Starring Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Banky and Louise Dresser
Produced by Art Finance Corporation
The Eagle is about a Russian officer named Dubrovsky assigned to the court of Catherine II. During a military ceremony, rifles startle a pair of horses sending a carriage careening out of control. Without hesitation, the officer jumps onto a horse and saves the carriage and its two grateful occupants. One of the women inside clearly has an attraction to Dubrovsky, but the czarina also falls for the man's bravery. Dubrovsky is called to the czarina's palace where she makes advances to him, promising him a post as general if agrees. He bumbles and fumbles around, but ultimately escapes from the czarina's bed chamber, but she issues a warrant for his arrest. The Dubrovsky finds out his father is dying and...
Okay, let's try that again.
The Eagle is about a young man named Dubrovsky. His father dies after a man named Kyrilla conspires with a local judge to steal the Dubrovsky estate. Angry and grief-stricken, Dubrovsky swears to avenge his father's death. He dons a black mask and becomes a Robin Hood-like protector of the innocent against Kyrilla's men. At one point, Dubrovsky's men take Kyrilla's daughter Mascha prisoner, but Dubrovsky falls for the girl and releases her. Dubrovsky later shares a carriage with a man from France who has been hired to be Kyrilla's daughter's French tutor, Dubrowski trades places with the man and....
(*sigh*) All right, one more time...
The Eagle is about a young man who pretends to be a French tutor both so he can be near Mascha (the woman he loves and) possibly get revenge on her father Kyrilla. He becomes a part of the inner circle of Kyrilla, but when his ruse is exposed, he is chased by the tyrant's men. The thrilling escape ends when he is captured by the czarina's forces and...
Oh, for the love of God!
Look, Rudy (Can I call you Rudy?). I watched The Eagle. I get it. You have appeal among women, but you are seeing Douglas Fairbanks and thinking "how can I get a piece of that box office?". So you are trying to grab elements of what you do and plot points from what he is doing and combining the two.
The problem is you cannot just stick a bunch of plot elements into a cinematic blender, hit puree and hope that goes well. That approach doesn't lead to a great or even good film. It leads to wet, soppy mess.
You can't both be the bumbling, humorous rogue character and the dashing suave one. You can't bounce from scene to scene and essentially be playing a different guy in each case. It doesn't work.
Let's take the opening of the movie. He rescues the carriage so the czarina calls him to her palace for dinner. He is awkward and clumsy throughout the exchange. It's played for laughs. Both Valentino and the czarina are comedic figures. Next moment, he's escaping her room and being warned by another officer that he'll be killed if he leaves. You can't have a borderline slapsticky moment lead into an exchange meant to put the audience in fear for our hero's mortal life. At least, this movie can't.
Then, The Eagle becomes a completely different movie. He becomes Robin Hood... er, I mean the Black Eagle. He needs to keep his identity secret so he dons a disguise. Then he sends Kyrilla a note telling him the Black Eagle's going to get him. And signs it Dubrovsky. So much for secret identities.
It's never clear what he is trying to do as the Black Eagle. What kind of power does Kyrilla really have and how is he using it? Is Dubrovsky robbing from the rich and giving to the poor? And if that's the case, why exactly do his men kidnap Mascha (while leaving behind her portly, older companion)? What exactly were their intentions? They don't seem honorable, that's for sure.
Then the film careens into movie number three: Dubrovsky pretending to be a French teacher. This would work as a "being with the woman he loves" plot. It would also work as a "Robin Hood messing with Prince John" or "Count of Monte Cristo getting revenge" plot. Instead, it's a "Dubrovsky hanging around not doing much of anything" plot. At one point, one of his men from the Black Eagle days pops up to ask "hey, weren't you supposed to kill Kyrilla?" as if the movie is cosmically asking itself what it is doing.
There's a bizarre subplot here where Kyrilla enjoys randomly feeding men to a bear he keeps in his wine cellar. With his wine. Why? If the film knows, it's not talking.
Then the czarina's men show back up in the last ten minutes and it feels like three different movies collided and all that's left is for them to exchange phone numbers and insurance information.
Surprisingly, at points, the movie almost pulls off its lunacy and that's in large part because of the actors. Valentino's quick ascension as a star is legitimate and earned and he does his best with the whiplash changes in the plot, but there's only so many plates the world's best juggler can keep in the air before he's grabbing the broom and dustpan. The supporting actors are fantastic. Vilma Banky's Mascha is the type of woman you could fall in love with at first sight and James A. Marcus manages to be both intimidating and jovial as Kyrilla. Louise Dresser really stands out as the czarina. In just a few scenes, she makes an impression as both a woman of authority and a woman with needs.
Moments work. Lines of dialogue work. Acting works. However, it never comes together. Quite the opposite: the film and its script are locked in mortal combat. And that's a shame because the actors were certainly on board to deliver a fantastic film. I'm still waiting for the definitive Valentino performance. I can see the star quality there, but it's yet to be married to fantastic script.
*1/2 out of *****
NOTE: The Eagle was originally titled The Black Eagle, but they changed it when they heard Fairbanks was making The Black Pirate. Because the makers of The Eagle didn't want to be confused with a pirate film; they wanted to be confused with Robin Hood and Zorro.
0 comments:
Post a Comment