LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Rex Ingram: Rudolph Valentino
built 640 days ago
Rex Ingram se dirige progressivement vers la réalisation. Il veut utiliser différemment les jeux de lumière pour lancer une nouvelle esthétique cinématographique. Il devient metteur en scène en 1916 : à vingt-deux ans, il tourne son premier long métrage, The great problem, une fiction dont il écrit aussi le scénario. En 1921, il adapte à l'écran le roman de Blasco Ibanez, Les quatre cavaliers de l'apocalypse, au côté de Rudolph Valentino. June Mathis, scénariste de la Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), lui confie un million de dollars, un budget colossal pour l'époque. Le succès commercial du film propulse la carrière d'Ingram.
A sensation in its day, Rex Ingram's filmization of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, from a screenplay by June Mathis, catapulted Mathis's protégé Rudolph Valentino to superstardom. Ingram's wife, the highly capable Alice Terry, played the romantic interest. More than 80 years after its initial release, The Four Horsemen remains a powerful cinematic experience.
Source:
Ingram achieved significant success for himself and Metro the year before with The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse (1921), starring Terry and Rudolph Valentino. While filming their next production, The Conquering Power (1921), Valentino became willful and refused direction, at one point storming off the set. No doubt, his new found fame had gone to his head. His charming young replacement was Ramon Samaniegos, who changed his name to Novarro after Zenda’s release. As Hentzau, Norarro is quick, clever and a thoroughly likable anti-hero. One of four officers loyal to "Black" Michael (Stuart Holmes), Hentzau is a mischievous young fellow, more playboy and prankster than serious villain, who spends much of his time chasing after Michael’s mistress Antoinette (Barbara LaMarr).
Source:
Once upon a time—as who over 21 doesn't remember?—there was a movie director named Rex Ingram. A very romantic director he was. Himself as handsome as a movie star, he was born in Dublin, had been a New Haven dockworker, graduate of the Yale School of Fine Arts, protege of famed Sculptor Lee Lawrie, ex-War pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. And he turned out such successes as Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Scaramouche, The Prisoner of Zenda, Mare Nostrum. His name was linked so closely with Sabatini, Ibanez, Rudolph Valentino, Ramon Novarro that it was sometimes uncertain whether he was director, author, actor, or all three. After a ten-year career in Hollywood, Rex Ingram, then only 35, dropped out of sight.
Source:
Ingram (and screenwriter June Mathis) made a star of Rudolph Valentino in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) but the star and director clashed during their next film together, The Conquering Power. Valentino decamped to another studio, and Mathis followed him. Legend has it that Ingram declared he could make a star of any old extra, and chose Ramon Samaniego. Later in his life, Novarro would dispute the serendipitous story of his discovery. If Ingram did indeed threaten to make an unknown the equal of Valentino, he selected his successor with care, since Novarro had been featured in several films, and had a letter of introduction to the director. Metro decided Ramon's Mexican surname was too difficult to pronounce and pulled "Novarro" out of thin air.
Source:
With the release of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in 1921 Ingram achieved top status in his profession. Ordinarily, Valentino dominates discussion of this film, but Ingram's work on the feature is of the highest quality. Armed with his team of cameraman John Seitz and editor Grant Whytock, Ingram went on to make a dazzlingly successful series of films for Metro. His financial and artistic success gave him carte blanche and his name became a box-office draw. Ingram made stars and knew how to get the best out of players. He came to be considered the equal of Griffith, von Stroheim, and DeMille.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Rudolph Valentino