the intensity of the feelings and attraction they had for each other. It is very interesting to see that although their love affair was extremely brief, we can see both people looking tenderly to each other, treating each other in the most caring way, trying to enjoy every minute of a beautiful story. This almost poetic atmosphere was enabled by the excellent acting by both Emmanuelle Riva and Eiji Okada. At the time of the production of his film Okada could not speak French and he learned his lines phonetically. The result was excellent and he spoke French very well with only a slight accent that gave his character an extra layer of charm. The audiences can easily empathize with her, but he was also so human so intense that we like him in the same extent.

We must also bear in mind that at the time it was still not very common to see an inter racial couple on screen, but there is no room to think about it because what we actually see is two human beings dealing with their feelings, memories, love.

On the other hand, the sequence where the French actress talked about her past in Nevers and the traumatic loss of her first love can be tiresome for nowadays’ audiences. Emmanuelle Riva engaged in a very long monologue while her lover carefully listened and even role played her old boyfriend in what looked like a therapy session at times. This scene could have been more balanced if they both have talked about their memories instead of only one person talking and the other one mostly listening. The film also often try to go really deep into the actress’ psychological character and at times she seems to act unreasonably or over stressed. The scenery is also noteworthy. We can often see the French woman walking in empty places, streets that were almost deserted, which highlight the emptiness she felt deep into her soul.

The end is really powerful when she tells him that she will forget about him, that she had actually already forgotten about him. Then she said to him that Hiroshima was his name in what looks like an attempt of her to have him on her mind as just a nameless man, just somebody she had casually met in Hiroshima without too much importance. Surprisingly, he agreed with her and said that it was actually his name and he told her that her name was Nevers, Nevers in France. This is how the film told the audiences that no matter where we go, what we do, how long it takes and we are all shaped by our past experiences, roots, culture. We may try to forget, we can deceive ourselves but in the end those experiences shaped our personality to such an extent that we would have been completely different people without them.

Won in a Cupboard (USA,1914)

This film has a historical importance because, to this date, it is the earliest-surviving film directed by Mabel Normand. She was 21 years old at the time and was at the height of her beauty and vitality. Previously thought to be a lost film, it was discovered in 2010 in New Zealand.

The 1910s comedies by Keystone studios show us that it is possible to be funny with simple resources. They were mainly one or two reelers with very simple plots and the gags were the center of all action. In addition to frantic chases, quick pace, fake facial hair and occasional broad gestures, an important component in those comedies was misunderstanding. And this is exactly what we will see in this film.

A woman is sweeping the floor outside a house and a man with a big sheriff badge approaches her. Then, there’s an intertitle saying: “Dreaming of her ideal” and we see Mabel sitting down outdoors. Two men are shown, one of them approaches Mabel. She does not care very much and leave and walk towards a river and the other man laugh at the man who was rejected. 

It is shown once more the woman who was sweeping the floor and the sheriff. The woman enter the house leaving the man outside speaking a lot. 

The two men are shown again. The other man try her lucky in approaching Mabel while the rejected man look at it from a distance. This other man end up being rejected by Mabel just like the previous one. 

The sheriff return to the police department, the other policemen are idle and the sheriff complain about it. 

Now Mabel is in a sort of forest and both men are still all around her. There is an intertitle: “Her ideal” and we see another man and it is shown to the audiences that they really liked each other, to the disgust of the two men who were interested in Mabel previously in the film. At this point of the film, there is a split screen with both love interests walking towards each other, which create a very beautiful and innocent event. Mabel’s love interest give a fruit to her and she accept it with joy.

On the following scene it is shown the sheriff once more visiting the woman who was out of her house and the audiences can see that there is mutual romantic interest between them.

Both of Mabel’s previous suitors approach the couple, but Mabel refuse to speak to them. The men started to bully Mabel’s love interest and she get angry. A fight take place and everyone start throwing things at each other. The sheriff appear by chance in the middle of the chaos and was hit by accident too. The sheriff beat up Mabel’s suitor and took her away.

It is shown the intertitle: “Mother’s pet”. Mabel’s love interest return home, which is the same house where the woman sweeping the floor live and it become clear that he is her son and a kind of coward person. It is also clear that Mabel is the sheriff’s daughter. Both Mabel and her suitor were admonished by their parents at homed due to the fighting they were involved.

But Mabel’s love interest did not give up and he showed up at her house. Mabel talked to him by the window and meet him outside. Meanwhile, the sheriff was visiting his love interest and at this point it become clear to the audiences that the parents of Mabel and her suitor were having an affair. The boy’s mother enter a cupboard within her house, the sheriff enter the house and does not see her.

Mabel and her suitor meet a tramp while they are walking outdoors. Right afterwards, the couple was passing nearby the boy’s house and he invite Mabel to go inside. The problem is that the sheriff was already within the house and in order to avoid being seen by the couple, the sheriff decided to hide inside a cupboard, the same place where the woman (his sweetheart, the owner of the house and the boy’s mother) was also hiding. Both people realize that their children were outside and got nervous in fear of a scandal if their children found out about their affair. 

Mabel and her sweetheart enter the boy’s home and Mabel see that there is somebody inside the cupboard and she think that the tramp they have met on the street a short time ago was the one who was hiding in the cupboard. The boy go outside and cry for help and meanwhile Mabel barricade the cupboard’s door. Many people in the neighborhood go to the house to help them get rid of the so-called tramp and Mabel also called the police department. 

Chaos ensue as many people go to the boy’s house at the same time, including the policemen and the neighbors carrying rifles. The cupboard is removed from the house and people try to open it in whatever way they can. Of course that after all effort the cupboard’s door was eventually open and everyone knew who was inside. It turned out that the scandal and gossip could not be avoided.

Won in a Cupboard was categorized as a nonsense number by Moving Picture World in 1914 and I have to say this is an average comedy of the era, but it remain worth seeing. It is a nice example of Mabel’s directorial style. She had her own production unit in Keystone studios at the time and it would last for around one year and, during this time, she directed all films of that unit. This film is also a precious witness of a country life that has been gone a long time ago. It’s a joy that the film was recovered after so many years. 

Pordenone Silent Film Festival - 2020 - On line version

In such weird year, when the world has stopped due to a pandemic and the humankind has had to assess how to deal with isolation and to do as many activities as home as possible, we have for the first time the on line version of Pordenone Silent Film Festival, which is considered the most important festival devoted to silent films and that has existed for almost 40 years. It started being held in September 1982 when a small group of friends organized a three-day festival in response to the 1976 Friuli earthquake that had devastated much of Northern Italy.

The festival was a pioneering event in the beginning and it has been pioneering now, with the initiative of holding the counterpart of a large cinema festival on line due to a pandemic that impacted the entire world and, for a while, it was particularly harsh with the Northern of Italy itself. As it is the case with all pioneering initiatives, nobody was certain about the results of an on line festival of silent films with attendees of all parts of the world. 

But it truly worked. With the usual careful selection of films mixing rarities and known films from a plenty of countries, Pordenone did not really fail in providing immersion for the audiences. In addition to the films, there were also lectures about the films themselves and silent film music. Pordenone Masterclasses is when the musicians of the festival talk to the audience about their work, which is a rare opportunity to increase the understanding of the films themselves. 

Another pleasant surprise was that together with the introductions of the films the audiences could see the work of film archives in some countries and it was fascinating to have an introduction on how films were restored, to see their facilities, the employees working, the reels on the shelves. It’s a dream for every fan of history of cinema. It is an interesting bridge between past and present and context is also important to the understanding of silent films, especially for the new generations.

They also have an event called Collegium, which according to the festival’s website is: “to attract new, young generations to the discovery of silent cinema and to infiltrate these newcomers into the very special community that has evolved around the Giornate during its three decades. It is designed to take advantage of the unique conditions of the Giornate – a highly concentrated one-week event; the possibility to see an extensive collection of rare archival films; the presence in one place and at one time of many (perhaps most) of the world’s best qualified experts in film history – scholars, historians, archivists, collectors, critics, academics, and just plain enthusiasts”

On the technical side, the films were shown through an Italian platform that worked really well. The films could have their intertitles translated into both Italian and English and were available for 24 hours to be watched. After this time, the films were no longer available. An interesting detail is that there was an interface in each film that reproduced the chairs of a real-life cinema that showed how many people were watching the films at the same time as you. 

Other interesting details is that the audiences could take a peek on the beauty of Pordenone city in the introduction of the films. Artistic Director Jay Weissberg made all introductions and was straightforward and informative. It was an interesting way to have some contact with the Italian cities and their culture.

Of course that nothing replaces the real-life experience of attending the screening of a film with live accompaniment, the get together with fellow silent film fans, the networking but the production made sure that audiences had an as close to real life experience as possible. 

For example, right in the first day there were nine travelogues produced between 1911 and 1939 shown under the name “The Urge to Travel”, which demonstrated that despite being a festival related to the history of the cinema, Pordenone Silent Film festival is also in touch with the current events. This bridge between past and present is very important to contextualize silent films to new audiences and show them that the understanding of silent films helps to figure out the world as it is nowadays. 

The experience that those travelogues provided was truly awesome. Some of them were filmed in such a way as if we were walking down the street with the people who were being filmed and it gave a very interesting feeling of travelling in a time machine. That was really touching because the audiences witnessed an era that has been gone for a long time. And it was only the first round of films of the first day. Afterwards, there were rare films from countries like China, Greece and even lesser known films of the United States, together with classics.

All in all, Pordenone Silent Film Festival, got to keep up with its high standards and not only provided films, but also experiences to the audiences. They could experience travels in time machines, they could listen to scholars talking, watch the films. Variety was also thought of and the films were really interesting and the music was awesome. The festival is a very worthwhile experience even for those who are not hardcore fans of silent films especially because, after an entire week being in touch with those films, it is likely that you will end up becoming a fan too. 

Blood and Sand (USA, 1922)

This film was based on the 1909 Spanish novel Sangre y arena (Blood and Sand) by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and the play version of the book by Thomas Cushing. It was produced by Paramount Pictures. Rudolph Valentino was already a heartthrob and very popular among the audiences after the hits of The Sheik and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in 1921. The latter film was also an adaptation of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s book. 

Rudolph Valentino played the role of Juan Gallardo, a bullfighter born in a poor family in a village located in Seville, Spain. He was a relaxed and charismatic lad who enjoyed a life of adventure. His mother was a widow who worried about the safety of Juan due to the fact he played at bullfighting. Juan Gallardo was considered a good-for-nothing son due to his failure to work at his father’s trade and his family strongly disapproved of his lifestyle.

After two years, Juan Gallardo became the idol of the entire Spain, being known even in Madrid. He had many fans who gathered themselves only to see him. It was also clear that he was already a quite wealthy man at this point. 

Then his luck changed and, as it was said in one of the intertitles: “The news of the “Little Shoemaker’s” prowess spread through Seville, attracting the wealthy patrons of the national sport”. His bravery in the arena became a sensation among the local population, which catapulted him into fame. Even Juan’s brother in law, who could not stand him and did not believe his capabilities, started to act in a friendly way towards Juan after he became famous. 

However, success can sometimes spoil people and bring them temptations that are hard to resist. Juan became the idol of the Seville cafés and ended up living a bohemian life around many women and drinking heavily. That was the beginning of Juan Gallardo losing his focus in life.

At his point, Gallardo had already married the beautiful and virtuous Carmen,  “the playmate of his childhood”. Then the sensuous and wealthy Doña Sol (played by actress Nita Naldi) enters Gallardo’s life. She was the niece of the Marquis of Moraima, “breeder of the finest bulls in Spain” and widow of an ambassador and quite popular among kings and diplomats of Europe for her beauty. At first Gallardo tried to resist to Doña Sol’s interest in him, but they ended up having an affair, which would jeopardize Gallardo both socially and professionally while Carmen knew about the affair through the newspapers. And she suffered as the virtuous woman she was. In silence, always devoted, without complaints. At the same timed Gallardo’s friends have noticed that he changed and seemed out of focus and worried.

Once more we see in a silent film a woman being portrayed as a “vamp”, the woman who represented temptation and could ruin lives of honest men with her seducing powers. This includes the famous mention to sadomasochism, which was rather daring for the era and Doña Sol being called “serpent from hell” in one of intertitles when Gallardo was divided between the love-hate feelings and he could no longer have control over his own emotions.

Knowing that Gallardo was trying to drift away from her, Doña Sol followed him to his home village. She was not being used to be rejected and she brought many problems to Gallardo by imposing her presence and tension reached the point when Doña Sol told about her affair with Gallardo to his wife and mother, which had apparently destroyed his marriage. It was the beginning of the end of Gallardo’s peace even within his own household.

Gallardo got more and more depressed and it reflected on his performance in the arena. He was no longer as careful with his well being as before and he became “the gossip of Spain”. A good bullfighter needed to be concentrated all the time due to the danger of his profession and this was definitely a bad sign. One day Gallardo received a letter from Carmen asking him to give up the arena, but it was his profession, he had no savings and if he quit bullfighting at that point he would certainly return to poverty. Carmen sensed that Gallardo was in danger and it would turn out to be a prophecy. This only showed that the connection between Gallardo and Carmen was so pure, so deep that they could communicate with each other even without words. Something so different from his connection with Doña Sol, which have never been beyond physical attraction deprived of further feelings.

Another bullfighting, Doña Sol was in the audience, Gallardo was distressed and quiet, there was tension in the air. Other bullfighters and even audience members noticed that Gallardo was more reckless than ever. And right in the middle of the audience the village’s bandit was shot, he mentioned Gallardo and passed away immediately. At the same time, Gallardo had a feeling of terror, did not know what to do and lost confidence. He was hit by a bull, fell down and was removed from the arena. Doña Sol did not even notice what was going on amid her own selfishness and superficiality. She was directly told that Gallardo was dying but did not care and did not even care to leave the audience and see Gallardo or comfort his relatives. On the other hand, Carmen was by his side all the time until the end with the devotion that only a virtuous woman could have for her husband. 

A priest was called. In Gallardo’s last moments, he ask for Carmen’s forgiveness and they reconciled.  Gallardo passed away in a very sad circumstance but at least in peace with his sweet wife Carmen, the only woman he has truly ever loved.

The plot has the expected melodrama with occasional overacting (especially by Valentino and Nita Naldi in their most torrid scenes) and some stereotyped representations of other peoples. However, it remains interesting in the sense that it was critical of bullfighting and the rise and downfall of the main character (Gallardo, played by Valentino) gives him a degree of humanity that does not really age easily.  We still can see so often that a poor man’s way up to climb the social ladder is choosing a profession where he will face death and this can have some sad consequences sometimes.

The Conquering Power (USA, 1921)

This film was made a short time after huge Rudolph Valentino’s hit, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (USA, 1921) and it was the second and last collaboration of Valentino and Rex Ingram, the latter would subsequently direct Ramon Novarro’s films.  The Conquering Power (USA, 1921) was based on the novel Eugénie Grandet by Honoré de Balzac. The plot is about the conquering power of love, and all barriers it is capable to overcome, plus the maturity of a man from boyhood to adulthood due to adversities of life. It is also portrayed how the effects of greed can be harmful to a person.

Valentino plays the role of Charles Grandet, a French playboy who lived a careless life and all worldly pleasures to the full, as it can be seen by his lavish birthday party in the beginning of the film, which was interrupted by the earlier return of Victor Grandet, his father, from a trip. Upon his return, Victor had a serious conversation with Charles about his brother, Père Grandet, who he had not seen for around twenty five years and recommended Charles to be on friendly terms with him. Victor seemed to be rather distressed and it is hinted that he had serious financial problems.

Victor had committed suicide a short time afterwards and after his death, Charles ended up living with his uncle. Père Grandet, despite of being rich himself, he was a miserly, who treated both the poorer people from his province and his own family with an iron fist. At the house of his uncle Charles met and fell in love with his cousin, Eugenie Grandet. Eugenie was a virtuous, beautiful and sweet girl, quite in demand by the suitors of her village. 

Charles brought to his uncle’s house a letter by Victor, who claimed that he had lost his fortune due to stock market speculation and he hoped that Père would be a father for his son. The tone if this letter suggested that Victor would die soon, which actually happened and this tragic event left Charles penniless. 

While love flourished between both cousins, Père received a letter stating that Victor’s debts had been reduced and it meant that Charles has not lost all his money, after all. To avoid that Charles recovered his money and that his love for Eugenie took root, Père decided to send Charles away for the Martinique. However, before Charles’ departure, Père made him sign a document renouncing to all his inheritance, something that Charles found strange as his father had left no estate. Despite that suspicious signal, Charles did not realize that Père could have been behind any scam to take advantage of him.

While Charles was away he wrote to Eugenie regularly, telling her about his life in Martinique, that he was prospering there, etc. Nevertheless, his letters never came to her because Père  was hiding everything and it made Eugenie think that Charles had forgotten about her. On the other hand, Père had written Charles claiming that he had arranged a marriage for Eugenie and therefore it would be advisable he did not keep any further correspondence with her. The claim was a lie and there was no marriage, but Charles could not possibly know. But both Charles and Eugenie never forgot each other.

One day Père asked Eugenie to see her gold because he wanted to invest it, but she could not give it to him because Eugenie had lent it to Charles previously, so he could have some money to restart his life. When Père realized Eugenie had given her gold to Charles, he locked her in her bedroom and it was when the worst ordeal of Eugenie began. However, the news of Eugenie’s imprisonment in her room became the topic of the village and the villagers have also noticed how maddened Père was. 

Some scenes later it is revealed to the audience that Eugenie was not actually Père’s daughter and that  Eugenie actually had the right of demanding a division of his fortune if only she knew the truth. 

Speaking of the truth, Eugenie eventually found out Charles’ letters to her hidden in her own house, none of them had ever been given to her. She also found the letter that stated that Victor’s debts were reduced and that Charles was not penniless, after all. The same letter that had never been disclosed to Charles, who left to Martinica thinking his father had not left any estate. 

Père found out that Eugenie found the letters. She runs away and he gets locked in his cellar, totally maddened by his own greed and evilness. This is one of the most famous scenes of the film, beautifully played and acted by actor Ralph Lewis (who played the role of Père in a convincing and skillful way) and the favorite scene of many people. Right afterwards Père passed away, leaving Eugenie a very rich woman and it was suggested to her to look for a husband. She announces her engagement, but shortly after is reunited with Charles.

My personal favorite part of the film is the end, when after some years Charles returned from France, now a very rich man and they both met each other again in the same place where they used to gather together in the past, this time older and with different appearances. However, the love and joy in seeing each other was still the same. Their facial expressions of happiness were something very touching to see, as they show that love was the real conquering power, even beyond the action of gold and time. Charles did not come to the village before thinking that Eugenie was married, but she was actually still single and it was when they were finally reunited.

Cobra (USA,1925)

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.