The Sheik

The Sheik (1921)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: George Melford

Starring: Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Ruth Miller, George Waggner, Frank Butler

From: Paramount

What a movie with dated viewpoints... especially considering also last night was the Golden Globes, and the dominating message there. See what I mean below: 

This piece of hokum was on Turner Classic Movies last night and as I hadn't seen any movies from Rudolph Valentino period, this might as well be the first one. Back in the day he was a huge sex symbol and when he suddenly died at a young age, his fame shot even higher to the point of iconic status.

The plot: I call this “hokum” for good reason. It is silly at best and can be seen as offensive at worst. What is known now as “an independent woman” is in “Arabia” when she meets up with the title character. He swoons over her; Sheik is such a romantic, the way he decides to win her heart is: kidnapping her! Even worse, he threatens her and browbeats her and proclaims that no one would find her in the middle of the desert (where they are hiding); if that isn't chilling enough, you even have another character tell her (and I am paraphrasing here) “When men are around women, men can't control their base desires”; yep, victim-blaming. You can see how all this is incredibly uncomfortable in modern times. And I did not even mention yet that she eventually falls for Sheik. Then again, million of people don't find Christian Grey disturbing at all... Plus, of course there is “brownface” going on as multiple white people play those of Arabic descent.

Yet, I still gave this nonsense an average grade. The gross elements were usually so silly I could not get that mad at them; of course your mileage may vary. In terms of acting, Rudy often appeared as a smiling goofus, his eyes usually bugged out; even for a silent that is pretty exaggerated so I will hazard a guess from this one performance and say it was his appearance rather than his acting talent that made him a star... the more things change... Agnes Ayres was more natural as the independent lady. It was nicely filmed and I had no trouble believing either the sets or the California desert that stood in for the desert of “Arabia”. There are some exciting moments; would you believe that Ayres gets kidnapped by other people while she's still kidnapped by Valentino? I guess that this is pretty silly overall.