Valentino shows the charm that continues to make him a household name, and sports the most awesome sideburns you are ever likely to see. So long and sharp--combined with his heavy unibrow, it's almost like he himself is a bull. The look is powerful, and magnifies his smoldering, brooding good looks.
But to me what really makes this movie is Nita Naldi, who plays Doña Sol, the seductive sophisticate, a widow who leads Gallardo on a dissipative odyssey.
Every time I watch a silent film, there's an adjustment period because the acting was just so different in silent films. With dialogue perforce kept to a minimum, actors are trying hard to communicate everything possible without saying a word. When you add this to the fact that people are mostly used to seeing plays, where the audience is so far away that you have to make grand expressions for anyone to be able to see you, the combination is just weird. I once watched this nice collection of four Garbo films that spanned the silent/sound transition in her career, and it was interesting to watch how her technique changed with the addition of sound. I don't see it on Amazon, but if you find it in your local library (as I did), it's highly recommended.
Anyway, all this to say that when Naldi first shows up on screen, she's doing this weird thing with her eyes that took me a while to get past. She's sitting in the audience watching Valentino in the arena, and it's hard to know if she's just trying to convey a powerful, searching look, or if she's trying to portray the hypnotic look of a snake (more on this later). This look remains until the very end of their first encounter, in which Doña Sol gives Gallardo a ring that presumably belonged to Cleopatra, a ring in the shape of an asp (and we all know what that means!) But just as Doña Sol is leaving the encounter, Naldi gives a look that truly hits the mark, a piercing, seductive look that could whither the defenses of even the most stalwart of monogamists. And that's when you know it's on--she has him in her sights and the poor lad is doomed.
When next we see Doña Sol, poor Gallardo is visiting with his friend. After smoking some very interesting cigarettes--long, multicolored, and with an obviously narcotic effect--Gallardo finds himself roped into a dinner with the Doña, completely unchaparoned.
Gallardo is completely overwhelmed, and it's no wonder, with the extraordinarily sensuous character of Doña Sol that Naldi creates, mostly with her hands. She so often has these lingering hands, and often they highlight the sensuality of her chambers, which function as an extension of her character. See these two images for examples:
She also uses her lingering fingers when playing the harp, but most potently, she uses them on Gallardo, giving him that touch that every man knows--the more-than-incidental contact that sets fire to the skin.
She also longs for Gallardo's touch. She puts his hands on her body, and verbally expresses her (perhaps unusual) desire, "Some day you will beat me with those strong hands! I should like to know what it feels like!" She precipitates his violence, too, by biting his hand suddenly. She strikes like a serpent, and he calls her "snake" and "serpent." He throws her to the ground, and she cowers, but when he leaves, she laughs triumphantly and shows the snake-scale-like pattern of her dress:
The scene is dramatically well-executed and, frankly, very hot. Naldi is no Kelly Brook in snakeskin, but what she lacks in bosom, she makes up for in character.
If you can enjoy a good silent movie and you are looking for one with genuine sensuality, Blood and Sand is highly recommended.
