Arènes sanglantes

Impoverished shoemaker's son Rudolph Valentino (as Juan Gallardo) wants to be a bullfighter, much to his widowed mother's dismay. Still, toreador Valentino excels in the dangerous sport; and, later, he is wealthy and famous throughout Spain. Along the way, he marries virtuous childhood sweetheart Lila Lee (as Carmen). For Valentino, temptation accompanies fame, as he falls under the spell of wicked temptress Nita Naldi (as Doña Sol), a slightly sadomasochistic bullfighting groupie. Can Valentino love two women at the same time?

Valentino performs well as an innocent ragamuffin who achieves great fame; of course, this parallels the idolization of the film's star. Moreover, the Idol proves just as attractive being seduced (herein, by Ms. Naldi) as he was the seducer (in the recent "Sheik"). Fred Niblo's "Blood and Sand" is a classic; however, the story, and disjointed bullfighting footage, do bog things down.

Great things happen, after about a quarter hour, when Valentino steps into Naldi's lair. In a neat bit of acting business, Valentino wipes a sweaty hand before greeting his seductress; then, he and Naldi's servant exchange weird looks as Valentino gets his cigarette lighted. After some crosscutting to innocent Ms. Lee, Naldi's harp-playing gets her man.

Writer June Mathis adapts well, for her star; but, the Ibáñez story should have more streamlined. Combining, or further developing, the characters played by Charles Belcher (Don Joselito) and Walter Long (Plumitas) might have helped. Mr. Belcher's character is most interesting; he collects torture devices, and choruses the film's thesis: "Happiness and prosperity built on cruelty and bloodshed cannot survive."

******* Blood and Sand (8/5/22) Fred Niblo ~ Rudolph Valentino, Lila Lee, Nita Naldi, Charles Belcher

Although in many ways "Blood and Sand" looks rather old-fashioned now, it's still an interesting drama. It gives Rudolph Valentino one of his better roles, and it is also highlighted by an effective supporting performance from Nita Naldi. The subject matter has some substance to it, and it still holds up well enough despite being handled occasionally in a somewhat heavy-handed manner.

In playing the bullfighter Gallardo, Valentino gets a character with some depth to it. The story follows him as he first struggles to achieve fame and respect, and then struggles in dealing with the side-effects of fame, fortune, and popularity. Naldi's role is memorable, and from her first appearance she makes her manipulative vamp character physically desirable but an obvious source of danger. Valentino does a good job playing off of her, and even without the benefit of spoken dialogue it is easy to see the struggle and self-reproach taking place inside of him.

The themes have a significance that go beyond the original setting. In itself, the criticisms of bullfighting and of what it reveals about human nature, while generally quite valid, are put forth without any subtlety. The inter-titles and the obvious parallels between Gallardo and the notorious criminal Plumitas repeatedly emphasize the same points that the action itself could have made well enough on its own. But that's one of the few weaknesses of "Blood and Sand". And the more general point, its depiction of how easy it is for crowds to be thrilled with violence, is well-taken.

The one other noticeable shortcoming is that the bullring scenes are now often unconvincing. It is laudable, of course, that the film-makers were willing to sacrifice realism so as to avoid being cruel to the animals, so this particular aspect of the movie should be evaluated generously. Present-day technology would certainly have made it much simpler to achieve both goals.

Although the style might make it mostly of interest to those who are already silent movie fans, there is still more than enough of interest to make this worth seeing. The story is simple, but it has some worthwhile aspects. Naldi provides something striking to look at, and Valentino gets to show what he can do with a role that has some possibilities to it.

I just watched the 1941 Tyrone Powers remake of this film and enjoyed it very much, and reflected on American's fascination with the corrida during a couple critical time periods. It was the perfect time to watch this Rudolph Valentino (1922) version which is also a retelling of the book by Vincente Balasco Ibanez. This is the first Valentino film that I have seen and having watched many other silent films, I can see why Valentino was such a heartthrob. He really captures your attention and unlike other stars of the era was not overly campy to get his emotions across.

The general story is still the same, poor boy aspires to be a toreador, marries girl next door, then as he achieves fame and good fortune is noticed and subsequently seduced by fickle wealthy woman...who doesn't truly care for him and moves on to her next shiny plaything, leaving our toreador Juan to pick up the pieces.

Both films end the same way...even with the concept that the bull isn't the beast but the crowd of the corrida is the never satisfied beast. I will say the 1941 film version seemed to glorify or romanticize the bullfighting much more than the 1922 version that just kind of showed it as is.

I really enjoyed this Valentino take. In fact, I think I preferred it to Tyrone Power's film. That may be an unpopular view, but there was so much packed in to the 1922 version that made it feel like you were getting a real look into the past. More emphasis was put on the story...and less on romanticizing bullfighting as a sport. So many great details gave authenticity to the scenes...like when they are in a pub it is just thick with smoke as the crowd is smoking and drinking while the Gypsies perform flamenco. In Dona Sol's seduction pad behind the action their is a small pillar with incense smoke rising above the action...have you ever thought about how smelly those homes were with no indoor plumbing, lack of bathing, etc...yep, people with money burned incense to mask the bad smells. And the mantillas! The veils, the hairstyles...someone tried to do a nice job with giving it the look and feel of Seville.

I liked the bandit character in this version with a parallel rising from poverty with bravery story.

My only complaint is the half naked house servant in Dona Sol's employ...that seemed out of place and like something you would only see in a Hollywood theatrical production.

I have read some reviews complaining of the overt seduction...but I preferred that, it gave me more sympathy for Juan who seemed to really love Carmen. In the Tyrone version...as a woman I had a lot less sympathy for Juan as it seemed like it was all instigated from him, "pretty girl must have". As a woman, I like to think men have more willpower...but maybe they don't. (Please don't burst my bubble.)

If you are a silent film fan, I think this is a must see. If you are interested in bullfighting...I think this is a worthy watch and if you are interested in the 1920's you should definitely watch this. Highly recommend.

Most people picture Rudolph Valentino from his earlier roles in "Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse" or "The Sheik". In this movie, Valentino plays a Matador in Spain and the story traces his rise and fall. Yes, he certainly was handsome and you see traces of his definate appeal here. For me, though, the movie was stolen by "the other woman", Dona Sol. She tarts her role up real well and plays it very broad, almost shockingly brazen for it's time. The scene where she tells Valentino that she longs to fell him beat her will make us wince, then she bites his hand while while in a semi-embrace in order to raise his passions. All stuff that seems pretty extreme for the typical innocent silent movie woman roles. The ending will be no surprise, it is telegraphed and alluded to many times during the movie. It's not Rudy at his absolute best, but I can recommend it.

The color cinematography which won an Oscar and the outstanding performances of stars Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, and Rita Hayworth made the sound remake of Blood And Sand an enduring classic. But this silent version and much shorter version of Vincente Blasco Ibanez novel has a lot going for it.

Mostly it has Rudolph Valentino going for it. Valentino is cast well as the champion bullfighter of Spain who rises from poverty and marries the girl next door. But then this Samson of the Corrida throws it all away for the love of the Delilah like Dona Sol.

Lila Lee is the girl next door who Valentino marries and silent screen temptress Nita Naldi plays the beautiful and cruel Dona Sol. That one gets Valentino definitely going south of his Mason/Dixon line. In that sense Blood And Sand was a perfect Valentino picture because it had Valentino for the women to swoon over and Naldi for the men to drool over.

I did miss Laird Cregar playing the epicene critic Curo from the sound version. On the other hand there's Walter Long playing a bandit chief whose life as a lot of parallels to that of protagonist Juan Gallardo.

One thing that is radically different is that this silent version takes a position most against the sport of bullfighting. I'm betting that it was not popular in Spain or with Ernest Hemingway. The sound version has far more macho approach.

You'll have to decide for yourself which is better.