Believing himself to be of noble blood, fisherman Captain Parmalee (
Alfred Allen) tries to foist his daughter Sydney (
Carmel Myers) off on High Society. Amused by Parmalee's pretensions, a wealthy dowager named Mrs. Green tells her friends that Sydney is a duchess. The ruse works so well that socialite Dick Bradley falls in love with Sydney. When Dick's mother learns the truth, she forbids the lovers to marry, but Mrs. Green comes to the rescue once more. Available today in only a severely abbreviated version, A Society Sensation would have been utterly forgotten had not the film featured
Rudolph Valentino, as Dick Bradley, in his first important role.
Carmel Myers, who remained a lifelong friend of Valentino, was so impressed by his gracious manners and eagerness to please that she deliberately allowed him to upstage her in several scenes and also cast him in her next picture,
All Night, arranging for him to receive a $25 raise in the bargain (thereby elevating Valentino's salary to a princely $75 per week!) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide