September, 2007 www.leonardmaltin.com

VALENTINO: REDISCOVERING AN ICON OF SILENT FILM

VALENTINO: REDISCOVERING AN ICON OF SILENT FILM (Flicker Alley) — Once again, Flicker Alley has compiled a DVD set that is the equal of anything to come from a major distributor, a cornucopia of treats for any silent film fan and a treasure trove for Valentino buffs.

First, there is a newly-restored 1922 feature, Moran of the Lady Letty, a high-adventure yarn with Valentino as a wealthy playboy who is shanghaied onto the crew of a pirate ship run by that glorious silent film rogue Walter Long. In time, he meets the title character, a girl who has grown up at sea, played by Dorothy Dalton. Dalton has no particular charisma, but the story is entertaining, and it’s interesting to see the Latin Lover in such an atypical role.

I was much more impressed with The Young Rajah, an incomplete film which has been ingeniously reconstructed using stills and title cards. The star is at his best here, as an Indian prince who has been raised in America , unaware of his heritage—or his ultimate destiny. He’s also quite good as a slick Lothario (complete with mustache), in an edited version of the 1920 feature Stolen Moments, and does equally good work in the Carmel Myers’ vehicle A Society Sensation (1918).

That is just the tip of the iceberg on this two-disk set. Five silent short subjects take us behind the scenes in Hollywood , offering tantalizing footage filmed on location for The Sheik and Blood and Sand. Some film buffs may have already seen A Trip to Paramountown and Character Studies, but they’re welcome additions to this DVD . Paramountown is an elaborate promotional film for the dominant Hollywood studio of its day, featuring specially-shot footage of everyone from Cecil B. DeMille to Gloria Swanson. Character Studies is a film that has intrigued and baffled the most astute film scholars as to its origins. Suffice it to say that it presents Vaudeville star Carter DeHaven doing a so-called quick-change act in which he magically transforms himself into Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Jackie Coogan, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, and other great stars of the 1920s. The actual stars portray themselves, all smiling good-naturedly for this novelty film, and while we may never know why it was made, it certainly is fascinating to watch. A 1941 tribute to Valentino includes other rare snippets of candid and newsreel footage. There is even a Hollywood Travelogue from the early 1930’s in Cinecolor.

A variety of galleries and scrapbooks offer never-before-seen private photographs, biographical information on Rudolph Valentino and his colleagues, posters, stills, advertisements and a “living map” of Hollywood locations that played a significant role in Valentino’s life and career.

My hat is off to Flicker Alley for such an ambitious and beautifully executed DVD. The music scores (by such masters as Bob Mitchell, Jon Mirsalis, and Robert Israel ), the booklet (with a new essay by Valentino biographer Emily Leider), and everything else about this presentation is impeccable.