The Eagle

There is action without pause - romance that stirs the senses - mystery that baffles - over all a love theme that sweeps the heart

Adventure Romance Comedy
73 min     6.3     1925     USA

Overview

Vladimir Dubrouvsky, a lieutenant in the Russian army, catches the eye of Czarina Catherine II. He spurns her advances and flees, and she puts out a warrant for his arrest, dead or alive. Vladimir learns that his father's lands have been taken by the evil Kyrilla Troekouroff, and his father dies. He dons a black mask, and becomes the outlaw The Black Eagle. He enters the Troekouroff household disguised as a French instructor for Kyrilla's daughter Mascha. He is after vengeance, but instead falls in love with Mascha.

Reviews

CinemaSerf wrote:
Louise Dresser is super as Catherine the Great who takes a bit of a shine to the handsome "Lieut. Dubrovsky" (Rudolph Valentino); but he doesn't fancy that idea very much and as thy say -"hell hath no fury...''' so before long she has issued a warrant for his arrest and he is on the run. He heads back to his family property only to find that that has been appropriated by the wicked "Kyrilla" (James Marcus) so our hero dons a black mask and in his best "Zorro Hood" style, becomes "The Black Eagle" and sets about righting these wrongs. Of course, there's some love interest - he falls for the beautiful "Mascha" (Vilma Bánky) who just happens to be the daughter of his nemesis - so he soon finds that he has some tough choices to make. Certainly, the plot is an hybrid of a few other stories, but every culture has their own variation on these upstanding, freedom fighters and Valentino cuts a dashing figure as this Russian one. The imagery is cracking, with plenty of action scenes and the romance smoulders along nicely before the, admittedly, pretty predictable ending. It's probably my favourite outing for this star - less posing and flouncing around, more acting and engagement with the plot and the audience - with even a little fun thrown in, too. Great stuff!

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