Blood and Sand

Mastered in 4K from 35mm film elements preserved by the Cinémathèque Française and Paul Killiam. Additional material provided by Eye Filmmuseum. The film has been color tinted according to instructions in the 1922 continuity script. Special thanks to the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, David Pierce, and Ken Winokur.

An immortal icon of brooding sexuality, Rudolph Valentino has become one of silent cinema’s most enigmatic and entrancing performers. Based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibanez, Blood and Sand was Valentino’s first starring vehicle, in which he portrays Juan Gallardo, a young Spaniard who achieves his boyhood ambition to become a celebrated toreador. But with fame come temptation and treachery, and the triumphant Juan finds himself the victim of his own desires, forsaking the pure love of the sweet-natured Carmen (Lila Lee) for the sinister charms of the exotic Doña Sol (Nita Naldi).