This isn't the best Valentino; for this viewer, that would be "Son of the Sheik."
"The Eagle"'s plot is a mess. The hero is not given a chance to use his own wits or cunning or skill or strength to rescue himself. Rather, he is rescued by a moment of sentiment in a person in power. He has vowed to avenge his father and depose Kyrilla, but he never does. While "The Sheik" movies worked to create atmosphere, showing how Valentino and his women were far, far away, in a world surrounded by sand dunes, "The Eagle" interior shots do a fair enough job of creating a convincing czarist Russia, but its exterior shots are obviously California. There's never any snow, which could have made this world as exotic and distant as Arabia's sands. But this *is* a Valentino movie, and that is a very good thing. He was wonderful, unique, and he made too few movies. So, you watch it for him. Vilma Banky is very fetching here, with the intelligence and spunk of an "It-Happened-One-Night"-era Claudette Colbert. The shot of the heavily laden banquet table is something to see; the special arrangements that had to be made for the camera for that shot are something to ponder. All in all enjoyable, but not the very best Valentino.
"The Eagle"'s plot is a mess. The hero is not given a chance to use his own wits or cunning or skill or strength to rescue himself. Rather, he is rescued by a moment of sentiment in a person in power. He has vowed to avenge his father and depose Kyrilla, but he never does. While "The Sheik" movies worked to create atmosphere, showing how Valentino and his women were far, far away, in a world surrounded by sand dunes, "The Eagle" interior shots do a fair enough job of creating a convincing czarist Russia, but its exterior shots are obviously California. There's never any snow, which could have made this world as exotic and distant as Arabia's sands. But this *is* a Valentino movie, and that is a very good thing. He was wonderful, unique, and he made too few movies. So, you watch it for him. Vilma Banky is very fetching here, with the intelligence and spunk of an "It-Happened-One-Night"-era Claudette Colbert. The shot of the heavily laden banquet table is something to see; the special arrangements that had to be made for the camera for that shot are something to ponder. All in all enjoyable, but not the very best Valentino.