"THE EAGLE."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18675, 26 April 1926, Page 7

"THE EAGLE."

RUDOLPH VALENTINO. LIBERTY THEATRE. TO-DAY. To-day will see the first screening at the Liberty Theatre o£ "The Eagle," Rudolph Valentino's latest picture, a glittering comedy-drama set in Imperial Russia. Stamped throughout with Continental gaiety and sophistication, pervaded "with an air of danger when the Eagle offends the Empress, becoming one long thrill when there commences the battle of wits and hearts between the bandit and the beauty, this delightful story takes its place with the great achievements of the motion picture art. It has for its foundation Pushkin's famous play "Dubrovsky," and moves through courts and barracks, castles and hovels, until the invincible Eagle, his nobility of heart overcoming his two-fold love, surrenders- to the Imperial soldiers and goes to face the Czarina's pleasure. "The Eagle" is a multi-coloured epic of Russian life, in which the career of daring, brilliant, and tempestuous though it be, necessarily must halt before the power of Catherine, and the engaging wiles of a cold young aristocrat. Rudolph Valentino has hitherto been in, the habit of getting just what he wants on the screen, often without no much as a struggle, but when as the Cossack guard, he meets Mascha, tho tßbles arc turned, and he has to bo every inch an eagle before tho lady consents to be swept away. Vilma Bankv, a refined artist and charming beauty, appears opposito Valentino, and gives an excellent characterisation of her role. The Liberty Concert Orchestra, under Mr Ernest Jamieson, will play an appropriate musical programme, including the following numbers: —Overture, "El Capitan" (Sousa); "Ballet Russejj (Luigini); ballet music, "Copellia (Delibes), "La Czarina" . (Ganne), "Cossack Revels" (Tschaikowsky), "Serenade" (Rachmaninoff). "Algeria" (Tschakoff); entr'-acte, "Menuet" (Paderewski)! foxtrots. "I 'Want You to Meet Me," "Why Leave Me Now?" "I Will," "Don't Bring Lulu." The box plans are at The Bristol Piano Company, where "scats may be reserved.