MovieChat Forums > The Eagle (1925) Discussion > Tough Luck (SPOILER)

Tough Luck (SPOILER)

posted 12 years ago by hipdadiddy
5 replies | jump to latest

So, Vladimir winds up with the girl and his freedom, which is nice for him--but what about his merry band of vassals and peasants, all of whom risked their lives to join him? They were promised their old livelihoods back once he wrested his father's estate from the villain's grasp. Which, of course, he never did because he fell in love with the old man's daughter instead.

At one point, his faithful lieutenant even sneaks onto the estate at great personal peril (and is, indeed, later captured and beaten) just to ask him if he's breaking his oath of vengeance because of the girl. Naw, says Vladimir, but later...

Well, yeah.

No wonder the Russians revolted a hundred years later. Never trust a nobleman!

Enjoyable movie, though, and I was quite impressed with Valentino, who struck me as the world's worst actor in "The Sheik", made just a few years earlier. Looks like one of those cases where somebody's just hitting their stride--then they go and die, dammit.

[–] Thecluelessone022 9 years ago

And while we're at it what made the Czarina change her mind about executing Vladimir? It seemed like it came out of nowhere if you asked me.

Yeah I know what you mean about Valentino's acting in the "Sheik" I know actors in silent films have to give over the top performances but some of the parts were unintentionally funny and distracting. He did much better in this one though.

[–] FilmMuscle 9 years ago

This film is all over the place, really. It's incredibly contrived. Why does the Master, all of a sudden, trust (fake) Monsieur Le Blanc/The Eagle enough to adamantly accept him to be his night's guard just after locking him in a cellar and expecting the bear to kill him? Makes absolutely no sense. And then in the end, who did the shooting guard kill if it wasn't Valentino? Did they somehow switch it with the real Le Blanc (if so, what an awfully contrived plot development as well). In the end, they all live happily ever after. Hardly anything interesting or original going on here (pretentious movie fans will always argue that it was original for its time, but no one will ever know, and it's just stupid to assume that anyone can excuse their modern sensibilities before watching anything).

Check out my latest film reviews at: http://moviemuscle.net/

[–] vicky_lc2001 (1907) 7 years ago

The Czarina's sudden change of heart - I assumed was her sudden realization that she was unfairly biased and unjust towards Valentino. It was implied that she and the new general had somewhat fallen in love but like the Captain after Moby Dick, she was obsessed with revenge for Valentino's rejection of her. It was perhaps later she realized that if he hadn't rejected her, she wouldn't have gotten together with the new general.

The bear incident was not meant to maim or kill anyone Kyrilla sent to the cellar but merely to scare them. Kyrilla seeing how bravely he faced the bear, calm and cool, and immediately killed it before harming his precious daughter sold Le Blanc as a man of impeccably brave and cool under pressure character. he admired him so much that he trusted no one else to guard him for the night.

The bear btw was clearly very very young and not full grown, watching it, I wondered if the bear was harmed or abused. I hope not.

The death squad shooting otoh is a puzzle, who do they shoot? Was it merely for show? Since the general and many of the other guards knew who Valentino was, and I'm pretty sure are probably aware what he was sentenced to death for - perhaps they all participated in the farce. I mean, why have a regiment for the handsomest men even? LOL!

My main issue is with what happened to the estate and the people who loved and worked on it? Under Kyrilla, their plight was not heeded nor answered by abandoning them.

[–] Local Hero 9 years ago

This is certainly a good point and one I was mulling over for the latter part of the film. This is as opposed to the points raised by others in this thread, which are easily explained.

[–] vicky_lc2001 (1907) 7 years ago

I wondered the very same thing actually, they never resolved the problems with Kyrilla unfortunately.

Also, a bit of trivia about The Sheik. Valentino actually hated the over-the-top acting in it but the director directed them to do so. He had no choice. In The Son of the Sheik he tried to remedy it with a more subtle performance. Valentino was known to not do over-the-top acting from what I heard unless forced and directed to do so like in The Sheik.