He was cinema’s first sex symbol, causing hordes of female moviegoers to flock to his pictures throughout the 1920s.

He starred in films designed to show off his Latin looks, his smoldering eyes, and his dancer’s body. And his untimely death in August 1926 at age 31 prompted mob scenes at his funeral in New York.

He was Rudolph Valentino, who remains an icon for on-screen passion long after he caused a sensation in the 1920s.

”The Son of the Sheik” (1926), one of Valentino’s most acclaimed films, will be screened with live music Saturday, Aug. 15, at 7 p.m. at Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, located on Route 7 in Brandon, Vt.

The program is free and open to the public; donations are accepted to support Brandon Town Hall's silent film programming.

The screening will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating scores for silent films.

In “The Son of the Sheik,” Valentino tackles two roles, one as a father and the other as his son.Ahmed (Rudolph Valentino), the son of an Arab sheik and a kidnapped English gentlewoman (Agnes Ayres), loves local dancing girl Yasmin (Vilma Bánky).

When he slips out of his father's heavily guarded compound to woo her, he is kidnapped and held for ransom by a group of bandits led by Yasmin's father (George Fawcett) and Ghabah (Montagu Love), the Moor to whom she is betrothed.

Can Valentino escape the clutches of his enemies and win the heart of his true love?

“The Son of the Sheik” was a sequel to 1921's “The Sheik,” an immensely popular film that established Valentino as the silent screen's great lover.

The actor's final film, “The Son of the Sheik” was released following his death on Aug. 23, 1926, from complications from peritonitis, a serious stomach infection. He was only 31 years old.

An Italian immigrant who arrived penniless at Ellis Island in 1913, Valentino rose to superstar status in a series of silent pictures that inflamed the passions of female movie-goers from coast to coast and around the world.

But he was more than a pretty face — during his career, critics praised Valentino as a versatile actor capable of playing a variety of roles. He even popularized the Argentine tango in the 1921 drama “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

But Valentino's brief stardom was defined by the “Sheik” roles. In theaters, women openly swooned over Valentino’s on-screen image, especially in roles such as the “Sheik,” which featured elaborate costumes.

At its peak, his popularity was so immense that it inspired a backlash among many male moviegoers, who decried Valentino’s elegant image and mannerisms as effeminate.

Valentino’s sudden death fueled his status as a legendary romantic icon of the cinema. For years, a mysterious woman dressed in black would visit his grave at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles, leaving only a single red rose.

Valentino was aware of his effect on audiences, saying, “Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas upon which the women paint their dreams.”

The Valentino program continues another season of silent films presented with live music at Brandon Town Hall and Community Center. The series provides local audiences the opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in good-looking prints, with live music, and with people present.

“These films are still exciting experiences if you can show them as they were designed to be screened,” Rapsis said. “There’s a reason people first fell in love with the movies. At their best, silent films were communal experiences in which the presence of a large audience intensifies everyone’s reactions.”

For each film, Rapsis improvises a music score using original themes he creates beforehand. None of the music is written down; instead, the score evolves in real time based on audience reaction and the overall mood as the movie is screened.

Rudolph Valentino in “The Son of the Sheik” will be shown on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. at Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, located on Route 7 in Brandon, Vt.

The program is free and open to the public; donations are accepted to support Brandon Town Hall's silent film programming.

For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.