The Sheik

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Nick M An Arab Sheik kidnaps an English lady who is foolish enough to venture into the desert without a reliable escort. Said foolish lady ends up falling in love with him despite her captivity, and they both live happily ever after once it is revealed that he is, in fact, white. Considering this movie's reputation and how high it is listed on Silent Era's list of their top silent films (#44?!) I am shocked at how little I cared for this. This is the film that catapulted Valentino to stardom, and he's dreadful! After seeing some of his earlier work in which he gives underwhelming performances I assumed that he had taken a few acting classes in between those pictures and this one, but his idea of emoting is still only to widen his eyes leeringly and pout childishly when he doesn't get his way. Everything is over the top, and although he can be quite charming at times, I couldn't even enjoy those few and far in between moments because of how generally disappointing he was. Agnes Ayres is little better. Every expression is over the top. In fact, the only performance that didn't leave me feeling embarrassed for the actor was Adolphe Menjou in the supporting role as the Sheik's friend, Raoul. I know this was supposed to be just a bit of fluffy fun, but it wasn't. Or rather, it has aged exceptionally poorly at the very least. Ayres's character is insufferably stupid and bigoted, there is *no* reason given for her suddenly falling in love with her captor other than that apparently she likes his voice, she grows absurdly accommodated to her role as his prisoner bride to the point that she is willing to give her life for his, and how does the French friend not even offer to help her?! At one point she writes "Ahmed I love you" in a sand dune, and it's still there an hour or more later as clear as the moment she'd written it! At least there's a scene where we get to see swoon-worthy Rudolph Valentino kiss his happy bride at the end in a loin-stirring passionate embrace, right? Inexplicably no!! What an insufferable letdown. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/25 Full Review Joel H I wasn't as richly entertained by The Sheik as I expected to be. The plot is somehow overly complicated, yet highly simplistic at the same time. And frankly, after hearing so much about the reputation of Rudolph Valentino, I expected more from him. His performance seemed to consist of holding a sly grin on his face the whole time. Although there were a few moments when he would widen his eyes and give a creepy grin that was supposed to be charming. Perhaps the book this silent film was based on is more intriguing, but I found this journey with The Sheik to be, for the most part, bland and dry. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/03/23 Full Review David F Really dated and slow moving. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 08/23/23 Full Review Audience Member A sprawling, epic love story set in the desert, The Sheik catapulted Valentino and Ayres to stardom. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member The best thrilling romance movie ever made! With the best movie character ever portrayed: Rudolph Valentino as Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member THE SHEIK i give all the stars in the universe along with Rudolph Valentino. people who judge it poorly do not take in to consideration how long ago it was, A rotten tomato? Really?? It was the start of movies and before the talkies. I do not know what people expected, Some thing like Star Wars? It was 1921 and 26 and Rudolph Valentino did a hell of a good job romancing the women. He had millions of fans. He was known as the worlds greatest lover. He is the most visited star in history because he died so young and so suddenly 31. To this day there is a memorial service on Aug 23- 1926, Every year since then, 92 years. He would not of ever been visited at all if he was a horrible actor and his movies were bad. Just consider the year please. To this day I am amazed. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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