★ 6 / 10
Vicente Ibáñez wrote the book, Tom Cushing the
CinemaSerf
Vicente Ibáñez wrote the book, Tom Cushing the play - so it was only a matter of time before this came to a big screen - and Fred Niblo and a really rather…
Vicente Ibáñez wrote the book, Tom Cushing the play - so it was only a matter of time before this came to a big screen - and Fred Niblo and a really rather dead-behind-they eyes Rudolph Valentino went to work. They recreate a tale that follows the rags to riches toreador ("Juan") from Seville, who marries his childhood sweetheart "Carmen" (Lila Lee) but is soon infatuated with the stunning, wealthy, electric "Doña Sol" (Nita Naldi) and his world comes crashing about his ears thanks to his behaviour, and to his somewhat hypocritical, and puritanical, fellow citizens. There's something of the "success has a thousand fathers; failure is an orphan" about the fickleness of his celebrity and fame; his love and his lusts - for women and success in the bullring - and he is woefully ill equipped to deal with the consequences of his dalliance. To that point, the plot runs a bit to rather dreary moralising which rather detracts from any fun side of what should have been an enjoyable, if imperfect, look at historic Spanish culture, and though certainly beautiful to watch on occasion, it lacks substance - depth; the performances - charisma. There are some lovely scenes with Valentino and the temptress Naldi, displaying an almost raunchy sensitivity and intimacy expertly exploited by Niblo, but these are few and far between and do little to raise the overall quality of this rather lengthy, but really pretty cold story.
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Interesting Drama, Highlighted By Naldi & By One Of Valentino's Better Roles
Snow Leopard
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…
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.
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★ 6 / 10
The film is almost as conflicted as Valentino's character
hte-trasme
"Blood and Sand" tells us many times how cruel and dangerous it believes bullfighting to be, but in terms of what it actually shows us, it seems far more…
"Blood and Sand" tells us many times how cruel and dangerous it believes bullfighting to be, but in terms of what it actually shows us, it seems far more interested in the romantic qualities of Rudolph Valentino and his larger-than-life love triangle.
Valentino gives a legitimately good performance, but even the love story loses some of its immediacy from the fact that "Blood and Sand" takes its subject at some distance, periodically stepping back and focusing on the scholar who foreshadows the matador's end. This also allows some of the characterization to go without being fully realized. When all is said and done it is neither believable as an anti-bullfighting film nor totally involving as a story of a love triangle, but some of the elements, including the performances and some excellent symbolic imagery, are well realized.
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Thank you for uploading 3 of Rudy's films! I hope you can upload his other films as well like the newly found one, Beyond the Rocks.