Le jeune rajah

I caught this picture on TCM's Silent Sundays an May, 2006. The last forty minutes of a nitrate print were discovered and using stills and trailers, Paramount did a very commendable job giving the viewer the as much of the full experience as they could. Valentino gives an excellent performance and looks enough like an Indian in his turban to pass for their prince. The climax occur rather quickly but how the picture concludes is definitely on the clever side. But what is most interesting about this picture in the incorporation of prejudice and equality into the romance between Valentino's and Hawley's characters. Being only 18, prejudice and equality are different to me than they are to my parents, but I couldn't help but be amazed at how the film tackled the issue and rapped it up in an engrossing, almost epic motion picture experience.

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.

Love to look at old films way before my time and especially this film which was made up of mostly still photos and about one-third of the film on tape. Fanny Midgley gives a great performance with Rudolph Valentino who captures his heart and Valentino does everything in his power to bring her to the altar, but Fanny is not convinced because of the color of his skin being from India. Fanny reads in a book that skin color should not make a difference if you are in love and Fanny discovers she changes her mind and her way of thinking. This film will take you to India, Connecticut and some people are able to foretell about the future. If you like very old films, this is a great 1922 Classic. Enjoy

Rudoplh Valentino is my all time favorite silent film star. This is my second time watching "The Young Rajah," and I liked it more the second time around. Although some parts of the film are missing, I did get a lot out of it. The message was clear-judge a person for who they are, and what is in their heart regardless of skin color. Valentino was a talented actor and dancer. He was just as beautiful inside as he was outside, and it came across the screen if only for a brief moment. He will never be forgotten. It was back in the 1970s when I first heard of him. I was completely taken aback by his talent and mystique, and I was quite young at the time. It is always a thrill to watch one of his films. "The Young Rajah" only showed his versatility in films. Who knows what more he was capable of doing had he lived a longer life?

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.