Moran of the Lady Letty

On the sailing vessel the Lady Letty, we meet Moran (Dorothy Dalton), a Norwegian tomboy, reared as a seaman, who wears pants and works the ship right alongside the men. In San Francisco on Nob Hill lives rich and handsome Ramon (Valentino), idol of the débutantes, who spends his time throwing house parties and sailing on yachts. One day he's late for one of his yacht parties and gets himself shanghaied by a ship full of sea-outlaws. Forced to become Second Mate on a voyage headed towards Mexico, Ramon seems to take a shine to being shipboard and changes rapidly from dandy to able-bodied seaman, and before you know it he's happily swabbing the decks and looking gorgeous in white sleeveless t-shirt. Meanwhile, sailing in the same waters is the Lady Letty which suddenly catches on fire, and the outlaws go aboard to loot it, coming back with nothing but rum and a "loco sailor" - actually Moran dressed as a boy, brought over by Ramon who tries to keep her hidden away from the evil Captain. Now Ramon seems to develop a crush on Moran, but this may not work out for him - see, she wishes she were born a boy!

This film is packed with lots of shipboard action, fights, etc. - a bit too much for my taste actually. There is also a plot element that seems a little odd to me and that is the fact that Ramon seems so happy being on the ship with bad men who kidnapped him and are committing crimes. I am also not sure I like the match between Valentino and the woman, I kind of like them better as just "mates". The mainly sepia-tinted print shown on TCM looked okay, a tiny bit washed-out here and there but pretty good as a whole, and featured an excellent music score that matched the action well. For me, Valentino is the main reason to see this - he looks stunningly handsome in all of his scenes - sigh! I like Dorothy Dalton too, well cast in her tomboy part. Worth seeing for the beauty of Valentino alone.

It's hard to know whether Dorothy Dalton was always a dud or if she simply hasn't worn well, but her appeal these days is not readily apparent. Since that's true of a number of ladies who once made multitudes salivate in the silents, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Her acting's okay. Despite her top billing, it's absolutely Rudy's picture, and he's very good in it. He never looked better, and it's a nice, varied, physical part. Despite his exotic looks, and the fact that he's given a Latin background, this is still a nice-boy part. Wallace Reid could have played it.

As with so many silents, one of the main draws is the realness and thereness of the exteriors. No need to record sound, so they go on location to San Francisco, they shoot on water, and I wouldn't take anything for the scene in front of a small movie house, where you get a feel of what it was like to walk in. TCM showed it in an absolutely marvelous, digitally restored print.

Valentino does a quite creditable job of portraying a bored San Francisco society swell, whose life is turned upside down when he gets shanghaied by a villainous arms smuggler. His performance is refreshingly naturalistic (for a silent) as he discovers unexpected pleasure in his rough-and-tumble life as a smuggler -- at least, until the more sinister side of his captain's nature emerges. Walter Long makes a good heavy, and Dorothy Dalton is passable as the love interest.

What captivated me, though, were the locations: That harbor chock-full of tall ships, just at the end of the era of commercial viability for sail. And especially the two merchant ships on which most of the action takes place. When you see a sailing ship in a movie it's usually a replica of a warship from the 18th Century or earlier. I found those little details of actual workhorse merchant vessels from the late 1800s/early 1900s -- the zenith of commercial sailing -- fascinating.

For instance, there's a pretty authentic sequence in which the Lady Letty's cargo of coal spontaneously combusts -- a bad enough prospect when you're at sea, but much, much worse when you're at sea on something as inflammable as a ship constructed out of very dry wood. After the captain and a couple of men are overcome by fumes while trying to fight the fire, the remaining crew panics and abandons ship, leaving the captain's daughter behind, easy prey for vultures like Capt. "Slippery" Kitchell.

Whether you're a seafaring history buff or not, this is still an entertaining example of an action film from the heyday of the silents, and for my taste one of Rudolph Valentino's most watchable performances.

He was rich. She was not. He had no goals, no ambitions, no cares. Yet he recognizes that he is missing something. She sails the oceans and knows how to work and enjoys what she does. Then Ramon is shanghaied. There he learns to work and how to fight. In the process he admits to being the happiest he has ever been. Then through a series of misfortunes the Lady Letty is taken by the smugglers and Moran is taken as a prisoner. Ramon becomes her protector and to care for her. Finally Moran comes to care for Ramon. Then the question--what happens when they return to port?

Like so many good movies there are many levels to this one. It is a well crafted movie that moves at a strong pace yet goes beyond being just a love story and an action movie. It is also a very good study in what is important in life. This is definitely a movie that can be enjoyed more than once.

Finally, Rudolph Valentino is excellent as an action actor. The climax is loaded with exciting action!

I welcome any opportunity to see Valentino, and "Moran of the Lady Letty" from 1922 is Valentino in action, aimed at getting the men interested in him as well as women.

Based on a play, the story concerns a wealthy young playboy, Ramon, with no purpose in life who is shanghaied and put into service on a ship of smugglers. Life on the sea and working turns out to be a good and enjoyable thing for Ramon. One day, the crew sees a boat that has suffered a coal fire and looks empty, so the men climb aboard to steal what they can. They find one crew member alive, who turns out to be a woman, Moran Letty (Dorothy Dalton), the daughter of the burned ship's captain. Ramon protects her from the evil captain (Charles Brinley) and falls in love with her.

Differences in class were the major topic of stories, plays, etc. in the '20s into the early '30s. This is no exception. Seen today, the facial expressions are big and obvious, and the dialogue cards are open to a different interpretation nowadays - Letty has no use for men, doesn't like them, and wished she had been born a man! Dorothy Dalton is exotic-looking and good as Letty, and Valentino is very handsome and effective as Ramon. The film is loaded with stereotypes, including the likable character Chopstick Charlie, played by Japanese actor George Kuwa.

This is all to be expected in an 88-year-old film. We only have a fraction of silent films available when you look at what has been made versus what has been lost. It's not the greatest Valentino film, but don't pass this up if you have a chance to see it.