Dark Lover, by Emily Leider
Review by Jeffrey M. Anderson
Buy Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino, by Emily Leider
The excellent biography "Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph
Valentino" (Farrar Straus & Giroux, $35) by San Francisco's own Emily
Leider is now in bookstores. One of the first big stars of the silent
screen, Valentino appeared in such films as The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse, The Sheik, Son of the Sheik, Blood and
Sand and only lived to see age 31. But his piercing eyes and
slightly forbidden demeanor contributed to a legacy that completely
changed the way we view sex and cinema in this country. Meticulously,
exhaustively researched, Leider -- who has also published a volume of
poetry -- beautifully fills in any remaining blanks with her own vision.
Absolutely essential reading for silent film fans.
Return to Great Film Books
