Valentino [Blu-ray]

Ken Russell takes on La-La land in this inflated burlesque of the life of famed silent-film star Rudolph Valentino (Rudolf Nureyev). The film charts the course of Valentino's short life, from his infatuations with Jane Mathis (Felicity Kendal), Alla Nazimova (Leslie Caron), and Natasha Rambova (Michelle Phillips). Valentino touches upon movie-magazine references to Valentino's career. Unfortunately, Russell's style is so overloaded and self-consciously pop culture that the real Valentino is somehow lost in the exaggerated acting and ornate set design. And poor Huntz Hall as movie mogul Jesse Lasky sadly undergoes the indignity of having his big speech drowned out by blaring car horns.