Paramount Pictures was concerned with Rudolph Valentino's public image, which was becoming increasingly feminized after "The Sheik." As one male movie fan said, "Many other men desire to be another Douglas Fairbanks. But Valentino? I wonder ..."
To combat that stereotype, Paramount cast him in a macho role in February 1922's "Moran of the Lady Letty." In it, his character initially plays a young socialite leading a sheltered life. Drugged and smuggled on a pirate ship, Valentino discovers a rescued sailor of a sinking ship was really a woman. Based on a Frank Norris novel, "Moran of the Lady Letty" shows Valentino's character toughening up in protecting the woman Moran from the lecherous crew on the boat while involved in the middle of a shoot-em-up battle. With his machismo oozing from the screen, the film proved Valentino was all man, a characteristic that changed some minds of the male species, but not all.
To combat that stereotype, Paramount cast him in a macho role in February 1922's "Moran of the Lady Letty." In it, his character initially plays a young socialite leading a sheltered life. Drugged and smuggled on a pirate ship, Valentino discovers a rescued sailor of a sinking ship was really a woman. Based on a Frank Norris novel, "Moran of the Lady Letty" shows Valentino's character toughening up in protecting the woman Moran from the lecherous crew on the boat while involved in the middle of a shoot-em-up battle. With his machismo oozing from the screen, the film proved Valentino was all man, a characteristic that changed some minds of the male species, but not all.