The Eagle 1925

     The time setting of this film is between 1762 and 1796 during the reign of Catherine the Great.  Vladimir Dubrouvsky is a lieutenant in the Russian Army.  He catches the eye of Czarina Catherine II.  She asks him if he would like be promoted to a General?  Of course, he wants to be a General!!  The only problem is the Czarina is making advances and that could turn out with him loosing his head??  He spurns her advances and flees.  She puts out a warrant for his arrest, dead or alive.  Vladimir finds out that the land his father owns has been taken over by Kyrilla Troekouroff.  His father has died and Kyrilla is doing the same thing to other landowners.  Vladimir starts wearing a black mask and he becomes an outlaw.  He is called The Black Eagle.  He intercepts a French tutor headed to the home of Kyrilla to instruct his daughter.  He takes the place of the tutor and he intends to kill Kyrilla.

     This film is a black and white silent film.  It is a little difficult to understand because there are many twists and turns and no dialog?  I think this makes the movie seem longer?  I checked once to see how much longer the run time would be?  There is organ music playing in the background of the scenes.  Over time, it becomes tiresome.  3* (This movie is OK)

73 min, Action directed by Clarence Brown with Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Banky, Louise Dresser, Albert Conti, James A. Marcus, George Nicholas, Carrie Clark Ward.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out 10, 77% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, TCM Leonard Maltin 3* out of 4* average user rating 3.5* out of 5*, Amazon 3.9* out of 5* with 36 reviews.

Special Note:  Included in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die edited by Steven Schneider.  There is a scene with the camera moving forward toward the audience while filming a banquet table.  The table needed to be specially designed to move apart so the camera could travel backward.  Rudolph Valentino wanted to project a tougher guy image in this film.  He did the opening stunt with a horse catching up to a runaway carriage himself.  Normally, he would have his stunt double do this scene.  Valentino wears lipstick and it’s noticeable but I have seen recent movies with the men wearing lipstick?   There is another film titled The Black Eagle of 1926 produced by Douglas Fairbanks.  This caused the title of this film to be changed to The Eagle.