STOLEN MOMENTS (American Cinema Corporation, USA, 1920)

D: James Vincnt. Sc: Richard Hall. Story: H.Thompson Rich. Cast: Marguerite Namara, Rudolf [Rudolph] Valentino, Albert L.Barrett, Henrietta Simpson, Arthur Earle, Walter Chapin, Aileen Pringle, Alex Shannon, Gene Gautier [Jean Gauthier De Drigny] This version is the abbreviated re-issue of 1922 by the Select Pictures Corporation. Digital restoration by Flicker Alley from 16mm print, for Turner Classic Movies, 2006. 35 mins.

Stolen Moments, "A South American Love Romance", was Valentino's last film before The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which was to launch his career as superstar and myth. This was also the last of the still un-typed actor's roles as mustachioed Latin villain. Looking back on this period of his career in an "autobiography" written for a publication called Movie Weekly in 1922, the star considered that "I was selected for villains because of my dark complexion and somewhat foreign aspect, I presume. This was a cause of regret to me, for I realized that the 'heavy' man has usually slight chance of attaining the most profitable and desirable positions in motion picture acting, in spite of the artistic effort frequently needed for such roles." Billed as "Rudolf Valentino", he plays Jose Dalmarez, a Brazilian novelist, adventurer, seducer and blackmailer, who meets an abrupt and well-deserved bad end.

The film was originally planned to launch a screen career for Marguerite Namara (1888-1974), a celebrity pianist and singer of the day, but it failed, as did her second attempt, in sound pictures, more than a decade later. Most of the supporting cast were also destined for short careers, as was the director James Vincent (1882-1957), originally an actor, who had begun his directing career under Ince in 1915. His work here is unimaginative; and the film was probably improved by the re-editing which reduced it to half its original length for this 1922 re-issue, designed to highlight the role of Valentino, by this time an international world star. The strategy worked: the reissue was modestly profitable for Select Pictures Corporation, where one of the managers was 20-year-old David O.Selznick, son of the firmÕs founder. The movie, in which the future star was billed as Rudolph Valentine, was filmed in New York, with some location shooting in St. Augustine, Fla. and Savannah, Ga. It may have been more significant in Valentino's career than was at first apparent, since it is probable that he met June Mathis while in New York. She was the screenwriter who adapted The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse for film, and was responsible for Valentino being cast in his star-making role.

David Robinson (modified)