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THE EAGLE (1925) – Valentino dabbled in Douglas Fairbanks territory as the masked hero of this tale set in Russia under Catherine the Great. Our man plays Vladimir Dubrovsky, a lieutenant in Czarina Catherine’s Imperial Guard.
Vladimir’s masculine heroics catch the eye of Catherine the Great (Louise Dresser), and she plans to make him her latest male conquest. She promises Dubrovsky a meteoric rise in the military … IF he climbs into bed with her.
The young officer declines the offer and rides off to avoid Catherine’s wrath. She puts a price on Vladimir’s head. The fugitive covertly visits his family estate, where he learns the land has been stolen from them by the evil nobleman Kyrilla Troekouroff.
Dubrovsky is furious and wants revenge. He becomes the Black Eagle, the masked leader of a band of outlaws who go on to prey on Troekouroff’s interests everywhere in the region. Continue reading
THE SHEIK (1921) – Edith Maude Hull’s 1919 novel came to the big screen to cement Rudolph Valentino’s rising star. He shone as Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan with Agnes Ayers as Lady Diane Mayo.
A lot of Gothic Romance Novel antics follow in this film that has not aged well. Valentino’s wide eyes and flaring nostrils were masterfully parodied by Peter Sellers in a comedy bit decades later. 
As their battle of wills goes on, Diane is seized by caravan robbers and taken to their leader’s lair. Sheik Ahmed leads his men to the rescue, and, with Stockholm Syndrome well and truly in charge, Lady Diane “realizes” how much she has fallen in love with her abductor.
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