A Society Sensation (1918) User Reviews

Early indication of the right stuff for the leads

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 20 March 2017]

Carmel Myers is in the title role of A Society Sensation. She is called that because she gets introduced into San Francisco society by Lydia Yeamans Titus one of the grand dames of it. Actually Myers is the daughter of fisherman Alfred Allen. As you can see this story has some Pygmalion type elements in it.

Rudolph Valentino plays a society playboy, a nice fellow considering some of his later lady killing roles that made him famous. I think you can also see some elements of Julia Roberts's Pretty Woman with Valentino in the Richard Gere part.

We see a truncated version, the rest of the film might be lost. But there's enough of it for the personalities of both the stars to come through and show they had the right stuff to be movie idols.

A little bit of everything that made the silents great

[RuiChiu · 7/10 · 8 March 2019]

At just under 20 minutes, the only existent version wallops a lot of movie into that running time. There's action with athletic Valentino fighting the villain and several rough sailors, there's the romance between Rudy and Carmel's characters, and comedy superbly played by Zasu Pitts at her most beautiful Lillian Gish doppleganger best.

Margaret (Carmel) is the daughter of fisherman with some pretentious claims to a noble lineage; as befitting his stature, Capt. Parmalee (father) sends Margaret to the city to be taken under the wing of a society matron who will polish her with manners of a lady of quality. Along the way, fresh precocious Margaret meets and beguiles young aristocrat Dick Bradley (Rudolph) The two have a quickie romance with all indications of impending matrimony when Capt. Parmalee receives word that his claim to the noble title cannot be substantiated and Margaret is just a fisherman's daughter. Margaret returns home and Jim, a rough sailor and acquaintance of her father's makes it clear he still wants to marry her, title or no. But Dick isn't giving up and pursues Margaret. They agree to a clandestine meeting at the beach but Jim, knowing Margaret is still sweet on Dick, kidnaps her to his boat. This is where Zasu Pitts, lingering on the sidelines throughout the story and crazy for Jim, jumps into action and alerts everyone that her friend has been stolen---you have to see it, she overacts in such an intentionally ridiculous way you cannot help but be charmed by this silly girl. After a rescue, some fighting, every one coming to peaceful terms, it turns out Margaret really does have a noble heritage and can marry Jim as she is now his equal.

A typical 20s romp with the mores and morals of that time. The original film must have been a delight, as this cut down version, re released in 1924 to exploit Valentino's popularity, is a brief and enjoyable short.

A Society Sensation review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 23 April 2020]

An early pre-fame Valentino flick in which he plays a rather insipid 'hero' who repeatedly has to be rescued by Carmel Myers from death or beating. Any longer than 24 minutes and it would have been a drag.