Good Night Valentino (2003)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Edoardo Ballerini

Writers:

Edoardo Ballerini (writer)
John Rothman (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Short

Tagline:

A great man is not only great, but also a man.

Plot:

Dramatization of an H.L. Mencken story. Rudolph Valentino comes to Menckin's hotel room to seek advice about how to deal with a newspaper editorial that claims Valentino's screen career has emasculated the American male.

Plot Keywords:

Journalist | Silent Film Star | Homoeroticism

Cast

Edoardo Ballerini	...	Rudolph Valentino
John Rothman	...	H.L. Mencken
Blaire Chandler	...	The Maid

Runtime:

15 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Company:

Mineralava Productions

Trivia:

Part of the permanent archive at the Academy of Motion Pictures.

Reasonably well done--but not particularly interesting

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.