Fascinating film from 1922 and great detective work in piecing together a whole film from the 30 minutes of discovered footage.
Rudolph Valentino plays the rajah who is brought up in the US out of harm's way while his village is India is embroiled in a holy war. He is brought up as a young gentleman and attends Harvard. He's a total American except for his gift of second sight, handed down through the generations and a gift from Krishna.
But he makes enemies at Harvard (racists) and after he wins the big regatta again Yale (in a very brief swim suit). At a party later, a sour student accuses him a buying the seat on the team and thereby cheating him out of the big win. Valentino gets a vision and steps aside just as the student lunges at him. He goes out the window and is killed.
Enter Wanda Hawley as the rich girl who moves into the neighborhood for the summer. Rudy falls for her but she's appalled by his race even though his mother was an Italian Countess. Of course the dead student's friend is also interested in her. They battle a few times and the coward chucks a rock at Rudy as he's walking away. Wanda comes to his rescue.
About this time a delegation comes from India to find Rudy and take him back to his proper place in life. He goes back after a few more glimpses into the future. He quells the uprising and restores peace, but he is sad until he wanders alone in his garden and has a final vision in the mist of a water fountain. It's his marriage to a mysterious veiled lady......
Valentino is good from what we can see. He underplays and looks great. His regatta scenes must have caused a stir since we don't usually see men that naked in the 20s and 30s. Hawley is good but doesn't have much to do. Josef Swickard, J. Farrell MacDonald, and William Boyd co-star.
Rudolph Valentino plays the rajah who is brought up in the US out of harm's way while his village is India is embroiled in a holy war. He is brought up as a young gentleman and attends Harvard. He's a total American except for his gift of second sight, handed down through the generations and a gift from Krishna.
But he makes enemies at Harvard (racists) and after he wins the big regatta again Yale (in a very brief swim suit). At a party later, a sour student accuses him a buying the seat on the team and thereby cheating him out of the big win. Valentino gets a vision and steps aside just as the student lunges at him. He goes out the window and is killed.
Enter Wanda Hawley as the rich girl who moves into the neighborhood for the summer. Rudy falls for her but she's appalled by his race even though his mother was an Italian Countess. Of course the dead student's friend is also interested in her. They battle a few times and the coward chucks a rock at Rudy as he's walking away. Wanda comes to his rescue.
About this time a delegation comes from India to find Rudy and take him back to his proper place in life. He goes back after a few more glimpses into the future. He quells the uprising and restores peace, but he is sad until he wanders alone in his garden and has a final vision in the mist of a water fountain. It's his marriage to a mysterious veiled lady......
Valentino is good from what we can see. He underplays and looks great. His regatta scenes must have caused a stir since we don't usually see men that naked in the 20s and 30s. Hawley is good but doesn't have much to do. Josef Swickard, J. Farrell MacDonald, and William Boyd co-star.