A film that purports to tell the true story of Valentino (played by Rudolph Nureyev). It doesn't. It does bring up his alleged homosexuality (heck, it opens with him dancing with a man!) and the fact that his two wives were both lesbians. But, according to this, Valentino was seriously wounded in a boxing match that led to his death. There never was a boxing match. That's one of many inaccuracies in the film. Still, Ken Russell's films always play quick and loose with the facts so it didn't really bother me. This is one of his better films--but not one of his best.

It starts off with Valentino's funeral and, one by one, we meet the women in his life and (by flashback) we see his life and career. The two main ones are Alla Nazimova (Leslie Caron) and Natasha Rambova (Michelle Phillips). Nazimova's entrance into Valentino's is a REAL eye-popper (even by Russell standards) and really has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately Caron is not that good in the part. She overplays way too much. She does fake a Russian accent--but it renders most of her dialogue unintelligible. Phillips is much better as Rambova. She doesn't try and fake an accent and gives a very easy-going, pleasing performance.

The sets are just beautiful--large, colorful (especially the funeral) and really opulent. Ditto the costumes--they're true to the period and just look great. The picture moves quickly and I was never bored. So why do I think it's only good and not great? One word--Nureyev.

He's terrible. He looks nothing like Valentino--Valentino was handsome, Nureyev isn't. Also Valentino was 31 when he died--Nureyev was 39 when he made this--and looks it. Valentino was a tall, muscular man. Nureyev is short and not muscular at all. However he IS nicely toned (from all that dancing) and he holds his own in a surprising nude scene (with a full frontal shot). Also he's Russian and he tries to imitate an Italian accent--it makes most of his dialogue incomprehensible (the dialogue scenes between him and Caron are bewildering--neither one can be understood!). Also Nureyev was known for his dancing, not acting. He really does try and occasionally pulls out a good moment or two but, ultimately, he's all wrong for the role. And there are way too many sequences of Nureyev dancing. His dancing is great...but Valentino was not really known for that.

I do recommend it but I really wonder what Russell was thinking when he cast Nureyev. A must for Russell fans.

Once you realise and accept(if you can) that what is depicted in Valentino is far from what really happened then you will find a lot of enjoyment here. Ken Russell has done better with Women in Love, The Devils and The Music Lovers(also his even better composer documentaries, apart from the Richard Strauss one),it is though certainly more watchable than Lisztomania. The storytelling, told in flashback structure, is jumpy in places which makes it not always easy to follow and I agree that the characters are written flatly, they're very well played but you wish that you learnt more about them. Plus Rudolph Nureyev is a very mixed bag in the title role, he is an incredible dancer(in ballet one of the greats, his chemistry with Margot Fonteyn perhaps unparallelled) and it shows in the beautifully choreographed dance routines, the tango especially, he was also a very handsome man, his chemistry with his colleagues credible and does show some expressive acting in the dances. His dialogue delivery is another story, often very awkward-sounding and at times incomprehensible, and while charismatic and athletic his acting outside the dance routines was at times too subtle and not matching with the acting style of films from the first twenty years of the 20th century.

Leslie Caron however looks as though she was having a whale of a time and is gleefully enjoyable, while Michelle Phillips is more restrained and is touching and delightful. Felicity Kendall is also very involved and Carol Kane and Seymour Cassell delight. Ken Russell writes himself in and is thankfully nowhere near as embarrassingly bad as he was in Salome's Last Dance. The music is fitting, it captures the period beautifully and is used in a way that enhances the atmosphere yet accommodates the more dramatic elements. Visually Valentino is a gorgeous film to look at, one of Russell's most visually pleasing films. The sets and colours are lavish and the costumes, hair-styles and make-up are unmistakably 20s. The dance scenes show off Nureyev's talents really well and are intoxicating, while the sexual moments are mostly sexual but sometimes gratuitous. The script is appropriately dark-humoured and sharply biting, you cannot resist how Valentino's conflicts with different people(mainly moguls hungry for power and actresses) are depicted, even if it doesn't say a lot about the characters. Russell like his actors seems to be really enjoying himself, the film is full of his style which goes to go how much the direction shines. And thankfully his stylistic touches while not exactly restrained are not overly-excessive or distasteful, Caron's entrance at the funeral is eye-poppingly operatic, while Valentino's jail encounter, the fight sequence and the staging of the funeral are every bit as entertaining and grandly staged, managing to do so in a way that is not too overblown. In conclusion, not for people expecting a history lesson(and that is not meant to sound derogatory if it does come across that way, more as a forewarning as to what to expect) but for a well-made film that does spark at least an ounce of interest Valentino is worth a viewing. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Ken Russell directed and co-authored this flagrantly useless biography of silent-screen legend Rudolph Valentino, adapted from the book "Valentino, an Intimate Exposé of The Sheik" by Brad Steiger and Chaw Mank; certainly the producers and actors associated with this film knew of Russell's penchant for the gross and bizarre, yet everyone seems to have jumped on-board blindfolded. It's a stiff and self-conscious circus, albeit one with an opulent 1920s production design. The essence of capturing a romantic hero of the movies on film has seldom come off (proof of that is the unsuccessful 1951 version of "Valentino" starring Anthony Dexter); here, Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev struggles with his Italian accent, struggles with his romantic partners, and really only looks comfortable with the dancing (an early scene featuring Valentino and Vaslav Nijinsky together on the dance floor is the picture's best moment). The impersonations of real-life players in Valentino's short life are grotesque caricatures, and the flashback conceit of female admirers recalling their associations with "The Sheik" after his premature demise is flabby and tiresome (and fails to pay off in any sort of narrative context). Ken Russell has never been very nimble with actors, but one expects more fireworks with this large cast (they are largely posed and wooden). Leslie Caron's nutty interpretation of famed actress Alla Nazimova gets some goosey laughs, and Seymour Cassel is always nice to have around as Valentino's manager, but the lead is too old for his role--and intensely uncharismatic on the screen. *1/2 from ****