Many critics consider Moran of the Lady Letty to be Rudolph Valentino's best-made vehicle; certainly, it is one of the least shown today, though it was made just after his first Paramount film, The Sheik (1921), skyrocketed him to popularity. Based on a story by Frank Norris (who wrote McTeague, on which the film Greed was based), it was shot on location in Tiburon, California, with most of the action taking place either on the waterfront or the open sea. Nicely done settings and first-rate photography lend an aura of realism to it all. Valentino is a moneyed rogue who falls in love with the sea-born daughter (Dorothy Dalton) of an old Scandinavian captain (Charles Brindley). The villain of the piece is the smuggler Walter Long, whom our hero (although he is by far the least rugged of the lot!) manages to dash in a climactic fight on the mast.