The Eagle (Silent) (DVD)

Handsome, hard-riding Vladimir Dubrovsky is the Czarina's favorite Lieutenant in the Imperial Cavalry. When the officer spurns the Empress's romantic overtures, a reward is posted for his capture and execution. He flees St. Petersburg and returns home to discover that that his father has been murdered and his estate stolen by the scoundrel Kyrilla. Concealing his identity with a mask, Vladimir becomes "The Black Eagle" and leads a peasant revolt against the oppressive despot. The uprising gathers momentum, but when he falls for the tyrant's beautiful daughter, he is forced to choose between revenge and true love.

Rudolph Valentino, the original Latin lover, catapulted to fame with his starring role in The Four Horseman Of The Apocalypse (1921). His iconic roles in The Sheik (1921) and Blood And Sand (1922) are the stuff of Hollywood legend. Valentino's animal magnetism is evident in this 1925 Ritz-Carlton production, The Eagle, which is graced with the spectacular set designs of William Cameron Menzies and a brief appearance by a young Gary Cooper. Valentino would appear in only two more motion pictures, Cobra (1925) and The Son Of The Sheik (1926), before his tragic untimely death the same year at the age of 31, would plunge legions of adoring female fans worldwide, into hysterical grief.

• silent