The Sheik

source: The Sheik

This is not only the flagship of Valentino's film, capturing Valentino at his prime, it is the most beautifully photographed. The camera was stationary on the tripod for the filming of this jewel, so they could literally focus on everything else. The tinting added a hint of the time of day and visual contrast. By the time of The Son of Sheik ten years later, the cinematographer was expected to pan and move the camera and apparently this was so hard to do with the available equipment at the time that they lost control of the details of beautiful filming. The inter-titles are also magnificent in this film.

Sheik Rudolph Valentino (as Ahmed Ben Hassan) lives in the blessed oasis of the Sahara Desert; when he sees a woman he wants, he takes her. Lady Agnes Ayres (as Diana Mayo), the orphaned daughter of an English poet, visits Arabia, and catches Mr. Valentino's eye. The modern Ms. Ayres wants to visit the local casino, where Valentino entertains, but she is turned away. Furious, Ayres borrows a harem dancer's costume, and sneaks into the action. Discovered, and ousted, Ayres is nevertheless attracted to the dreamy Valentino, who has decided to abduct her Unexpectedly, Valentino's "Sheik" caricature became one of filmdom's most memorable roles; in fact, it might be considered, stylistically, Valentino's greatest. He must have had mixed feelings about the film; as Valentino admittedly approached acting as an art, which this isolated performance doesn't (arguably) show. Still, it is a great, however misunderstood, performance. Ayres is a good feminine conquest; she is lovely, but never ravishing enough to move the spotlight too far away from the star. Adolphe Menjou (as Raoul de Saint Hubert) lends both subtext, and a good performance. The presence of barbarous Walter Long (as Omair), coupled with the love of Ayres, helps reform Ahmed's immoral character. The supporting and bit players are uniformly interesting. Importantly, director George Melford and photographer William Marshall give "The Sheik" a very crisp, moving style. Roger Bellon's soundtrack is one of the best retrospective soundtracks composed for an old silent. Whatever its criticisms, Valentino's bulging "Sheik" is difficult to disregard; it remains a definitive classic. ********* The Sheik (10/30/21) George Melford ~ Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Adolphe Menjou, Walter Long

A few days ago,I got this DVD Edition and I must say,now I finally realize why many women got swooned over Valentino.There was something about him,not just physical beauty,but "that" something what comes from De Profundis.Let's face it,Valentino had a "catch",and we must try not to hate all "feminized men" (read:those who had manners) though to learn from them.I speak global for Valentino,not for this movie.He was a face of real gentleman,real lover and a man with tendering feelings.Sadly,I regret for times when a woman was seen as a lady and a person and when men were truly a gentlemen.No matter what,we can always rent and watch Valentino's films and to recall those times.

"The Sheik" was the movie that catapulted Rudolph Valentino to stardom. I just saw it recently for the first time. It holds up rather well within the context of its story. The story involves London socialite Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayres) setting off on an adventure across the desert. When her caravan is attacked by bandits and her brother (Frank Butler) killed, she is rescued by Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassen (Valentino, who carries her off to his camp intending to make her the latest of his many conquests. With the influence and advice from his friend Raoul (Adolph Menjou) the Sheik comes to respect her and they ultimately fall in love. But when she doubts his intentions, Lady Di runs off into the desert and is captured by Omair the Bandit (Walter Long). Rudy of course rides to the rescue and the lovers ride off into the desert to live happily ever after. It is easy to see why the ladies swooned over Valentino. He did cut a dashing figure on the screen and his hypnotic stare was to become his trademark. Both Valentino and Ayres would reprise their roles in "Son of the Sheik" (1926), Valentino's final film. Lucien Littlefield who plays Gaston the Sheik's valet, stuck around for many years. He wound up playing a variety of roles for Republic Pictures in "B" westerns. Menjou, who actually WAS young at one time had a long and prosperous career playing mature sophisticated gentlemen.

I agree with most of the other reviewers here on most of their points except one. The one point is that the plot of the film is of its time. In fact, the plot of the 1985 film "Harem" with Ben Kingsley and Nastassja Kinski, and "The Sheik are almost identical. If "Harem" were a better-known film, there would be no need for sleeping pills, and shares in Glaxo-Smith-Kline would nosedive as a result. "The Sheik", however kitsch its plot seems to be, is very well done. I agree that Valentino's popeyes look ridiculous, and kind of spoil the film. There is nothing challenging about his role, though he lives up to his image. Agnes Ayres's character, Diana, is a much meatier role. I admit that she went over my head on first viewing. On subsequent viewings, I got to appreciate her acting more, and I figuratively award her full marks. At the beginning of the film she is an independent woman, but it is all a facade, and a very thin one at that. After her capture this facade vanishes along with her gunbelt and pith helmet before the eyes of Valentino, and we see her "naked", even though she is dressed. I found that scene very powerfully done. Although the film more or less follows Edith Winstanley's novel as closely as public outrage would allow it to, I could not help feeling that Patsy Ruth Miller's character was left withering on the vine and should have been developed more. Making her a schemer instead of a bowed-head menial who has had the stuffing knocked out of her sometime in the past was a waste, I thought. On the credit side, Adolphe Menjou was great as the father figure. And Omair is a very Arabian Arab heavy. Some of the trite stuff written about this film is best ignored. For instance, they say that men hate this film or find it funny, and women love it. I'm male and I'm straight and I like this film. I agree it is not Valentino's best film objectively speaking, and it is perhaps not his best piece of acting...and, yet, there is something special about this film, something magical, something that I can't put my finger on - maybe the chemistry between the players. Maybe everyone on the set sensed that this film was going to shake filmdom to its foundations. Because of this certain "something", I will give it 10 out of 10 in spite of its flaws, because I knew when I was watching this film that I was watching something magical. It would be wrong to say that they don't make films like this anymore. "Harem" refutes that. They do make films like this anymore, but they're just not in the same league.

I read the book many years ago, and also read a biography on Rudolph Valentino. At last I have finally got to watch the film on DVD. To me it was a lesson in how not to do two things at the same time. To truly watch a silent movie you really can't be doing something else. Not a bad thing really. Seeing the facial expressions told the story as much as the lovely old script text, and piano music. I wonder if modern day actors and actresses could convey the story and how they are feeling today. I am sure that a lot of women would still "swoon" at Rudolph Valentino when he gives that magnetic smile, not to mention the men with the contrasting emotions of feisty to demure of Agnes Ayers. A good old fashioned romance with a happy ending, but like all films,never a clone of the book. Definitely worth viewing, if only for nostalgia's sake.

I can't believe all the apologist critiques. The Sheik is so enjoyable, fun and Valentino is so warm and loving with his co-star, it is a must see! (Plus I love the music that comes with it) Remember also Valentino at this time in his life, was newly and madly in love with the love of his life, Natasha and he is just radiant throughout this whole film. It's been said that he along with the rest of the cast and crew had the time of their lives romping through the desert making this film. It truly shows. Valentino is gorgeous in this. I watch it periodically and it leaves the sweetest feeling with me. Go on about the subject matter, about the over emphasis on gestures (it's a silent film, that was the norm) but there is nothing better than to see this gifted and talented man act while he is probably at his most happiest in life.

There are silents which still make many today's viewers overwhelmed, including productions on grand scale: the ones of stunning visuals and top notch performances. There are "lost" silents which have been a longstanding dream to see by many but the likelihood for finding them is constantly declining. There are also silents which were meant to entertain and they did serve their purpose in the distant past but do not do that any longer. They have simply failed to stand a test of time. Unfortunately, THE SHEIK, from my point of view, appears to direct towards the latest group but surely does not turn out to be "totally dated" or "unwatchable" Let me analyze the movie in more details. The content is hardly convincing for today's cinema buffs, for the general audience. An English woman Diana Fayo (Agnes Ayres) badly desires freedom since she perceives male-female relation bounds as humiliating and marriage as captivity. She goes for a trip to the Arab city of Biskra hoping for freeing herself from the old bounds of dated tradition and humiliating dependence. Moreover, having met the powerful Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan (Rudolph Valentino) whose slightest wish is law among his people, she takes a trip into the sun garden of the sand, the desert. However, what she is exposed to appears to be absolutely on the contrary to her expectations. She gets into a "more tragic captivity" where no one is likely to find her whereabouts. Sheik Ahmed, who was to be a liberator, is not accustomed to having his orders disobeyed and Diana is not accustomed to obeying orders. What can happen in such unwelcome circumstances? Although the action is pretty unpredictable, today's viewers will not watch the movie for the sake of wondering what will happen. It does not absorb us as much as it absorbed the viewers in the 1920s. The visuals are also far from masterwork and some scenes are pretty boring and tedious. Therefore, we could easily say that THE SHEIK is too seriously dated. But many people would not agree with that opinion. What constitutes the movie's great success still today are the two CAST: one is a symbol, the other one is a beauty. Rudolph Valentino just after his masterpiece, THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE which had premiered in March 1921 and which had introduced him to stardom, was cast in this movie of exotic title and exotic content. He is not a tango dancer nor a soldier for "foreign" France but a sheik. But this is far from his best performance and it is mostly based on pantomime and, from today's perspective, exaggerated mimics. Yet, the presence alone of the silent era symbol made this movie in 1921 and makes it even now in 2007 worth seeing. There must have been interest in this movie since a few years later a sequel THE SON OF THE SHEIK (1926) was made, being at the same time Rudolph's last film. The other person on whose shoulders lies the success of the film is beautiful Agnes Ayres. In fact, she does a much better job as Diana Fayo. She IS a desire incarnate for Valentino and occurs to be very subtle, beautiful, tender - a sort of woman every man would fight for. "Pale hands I love, Beside the Shalimar, Where are you now, Who lies beneath your spell" Yes, the sheik is totally "bewitched" by Diana and Valentino appears to be in love with Ayres. However, there is no such powerful chemistry between the couple like in some other movies of the time. They do good jobs apart from each other. To give you a deeply genuine opinion, I quite enjoyed THE SHEIK but if it had been my first silent, I would not be a silent buff now. What is more, if it had been my first Valentino movie, I would wonder how he could become such a great star. An average movie mostly for silent buffs when you are deeply in the silent era reality. 6/10

Lawrence loved Arabia and Meryl Streep fell for Africa, but Diana, the leading lady of "The Sheik," resists the desert with all her might. She reacts badly to Valentino at first, prefers to consort with Europeans, and threatens Arabs with a pistol she can barely shoot. As in every Hollywood romance, however, her heart eventually melts. Maybe this was an unexpected plot twist in 1921. "The Sheik," will open the eyes of anybody who mistakenly believes that human history has been a steady march of ever increasing open-mindedness about sex. The 1920s were a more open, steamy time in film that the next couple of decades that followed it, which the "The Sheik" non-prudish storyline illustrates. "The Sheik" is not quite exhilarating enough and is somewhat disappointing if you're looking for exotic passion or a home video for date night. But it succeeds as an early romantic comedy, and distinguishes itself from other silent era fare such as the mawkish humor of Chaplain, the historical bombast of "Birth of a Nation," and the serious reverence of "King of Kings." For romance between appealing leads in locations far from civilization as we know it, "Son of the Sheik" or even "Stagecoach" fifteen years later are better bets. Still, "The Sheik" is historically important and more fun than most films of the time.