IN FILMLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19454, 9 October 1926, Page 8 (Supplement)

IN FILMLAND.

The Magnetism of Valentino. An attempt to analyse tho peculiar fascination exercised by the late Rudolph Valentino is made by James Douglas iu tho London Daily Express. He says: Ouida never imagined anything resembling the amazing career of Rudolph Valentino, tho film hero of millions of susceptible feminine hearts. For sovon years lie ruled and reigned over women of. all, ages and all racas as the super-hyper-romautic lover. Oanv lovers break hearts by the score. lie broke them by tho million. This little Italian possessed a mysterious power over their imagination which they were incapable of resisting. In every nation they were enslaved by his smile, by his gestures, by tho glitter of his eyes, by his manner, by his gait, by his amorous airs. Ho aroused no envy or jealousy among men, for his gallant graces were wasted on them. The peculiar qualities which reduced women to a state of speechless adoration provoked bewildered stupefaction in tho other sex. Men failed to see in him the manly characteristics which fascinated all sorts and conditions of women. But the latter took him seriously, and they found in him an expression of their dim daydreams. He represented for them the perfect hero who never was and never will bo seen in tho flesh. Their idolatry was not diminished by the discovery that in real life their miraculous hero mado a mess of two adventures in matrimony. Tho fact that he was divorced by his" first wife and by his second wife did not tarnish his glamour on the screen. Women all over tho world went on falling in love with this brilliant phantom. His income amounted to £IOO,OOO a year. It was all extracted from the sighs and tears of armies of women who lavished on their idol seas of sensibility and oceans of emotion. And yet there was not one woman at his "deathbed. The lover who was beloved by nations of women died without a woman kneeling beside his bed. Tho contrast ' between his prodigious popularity as a lover on the screen and his lonely deathbed is stupendous. What made Valentino tho darling of the feminine film world ? He was not more beautiful than hundreds of film actors. He was not a magnificent main like Douglas Fairbanks. He was, in fact, a rather commonplace and ordinary voung man. Ho looked ridiculous in plus fours. What, then, was the secret of his devastating magnetism ? Women aro incurable hei'o-worshippers. In this.world of real men there aro few heros who survive the test of acquaintanceship. Valentino himself was not a herb to his two wives. But he had the knack of appearing heroic on the screen, and he satisfied the insatiable dreams of romanticised femininitjr. He was a great drug, a noble hypnotic. Ho cocained tho multitude of women who are weary of life without their preposterous ideal of impossible love for an impossible lover. Notes and Comments. Buck Jones has just completed " White Eagle," his second of seven Westerns for Fox for the coming season. The marines taking part in the battle scenes of " What Price §lory " were marched and drilled for hours to look exhausted, an essential feature for realism.

Mother on tbe screen is spelled Mary Carr, so thoroughly has this actress become identified with motherly Not since her work in " Over the Hill " has she had such a pari as in " Slave of Fashion." Norma Shearer, Lew Cody and Miss Dupont are also in the cast. " Sun-up," Lula Vollmer's play which ran in New York and London last year with great success, has been made into a motion picture to be shown in Auckland shortly. The fugged and lonely country in which it is filmed is in keeping with the equally rugged and virile story. Conrad Nagel, Pauline Starko, and Lucille la Verne take the leading parts. In " The Auction Block," Eleanor Boardman's latest picture for MetroGoldwvn, two lovers undergo a nerveracking experience trying to evade bigamy. Charles Ray and Sally O'Neill, the new screen " find," who made such a success in " Mike," support Miss Boardman in this picture. " The Auction Block" is <i screen adaptation of Rex Beach s famous novel. The name of Lon Chaney is associated with cleve.r character acting on the screen. His latest appearance is in " The Tower of Lies," directed by Victor Seastrom from the Swedish novel entitled " The Empress of Portugalia." It required moro than three hours for .Mr. Chaney to put on the make-up for the role of Jan. Norma Shearor, William Haines and lan Keith are included in the cast. House Peters is at his best in "Combat." the Universal-Jewel which is due hero soon. The big, rugged star of outdoor dramas ha-s in this another of the roles that has mado him popular. Blessed with an exceedingly strong personality that few actors possess, Peters transfers this personality to his screen character, which gives an unusually strong interpretation of tho rowdy lumber-jack which ho portrays. All the flashing humours, sentiment and pathos that live -behind tho scenes of Broadway theatrics] life, are vividly pictured "in Herbert Brenon's production. " The Song arid Dance Man," which is due here soon. Mr. Brenon has taken this original Georgo M. Cohan plav, dealing with the pathetic struggles and sacrifices of a typical vaudeville trouper and transferred it to tho screen with a smoothness that bespeaks a thorough familiarity with the variety stage.