Another dimension of Valentino’s talent

The Silent Movie Theatre celebrates Labor Day weekend with three Rudolph Valentino pictures, including the rarely seen “Monsieur Beaucaire.”

The other two, “The Sheik” and “The Son of the Sheik,” are familiar. While it’s always fun to see the two films that have made Valentino a smoldering screen icon, it’s a special treat to get to see one of the numerous other Valentino films still extant that rarely if ever surface -- especially one as delightful as “Monsieur Beaucaire,” based on the Booth Tarkington novel and play and directed by Sidney Olcott at a leisurely yet effective pace.

Valentino is perfect as the dashing, witty and carefree duke of Chartres, a great favorite at the court of his cousin Louis XV (Lowell Sherman) and the king’s paramour Madame Pompadour (Paulette Duval). The duke enchants the ladies and entertains the entire court with his songs and lively personality. Louis has it in mind that the duke will be betrothed to another cousin, Princess Henriette (Bebe Daniels), freshly arrived at the court directly from the convent and so naive, prudish and loyal to Louis’ neglected queen (Lois Wilson) that she dares to snub Pompadour, either not realizing or not caring that the weak Louis is dominated by his all-powerful mistress.

Since Henriette sees the duke as a Pompadour loyalist instead of the consummate court realist that he is, the betrothal is in trouble from the start. That Henriette is as attracted to the duke as all the other ladies of the court is not enough to prevent the duke from finally escaping Versailles to land in Bath in the guise of a French barber, Monsieur Beaucaire. In Bath he seeks out fresh adventures and romance.

The film affords Valentino one of his most richly faceted roles, and he shines in every aspect. He projects into the duke and his alter ego what must surely have been his own contradictory feelings about being such a potent babe magnet, while longing to be free of the thrall of his admirers. He is consistently good-natured and plays with a subtle tongue-in-cheek.

Valentino is also a good sport. By now his second wife, art director and costume designer Natacha Rambova, had become a dominant force in his career, nearly wrecking it with her artistic pretensions -- “Monsieur Beaucaire” did well enough in the cities but was nearly a dud in the sticks -- and she encases her husband in silks and satins and yards of lace. Ironically, her costumes actually set off Valentino’s masculinity, underlining the duke’s craving for a life of more action, and one scene, in which Valentino is bare to the waist, reveals his muscular physique.

“Monsieur Beaucaire” (1924) also confirms the promise of Rambova’s bold designs for Nazimova’s “Salome” (1923): Her exquisite costumes and restrained, elegant sets for this production reveal her as a major talent in her own right.

Cinecon

The convention of the Society of Cinephiles, Thursday through Monday at the Egyptian Theater, presents its usual trove of rarities and in-person tributes. For more than three decades the Cinephiles have discovered and preserved scores of forgotten movies. In the process they have made some delightful discoveries, such as the timeless wit and irony of Warren William, a lean, elegant actor with a Barrymore profile.

More recently, they have rescued from obscurity Leigh Jason, a skilled director of a series of breezy, modestly budgeted ‘40s comedies for Columbia that have remained surprisingly fresh and fun. This year’s Jason offering, the 1944 “Nine Girls,” attests to Jason’s ability to turn a flop play into a lively treat, a murder mystery comedy set at an elegant sorority mountain lodge and showing off an array of glamorous starlets, including legendary World War II cover girl Jinx Falkenburg and two fine young actresses already on their way, Evelyn Keyes and Nina Foch, as well as a gifted comedian, Jeff Donnell. Top billing goes to Ann Harding as the girls’ stately chaperon, a professor at their college.

Anita Louise plays a rich girl so hateful that there are plenty of motives to go around when her bludgeoned corpse turns up in the Arroyo Seco. It’s a little too easy to guess whodunit, and some of the sorority girls are silly beyond belief, but the film has such zest and humor that it scarcely matters. Jason had a gift for handling large casts of varying abilities and reams of dialogue with an unflagging ease and a smooth cinematic flow.

Erle Kenton’s 1929 silent “The Sideshow” is another modest gem, a terse circus drama with deft touches of humor that was filmed amid an actual traveling show, which gives the picture a documentary feel. The film’s bold departure is that its star is an actual little person, Little Billy, cast as P.W. Melrose, who through shrewdness and determination has risen from the sideshow to become the hard-driving but compassionate owner of the circus. Little Billy proves to be an eloquent and powerful actor.

His Melrose refuses to sell out to a competitor, setting off a series of mysterious accidents. At just about the same time he hires a pretty girl (Marie Prevost) to assist another recent hire, a magician, for his sideshow, run by Ralph Graves’ handsome, square-shooting manager. Not surprisingly, Melrose is attracted to Prevost as much as Graves is but keeps his feelings to himself.

Emotions and catastrophes escalate, building to a payoff that is suitably dramatic but is also uncommonly realistic.

Romantic road adventure

The Laemmle Theaters’ Around the World in Sixty Days series continues with Fatih Akin’s “In July,” an amusing romantic road adventure in which a pretty, free-spirited Hamburg street merchant (Christiane Paul) named July persuades an uptight student physics teacher, Daniel (Moritz Bleibtreu), to buy a ring engraved with the Aztec symbol for the sun. All that Daniel has to do to find true love is to come across a girl wearing the same symbol. Unaware that July is smitten with him herself, he is soon pursuing a beautiful young Turkish woman on an eventful journey to Istanbul. At 100 minutes it’s a bit long-winded, even if upbeat in spirit.

Worth noting

Claes Lilja’s illuminating, serious documentary “Beyond Vanilla,” screening at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 this weekend, features an array of individuals who tell how they have discovered sexual fulfillment through sadomasochistic and other unusual practices. Graphic but not exploitative.

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Screenings

The Silent Movie Theatre

What: “Monsieur Beaucaire,” Friday, 8 p.m.; “The Sheik,” Saturday, 8 p.m.; “The Son of the Sheik,” Sunday, 8 p.m.

Where: 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A.

Info: (323) 655-2520

Cinecon

What: “Nine Girls,” Saturday, 10:45 p.m.; “The Sideshow,” Sunday, 4:25 p.m.

Where: 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

Info: (800) 411-0455

Around the World in Sixty Days

“In July” (all screenings 11 a.m.): Saturday-Sunday at Laemmle’s Fairfax Cinemas, 7907 Beverly Blvd., L.A., (323) 655-4010; Sept. 6-7 at Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex, 1332 2nd St., Santa Monica, (310) 394-9741; Sept. 13-14 at the Laemmle’s Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500; and Sept. 20-21 at the Laemmle’s Fallbrook 7,

6731 Fallbrook Ave., West Hills, (818) 340-8710.

“Beyond Vanilla”: Friday and Saturday at midnight at the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. (323) 848-3500.