Hotshot director Rex Ingram is butting heads with Latin heartthrob Rudolph Valentino on the set of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Leading lady Alice, who dreams of being a director herself, moonlights in the cutting room of Metro Pictures. Editing the daily rushes, she notices an alluring face from the hundreds of extras in the film. Jealous by nature, Rex consents to give Alice’s new discovery a screen test for their next picture, but only after she accepts his proposal of marriage…
The “alluring face” belongs to Ramón, an eager young actor from Mexico.
Alice is intrigued by Ramón’s enigmatic past—he descends from Aztec royalty…
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is an international sensation.
Now king of Tinseltown, Rex casts his bride Alice and Ramón as romantic leads in four epic moving pictures set in exotic locations—from the beaches of Tahiti to the deserts of Tunisia.
Idolized by fans the world over, Ramón becomes the “new Valentino.”
Rex, whose ambition as a director overshadows his marriage, sets his sights on Metro’s new Roman-era spectacle Ben-Hur.
Rival studio head Louis B. Mayer has other plans. He’s negotiating a merger with Goldwyn and Metro to form MGM Studios—making Rex his employee. Mayer despises Rex’s “artistic” nature, but has his eye on a certain young actor…
Tempers flare as Mayer rejects Rex, but casts Ramón as the lead in Ben-Hur. Beset with problems, filming in Italy is bankrupting MGM. Resentful of the new director, Ramón threatens to walk.
Alice’s dream of directing in Hollywood is crushed when Rex and she are banished to a small studio in France. As her marriage crumbles, she pines after her idol, Ramón.
But there’s something else that could spell ruin…
Ramón leads a secret life that could bring about his downfall and that of the entire studio…
