Blood and Sand (Silent)

Great screen lover Rudolph Valentino charismatically stars as Juan Gallardo, a shoemaker's son with aspirations to be a toreador in the 1922 motion picture adaptation of Vicente Blasco Ibanez's often filmed romantic tale, Blood and Sand. Juan's meteoritic rise from poverty to the thrill-mad bullrings of Seville is aided by his childhood sweetheart Carmen (Lila Lee). But her sweet, innocent manner is no match for vamp Dona Sol (Nita Naldi), a wealthy woman who devours men and easily conquers the impressionable Juan. With perverted social anthropologist Don Joselito (Charles Belcher) lurking by the sidelines and sadistically studying Juan's corruption by fame, sex and power, Blood and Sand is not only a romantic tragedy of youthful folly but a pointed and ahead-of-its-time examination of 20th century stardom. Blood and Sand is a giant landmark in silent cinema with unforgettable performances by Rudolph Valentino, Lila Lee and Nita Naldi.

• silent