THE EAGLE (United Artists, 1925), directed by Clarence Brown, is a worthy adventure story starring the legendary Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) in one of his better silent films set in imperial Russia under the reign of Catherine II.
Valentino plays Vladimir Dubrovsky, a handsome young lieutenant in her majesty's imperial guard, who becomes a hero of the hour when he rescues a runaway carriage with the beautiful Mascha Troekouroff (Vilma Banky) and her maiden Aunt Aurelia (Carrie Clark Ward) as the occupants, and returning the wandering horse to its titled owner, Catherine II, the Czarina (Louise Dresser). Impressed by the young Cossack, the Czarina invites Dubrovsky over to dine with her. Realizing that she wants to add him to her one of many lovers, he rejects her advances. Later when Dubrovsky comes to visit his father (Spottiswoode Aiken), he arrives only to find that he has been robbed of his estate by Kyrilla (James Marcus), a vicious landowner, and left to die in a peasant's hut. Wanting to avenge his father's death, Dubrovsky abandons his military duties by assuming a bandit's disguise, forming a group of followers in his cause, and becoming know as "The Black Eagle." While becoming the Russian "Robin Hood," there is a 5,000 rubles reward for the capture of Vladimir Dubrovsky for desertion by the Czarina. In order to gain entrance to Kyrilla's home, Dubrovsky assumes the identity of Monsieur LeBlanc, a French tutor, and bides his time to revenge himself on the man responsible for his father's death. However, things start to change when he meets the beautiful Mascha once again (first as the lieutenant who rescues her from the runaway carriage, and second posing as The Black Eagle who robs her and her aunt of their worthy possessions), who happens to be Kyrilla's daughter.
THE EAGLE is old-fashioned screen entertainment that borrows from the combination of recent successes to THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920) and ROBIN HOOD (1922) both starring Douglas Fairbanks, but minus the swashbuckling. As with Fairbanks, THE EAGLE is fast-paced, simply tongue and cheek, including some witty title readings such as "Revenge is sweet, but sometimes a girl is sweeter," or a memorable line in which The Eagle goes by, "The Eagle does not war against women." Along with some authentic dress designs, compliments of Adrian, this production also includes expensive set designs by William Cameron Menzies that help make THE EAGLE capture the flavor of old imperial Russia. Clarence Brown direction is first rate, featuring fine camera style tracking over the long dinner table during a social function dinner scene at the home of Kyrilla.
Also featured in the cast are Albert Conti as Captain Kuschka; George Nichols as The Judge; and Michael Pleschkoff as the Captain of the Cossack Guard. As for Louise Dresser, with little screen time, first during the early portion of the story and again during the film's final ten minutes, she makes an very impressive Catherine II in her scene stealing performance. Because Valentino and the Hungarian-born Vilma Banky worked so well together in THE EAGLE, they were reunited again in THE SON OF THE SHEIK (1926). A new love team might have emerged with these two big hits of the day, but sadly, after the release of their second pairing, Valentino stunned the world when he died at the age of 31. Over the next few years, THE EAGLE and THE SON OF THE SHEIK would play as a double bill whenever revived in theaters.
THE EAGLE became one of twelve selected films presented during the summer months on public television's weekly series of "The Silent Years" (1975) as hosted by Lillian Gish, with a theater organ score by Lee Erwin from the Paul Killiam collection, the same print used when aired on cable television's Turner Classic Movies. The popularity of THE EAGLE assured its availability during the early years of video cassettes. In a very hard to locate video, distributed as early as 1980 (manufacturer unknown), the copy featured a fine 1920s style Movietone score consisting of classical Russian symphonies that were used for latter theatrical reissues, along with original opening movie titles. In later years, various other prints became available, such as Video Yesteryear with an accu-speed copy longer than the standard 74 minutes; the Blackhawk (later Republic Pictures) video with the use of the print used in "The Silent Years," as well as a video labeled "Legendary Silents" with the Thames orchestral score conducted by Carl Davis. It is also available on DVD. Whichever and however THE EAGLE is presented, its availability does rest assure on a new generation of audiences and rediscovery of the legend of Valentino. (***)
