Good Night Valentino

This was included on the disk "Shorts: Volume 2"--a rather dull collection of short films. Shorts are among my favorite style of films but somehow the people assembling this second collection had a hard time finding quality content--and it wasn't nearly as good as the first volume or other shorts collections. This particular short film is one of the better ones in it.

Unlike most reviewers, I am very acquainted with the films of Rudolph Valentino and know exactly who H. L. Mencken was, so I understood the context for the film. Apparently, just before his death, the two men met at Valentino's insistence. Valentino had been angry about some newspaper reports that depicted him as being less than manly--though he was also considered by most women to be the most desirable man in the world. Their conversation about life, fame, masculinity and newspapers is the subject of this short.

Even though I am aware of the characters, I still didn't particularly care about the film one way or the other. The lead didn't look that much like Valentino to me and the whole thing was so cerebral and underplayed that it didn't spark my interest. Perhaps you'll enjoy it more.

First, this is a meeting between two 20's personalities, not 30's. Secondly, Valentino would have never have admitted he was a homosexual, because that was the very thing he went to see Mencken about, and, contrary to what people may want to believe, he was heterosexual. The rumor about him being homosexual came from a film, and the costume he wore, in which he was called a pink powder puff. Valentino, being from Italy, had that machismo, and was deeply offended and crushed by the newspaper article that described him as less than a he-man, although, he wasn't much of a he-man. More Importantly, American men were threatened by Valentino because American woman were in love with his image, and men were jealous. Douglas Fairbanks was very rude to Valentino: couldn't stand him. There was a lot of rivalry. Valentino himself was awed by his power, liked it, but was ambivalent about it. I don't think Mencken was exactly correct.

There are a couple of reviews that are noteworthy about this film, but please avoid these two, obviously written by two people who didn't understand what they were watching.

Yes, interesting and quite a remarkable study---very inventive and ingenious plot about a true event come back to life. The actor who portrays Valentino does resemble him--I mean he is not an exact double, but we do, yes we do, see Valentino. There is a bit of factual error when the newspaper man asks about Valentino's wife (Natacha Rambova) and at the end of the film, Valentino is said to have died two days after this interview. The real Valentino was divorced from Natacha at the time, but we forgive it in this fictional yet almost real account. Rudolph Valentino will never be forgotten. There was a star. I enjoyed this short film. A tribute to Valentino.

Saw this film at the Valentino tribute at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. It's an essay that was written about the writers last encounter with Valentino. The actor and director, writer who wrote this piece was there and introduced the film. Valentino at the time was upset with a writer who had said he was a powder puff, homosexual. This writer met with him days before his death and Valentino told him it was true. Great little film.

As a fan of Rudolph Valentino and having read every book on the man, "Good Night Valentino" is by far the best depiction of the silent screen star ever captured. When I first saw Edoardo Ballerini in the film "Dinner Rush" I could not believe how much he physically resembled Valentino without in any way trying. When I later heard Ballerini was starring and directing a film about the legend, I knew I had to see it. I was not disappointed."Good Night Valentino" is an excellant two character study that beautifully captures the mood of 1926 (and the state of mind of Valentino in the days before his untimely death at age 31). Both actors are so good that you feel as though you are watching a documentary on Valentino. Let's hope that we see more work by this talented actor/director soon!