First things first! Back when I wrote the Complete Valentino Filmography a man named Mark Berger wrote me a very nice letter telling me a little more about the film (we'll get to that in a second). He told me there were stills at the AMPAS Margaret Herrick Library Collection, which made me wonder if they had a copy of the film itself.
I had looked them up before and sure enough they had a very similarly titled film. However the librarian May Haduong was not fully sure this was the exact same film (as it did not say 'Adventuress' and had no date on it) but she found that the UCLA Film and Television Archive DID INDEED FOR SURE have a copy. So I looked them up and sure enough they had it. I actually got to view a few films there and you'll be seeing the reviews and info shortly. I'm also scheduled to go back so get excited (4 words: Vilma Banky TALKIE AHHH! Well I'm trying...that ones 'archival' but I'm hopeful!)
So my thanks to May Hadoung, the UCLA people, and of course Mark Berger. He is working on a documentary of Julian Eltinge so please do check out his site http://www.thejulianeltingeproject.com/ . Julian gave June Mathis her start, and obviously seen something in Virginia Rappe and Valentino! That man/woman (whatever he wished to be called) was AMAZING!
On to the Saga!
So...here we have a film. It started out anti Kaiser starring Julian Eltinge and two unknown 'kids' (Virginia Rappe was already quite old but whatever): Virginia (of the Fatty reputation lynching) and Valentino (of...women's fantasies everywhere). Yeah umm...the finished product does NOT represent the original idea! In fact if this were in color and a talkie it would be so bad and so camp it would go down as a cult classic; a text book example of kitsch. And no its not because of the Drag Queen! Its because of the horrible...HORRIBLE editing.
Behind The Scenes:
Again thanks to Mark for the info! This infamous film started out in 1918 as "Over the Rhine". It was an Anti German/Anti War/Anti Kaiser film starring Julian. With that in mind I highly question if June Mathis didn't have her hands in this, and if she also didn't SEE Valentino in this film before "Eyes of Youth" (which would be released a year later). She and Julian were good friends and worked together a lot, and June's big break came in 1919 with her anti Kaiser films (literally "To Hell with the Kaiser"...which featured a rising Karl Dane...weird these connections huh?). I guess it depends on the release history of this film (even though it was shelved she still could have been in the know), but I would still find it odd she never seen or heard of Valentino if she was working with Julian (I guess these are things to find out for my bio on her...)
Back on track. The war ended before the film was distributed and it was shelved. It was recut in 1920 as "An Adventuress" but basically flopped (Julian had returned to stage, Valentino was a year away from being a somebody, and Virginia had a year left till infamy). How it was recut I'm not sure, but surely not the grand hot mess it ended up being.
In 1922 (one Fatty slandering and one Valentino rise to fame later) it was recut mostly to cash in on Valentino's fame. Just...DISASTROUS! It probably did a little better than it had originally; but it was obviously no hit. Women didn't want to see endless loops of Valentino smoking or smiling randomly (this was apparently a surprise to distributors...)
Unfortunately/Fortunately the final cut, titled "The Isle of Love" is the only one that survives. Mark said he has read the original script and it sounded quite interesting; but bares very VERY little resemblance to this delicious disaster of a film. After viewing it I must agree...it LOOKS like there was an originally interesting film in there...only its been murdered and desecrated since its shelving.
Plot
I tire of these long plot recalls but obviously this film is not available for release so here we go!
The film starts out with a bunch of beautiful giggling flappers in swimsuits...running around a beach near the cliffs. They seem to be having a lot of fun and take turns diving into the water and singing songs and dancing. I swear one of the first girls to jump in is Virginia but it never said that and since this film is obviously horribly patched together I have no way of telling. If so what an interesting debut (skin tight wet swim suit!)
We're given a lot of hilarious title cards (A great sight for men! YEA a Great sight!) we're told this is literally 'The Isle of Love' and its a REAL place run by Grand Duke Nebo (Stanton Heck) who is an insane old coot that likes chasing women instead of doing actual Duke duties. This makes no sense what so ever (and will make even less sense later on) but we just have to accept it.
Next we're told the peasants are tired of this damn Duke and are planning revolts. We see Lyn Brook (Fred Ko Vert, I think...otherwise it was the Dick character but who cares its mostly irrelevant) and Cliff Townsend (Julian Eltinge). Cliff is writing a note to who friend Jacques Rudanyi (Rudolph Valentino). Its an unintentionally hilarious note about how (for some reason) Jacques should come to the Isle and together they will overthrow the Duke...and rule? The letter claims Jacques should have no trouble conquering the Isle of Love because the women love him and hes 'Already been The Sheik and the Young Rajah' and somewhere near the bottom they name dropped 'Blood and Sand' as well. Ha ha (not)! Seriously it was some extreme painfully obvious pandering.
Cliff tells his friend what hes doing, and Lyn (out of the blue) suggests Cliff quote "and you can doll up as a girl and vamp the Duke!" It seriously IN THIS CUT is random. But Cliff thinks it just might be a swell idea.
We then see Jacques, who isn't given a nationality (what in the hell nationality would 'Isle of Love' be anyways? French? Later we find its not American!) but looks like a typical 'heavy'. He literally has the slick backed hair and the mustache. Enter the first of our horrible repeat cuts. Jacques has a lot of money, which he we see him hold. This scene noticeably repeats no less then 2 or 3 times. It makes absolutely no sense why. Jacques feels he has enough money to take over the island and goes about arriving...which makes the next scenes make less sense.
Cliff is now dolled up and I believe goes under the name "Julie". He writes to tell Jacques, "I will be dressed as a woman. But don't Sheik me!" CRINGE! It then cuts to an overdressed woman smoking named Vanette (Virginia Rappe). Shes apparently waiting her dear Jacques arrival (how they met or how their together is not bothered with) and sees him pull up outside. He takes her for a ride (well somehow he has a driver now, which to memory did not appear when he arrived) where they sit in the back seat and get lovey. This wont be the first time you see this scene so get used to it! Admittedly something is very very odd about seeing VIRGINIA RAPPE as RUDOLPH VALENTINO'S LOVE INTEREST.
Don't let the plot distract you during this scene. He explains their odd plan to take over the Isle, and that she'll be his Queen. There's a really creepy close up on her eyes, which I'm sure promoters thought would get people in after the Fatty thing. We then see Valentino smoking, in no less then 3 recuts like the money scene (WHY?)
Somehow Jacques and Vanette arrive at a club (how and why they were going there isn't really bothered with) where Cliff already is, dressed like Julie. There are no scenes of Julie and Cliff interacting but they put 1 reaction shot of Valentino no less then 3 different times trying to pretend they did. First is the 'wondering who was buying his buddy in those clothes as a real woman', then a 'trying not to laugh at his buddy' comment in a very random spot. I think they threw it back one more time but I cant remember. We see a bunch of women dancing, and their entertaining the wealthy male crowd. The Duke is there, and so is 'The Prince' (Leo White). Why there is a Prince and why hes relevant to the plot no one really bothers to say. Even weirder is I don't recall any interaction between the Duke and Julie...so...how was this plan supposed to work exactly?
Somehow Julie gets invited to the Prince's table where he proceeds to hit on 'her' (despite how this would interrupt the umm 'plan'). She tells him to meet her at the cliffs at 3am and she'll wear striped stockings. Meanwhile the show is going on, which at one point involves naked women diving into the water and then running out...and JIGGLING HARDCORE while at it! Oh my how they got that one in there I'll never know!
Very little happens with Jacques and Vanette. He seems bent on her but she wants another wealthy guy (may have been the Prince, cant remember). Wealthy guy throws a jewel filled necklace into the pool and Vanette dives in and gets it. Its implied shes going to betray Jacques here...but its so stilted and poorly cut its hard to gather that. This is really the last we're gonna see of them till the rushed ending. (Don't forget one more repeat reaction shot of Valentino!)
So the Prince rushes to the cliffs all ready to swim. He sees the stripped stockings...but their the DUKES! HA! Next we see a bunch of men in a room with 'Julie' and she apologizes to the Prince because she was 'ill all last night'. The Prince tries and gets rapey on her but she punches him out and accidentally reveals her man hood (I mean hair wise...not dirty wise!) He pretends nothing happened, but somehow something happens and 'Julie', and two guys who weren't very well identified (one being obviously good the other 'evil') give chase and end up in a car...where the chase continues.
Eventually Julie and good guy win but are captured (apparently). Somehow her friend from before ends up in a plane and goes to save him, while hes about to be put to death by a firing squad. The title cards say 'Jacques and Cliff' are going to save...Cliff...which...makes no sense as Valentino is not even IN the plane or in any of the chase scenes. I will just honestly say I have never been more fucking confused in my life then trying to piece together a plot in this hash dash of a film!!!
Cliff is saved and gets 'to visit America one more time' and visits his mother who is happy he 'made it home'. Where the hell this Isle of Love exactly is, I would like to know. Its like the Simpsons/Springfield thing apparently.
Once we see Cliff is a-okay then we get a REALLY tacked on Jacques/Vanette scene. First the Prince found love apparently, we see this for all of 2 seconds. Then we see the car scene again, only this time with new title cards. Vanette wants to know that even though they didn't overthrow the Isle of Love's current regime if she's still his Queen. He says she'll always be his Queen. The End? The End.
Review
My brain hurts trying to recount it! I think its one of those films that if you made it into a drinking game and wore boas while watching it...it would be a lot more fun. 2 shots for every recut and respliced scene, 1 shot for every Julie scene, 4 shots for Valentino's mustache twirling scene...etc etc.
Watching this film it becomes painfully evident it the current incarnation was never supposed to make sense. I immediately guessed there was supposed to be a Kaiser thing, as the 'evil guys' or 'Dukes and Princes' all have the pointy hats. Also Julie seems to be up to some type of spying/rescue mission...which makes no sense with the 'overthrow' plot. What actual interaction Julian, Valentino, and Virginia were supposed to have originally I have no clue. Virginia and Valentino were lovers for a few scenes, and it seems she left him to be a gold digger. What type of relationship they had in relation to the ORIGINAL plot I have no clue. I'm really hurting myself trying to figure out the Julian/Valentino original interaction.
Especially once the club scene began it became painfully clear just how cut it was. Its very obvious Julian's part was the lead, and that his/her storyline was most of the original film. However he gets much less screen time compared to the lovers, who likely had 10 minutes originally and now get at least double or triple that. Id say maybe 70% of the original film had to have just been done away with...and I'm talking the most crucial of parts. I would love to see the original script...because I'm sure it was originally an interesting film. THIS doesn't compare to what it was! I'm willing to bet money on that!
So though its a rare film, I would only recommend it in the case that a knowledgeable audience seen it. This is the type of film no0bs see and get the wrong impression from. Probably better it hasn't been released. To sum up 3 of the most notorious Silent types in THIS film is just an injustice!
That being said Valentino was lovely. Seriously like all his early crappy parts he made the most of it. In fact I swear there seemed to be a scene or two where he was just taking the piss out of it. Jacques was an extremely cartoon-y character: he smoked a lot, twirled his mustache when scheming, and did little else but leer. However Valentino made it adorable! I'm sorry its the truth...I just adore that man! And yes it was kitsch...but it was spectacular!
Julian was great too! I've heard a lot about him and I would like to see a more umm ACCURATE representation of his act. I'm sure the original film would have been great, he certainly could have carried it.
Now to Virginia. The weirdest thing about Hearst was he played her up as an innocent sweet virginal second coming of Mary Pickford...when in reality she was 30, a b picture actress (this shows that), and had several abortions and a splotchy past that may or may not have involved being a prostitute. Honestly she wasn't bad looking, but she did look quite haggard. Her teeth bugged me...no way she could have been a leading lady with those! She barely acted in the film, and I wouldn't say it was spectacular or horrible. She played gold digger well enough. Interesting.
Release
It has NOT been released on DVD or VHS yet. Private prints abound and yes in deed the UCLA Archive has a copy. I thought it was in good enough condition, definitely watchable (probably better condition then All Night). I don't think it gets screened much either...so good luck!
Overall
Make it a drinking game. Otherwise don't bother. Unless you want to see Valentino twirl his mustache and make googly eyes at a woman I'm sure he didn't think very much of. Very interesting.
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