The untimely death of silent screen star Rudolph Valentino prompts the many women in his past to reminisce about his troubled rise to superstardom.
Direction
Russell at peak unhinged—every frame screams
Costume
Nureyev in gauzy nothingness, obviously
Acting
Nureyev's raw physicality vs. his vocal limitations
Director
Ken Russell
Rudolf Nureyev
Rudolph Valentino
Leslie Caron
Alla Nazimova
Michelle Phillips
Natasha Rambova
Carol Kane
Starlet
Felicity Kendal
June Mathis
Seymour Cassel
George Ullman
Peter Vaughan
Rory O'Neil
Huntz Hall
Jesse Lasky
David de Keyser
Joseph Schenck
Alfred Marks
Richard Rowland
Anton Diffring
Baron Long
Jennie Linden
Agnes Ayres
William Hootkins
Fatty
Bill McKinney
Jail Cop
Don Fellows
George Melford
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Nureyev's voice was so heavily dubbed that he later joked he barely recognized himself. The studio panicked after his thick Russian accent test screenings.
Russell deliberately cast Nureyev—a queer ballet superstar—to reclaim Valentino's queerness from decades of Hollywood erasure, making this a meta-commentary on two closeted icons.
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