“Women—always women! If only I could get away from them all!”
Roderigo, I’ve so been there. How’s a man to live his life in peace? I barely have time to blog.
Now listen to me. Temptation is everywhere, and successful people don’t run from it—they’re just hard to tempt. Whereas you, Count Rodrigo Torriani (Rudolph Valentino), are easily tempted indeed. This is partly because you’re poor, and sexual conquest is a great way to buoy your ego before and after the creditors come knocking. But you also make excuses for yourself, justifying bad decisions by attributing them to bad genetics. “I try to behave—but it doesn’t run in the family,” you tell your new best friend, the American antiques dealer Jack Dorning (Casson Ferguson). Then you trace your family’s two-timing back to a Renaissance-era ancestor with two babes hidden behind two different tapestries in the same room. Funny stuff, but terribly enabling.
