The Young Rajah

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.

As others have said, what is left to this film is put together with stills and interspersed with the actual film. Very, very difficult to watch; even understand because of this. I really don't know if it should have ever been accomplished as it is incoherent and unsubstantial in this chopped up way. In any case, we see the young Valentino, an amazing actor from so, so very long ago, yet it is difficult to say anything because of the film's deterioration. Too bad, but for Valentino fans, of long ago and today, it is nice to watch. He has or shall I say "had" a distinctive Italian young man look, and as others have said, whether he would have been successful at or in any other time in motion picture history is also difficult to judge.

I unfortunately missed the introduction (if there was one) to "The Young Rajah" on Turner Classic Movies, but the film was pieced together - the entire beginning is lost, told with dialogue cards, story cards, and stills. Eventually there is a clip of badly preserved film, more stills, and then finally "The Young Rajah" is completed using the actual film. The entire presentation only runs about an hour.

The silent era was the great equalizer - only in silents could an Italian with a thick accent play an Indian living on an American farm under the name of Amos Judd. As a young boy, the heir to the throne of India is brought to the farm of his father's friend, where he grows up, goes to Harvard, and falls in love. He has the gift of foretelling the future - which is where the frustration comes in for this viewer - but I digress. As his wedding day draws near, he is asked to return to India, where a usurper has taken over the throne and chaos reigns.

Valentino was very much of his time. He was an Italian working in silent films, and there's every chance he would not have survived sound or, as tastes changed, kept his leading man status. While Ramon Novarro enjoyed a career in talkies and television in character roles, we don't know if this would have happened to Valentino or would have been acceptable to him. Yet appearance-wise, he's ahead of his time, too. When one views him with today's eyes, he looks like one of the current Italian models with his slicked back hair, handsome face, and knack for looking elegant in suits. No man around him comes even close in appearance.

People must have had better vision in the '20s - the film contains many notes various characters received, and despite them being clear, I couldn't read them from where I was sitting. At the end of the movie, the film is almost completely deteriorated during the young rajah's vision - so I can only guess at what happens. A real pity, but what a credit to the people who worked to preserve what was left. A movie of great interest for those fascinated by film history.

A badly deteriorated print with Spanish titles was discovered in Europe recently - however only the last three reels totaling about 35 minutes had survived. The first fifteen to twenty minutes represent a collage of studio stills, bits of a trailer, modern photographic inserts and bridge material from June Mathis' continuity script to replace the first two or three reels that have disintegrated. Nitrate damage is evident in the remaining footage as well as some fading and streaking. The missing sequences include a fantastic Art Deco costume ball (designed by Natacha Rambova) and a rowing team boat race showing off Valentino's physique in tight fitting trunks and nothing else.

Valentino, whose subtlety and intelligence are evident in every picture he made, plays Amos Judd (born Sirdir Singh), the mysterious adopted son turned Harvard man. Amos' ancestors included Arjuna, the hero of the Bhagavad Ghita whose forehead was touched by the God Krishna and he and his offspring have been given powers of prophecy. This turns out to be a blessing and a curse for Amos Judd as his past comes after him and threatens his love for Molly Cabot, an American girl played by blonde and lovely Wanda Hawley. Fortunately, her father seems to be a Unitarian judge with remarkably liberal attitudes, so their union is not out of the question.

The film deals head on with issues of racism with remarkably enlightened and forward-thinking attitudes for that period. The issue of interracial relationships is explored in a very sympathetic light. The attitude expressed is that a man should be judged by the quality of his thought and not his religion or the color of his skin. Amos Judd, himself the product of an interracial marriage between an Italian woman and an Indian Rajah, is shown as being a student of all religions who believes that there are many roads to one God.

The film is intriguing for its stunning design, magnetic star and free-thinking philosophy. Evidently the film was not a great success, came out just at the time Valentino was arrested for bigamy and preceded a period of conflict with the star and Paramount studios. Valentino didn't like this film but I found it rather enticing and one can only hope that somewhere there is another print in better condition.

Rudolph Valentino (as Amos Judd) is a holy Indian prince, brought to America as a small boy; there, he was adopted by the Judds. The throne of Amos's real father had been seized by tyrannical Bertram Grassby (as Ali Kahn). Mr. Valentino is told of his true identity, but happily remains in America, where his muscles and magnetism make him a popular student at Harvard University. Valentino's innate precognitive abilities surface as he meets and falls in love with Wanda Hawley (as Molly Cabot). Due, undoubtedly, to his divine past, Valentino's gift of prophecy grows more pronounced. After his life is threatened, he must decide whether or not he should return to India and reclaim his throne.

Excellent restoration by Flicker Alley, the Library of Moving Images Collection, and Turner Classic Movies - the available footage and supplementary material have the integrity of the full film; the beginning footage is mostly lost, so the viewing pleasure improves over the running time. However, the story's "Mystical Eastern Hindu" exoticism hasn't aged well, and the film is only partially successful in its intent. Valentino and Grassby are passable as Indians (from India); actually, Valentino is better as an All-American.

The best aspect of the film is how it addresses racism - and, it is best portrayed by Wanda Hawley as Valentino's love interest; in effective scenes, she struggles with her own racism. She loves Valentino, but questions marrying a man who isn't her "kind". The film advises, "Men should be judged not by their tint of skin, the Gods they serve, the Vintage that they drink, nor by the way they fight, or love, or sin - but by the quality of thought they think." Ms. Hawley's struggle parallels Valentino's own - should he stay in America, or return to native India?

****** The Young Rajah (11/12/22) Phil Rosen ~ Rudolph Valentino, Wanda Hawley, Bertram Grassby