Directed by: George Melford
Scenario: Monte M. Katterjohn
DVD Status: Released via Image Entertainment. Click here to purchase!
My rating (out of 5 stars): 3
AHHHH Sheik Night! We've waited all week for this! Well I got two review for ya tonight, and after I'm done having a Valentino heart attack I'm gonna wake up and have another Valentino hang over. All hard work bitching aside, its been great. And seriously it was everything I hoped for: SHEIK NIGHT SOLD OUT (well...5 seats short but you get the idea)!!! And a lot of first timers there, so that was great. But more on that later.
Ya'll already know the story behind The Sheik so no need repeating. The Sheik was Valentino's second major role, the first being "Four Horsemen". "Four Horsemen" made him the iconic Latin Lover, but it was The Sheik that probably eclipsed that image and defined him overall. Seriously you don't understand the reach this film had when it was released...women screamed and fainted at showings, men wrote hate songs against Valentino, every piece of crap from condoms to a high school was named after it, and to this day loons are still dressing up in memory of him because of it. The film did extremely well, grossing more than $1 million in the first year alone. It was being rereleased year after year well up to 1938 (even after Charlie and his talkie transition!)
Watching it through modern eyes a lot of people wonder why this is. Admittedly its extremely kitsch, and most of the acting wasn't that good. The story line was watered down so bad it wasn't worth shit, and well...it just constantly stopped short of being a great film. YET credit is due where credit is due. It dabbled with the taboos of interracial romance, feminism, and strong male dominance. Valentino was hot, and probably extremely hot to female audiences who were likely seeing him only for the second time (yes he made many films before and between the two, but these were his first major movies). He was the first to bring to the screen a forbidden lover you could ACTUALLY have if you will... Yeah Sessue Hayakawa got all dominance rapey in 1915's "The Cheat" but in real life you would be forbidden to marry him unless you were Asian. You could marry Valentino...it was alright. I think the numbers reflect that: The Cheat barely grossed $137,000, the Sheik probably made that in its debut week...
The Sheik was a cultural phenomena, making women across the US wish a Valentino type would get rapey with them. Men hated it, mainly out of jealousy as they seen The Sheik as an 'exotic' style of lovemaking (not just the rape, the whole forceful take charge sorta thing). They would taunt Valentino, calling him effeminate because his Sheik costume had baggy pants! Yes...somehow that logic made sense to them!
For his part Valentino absolutely hated The Sheik. He loathed it, and said he did it for money. He spent the rest of his career trying to do more artistic pictures. The irony being his final film would be a sequel...Son of the Sheik.
Plot
The film opens in an assumedly North African town of Biskra. We see Arabs being stereotypical, Allah worshipping and begging and what not. We see the marriage market, where an old guy tries to buy Zilahl (Patsy Ruth Miller). Her true love pleads for Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan (Rudolph Valentino) to intervene, and Sheik Ahmed declares that when love is true it means more than money, as is Allah's will. The couple are allowed to be together.
We then see 'civilization in this savage land' a British ruled city. We see a bunch of Victorian old biddies gossiping about the scandalous weird Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayres) and her plans to venture into the dessert 'alone' (i.e. without a man to guard her). Her brother Aubrey (Frank Butler) pleads with her not to go but she says she has made up her mind. A boy toy pleads with her to marry him, so he can then accompany her on the trip. She refuses saying she is happy as she is and 'marriage is a prison'. How feminist of her!
As this takes place a commotion occurs, with Sheik Ahmed's entourage arriving. They are going to the casino to party and gamble for wives. The Sheik makes googly eyes at Diana, who notices him but doesn't seem impressed. Diana wishes to see the event, but is informed 'only Arabs' are allowed in. She is pissed that a 'savage' should tell her what to do, so when she pots an absurdly over dressed belly dancer she hatches a scheme: she'll borrow her clothes and sneak in as an Arab.
She manages to sneak in, and takes a seat with the other women. She watches the women being won like a piece of meat, which to her 'civilized' eyes looks 'barbaric'. Trouble brews when she is chosen to be up next on the 'auction block' and she struggles to stay hidden. Ahmed takes notice, and comes to intervene. He notices her eyes and hands are pale, and takes her clothes off. Amused, he announces she has the 'blonde hair and pale hands of a white woman!' She calls him a savage, and he mocks her by telling her this 'savage' will escort her out. Pissed, she leaves. As she leaves Mustapha Ali (Charles Brinley) tells the Sheik she is the girl he is to escort on her journey tomorrow. The Sheik hatches a sneaky plan.
The next morning while Diana sleeps the Sheik sneaks into her room. He disarms her gun, and leaves. As he leaves he begins to sing 'Kashmiri Love Song' which eventually Diana hears though she does not see him. He and his posse leave.
Later we see her, her posse, and her brother out in the desert. Her brother accompanied her for the first day but now is off...much to his dismay. Once he leaves Ahmed and his posse attack, with Ahmed capturing Diana off her horse and telling her to 'lie still you little fool!' which she eventually does.
Back at his tent she is timid and asks what he will do to/with her. He looks at her lustfully asking if shes 'not woman enough to know?' And tells her she's so beautiful. He also demands she take off her 'boy' clothes and dress for dinner. He gives Zilahl to her for her servant. Diana is upset, but obeys as she has no choice. We see them eating dinner, her looking dejected, he looking pleased and amused. Diana tries to make a run for it, but he captures her and points out she wouldn't last an hour in that sandstorm. She tries to knife him but he overpowers her. Then he says he will make her love him if he wishes, and kisses her against her will. This is where the rape apparently takes place though its very hard to gather that from the given scenes.
Because after the kiss we see the outside of the tent with some servants running around. They enter (where the pair look like they've never moved) and tell the Sheik some horses have broken free. He runs out to fix the problem, and when he returns Diana is crying in her room. He looks like hes gonna go steal him some round two but he stops...feeling bad. Instead he walks out dejected, claps, and sends Zilahl to comfort her.
The next day we see Diana reading outside the tent, dressed in Arab clothes (as he has commanded). When she comes in she catches him singing "Kashimri Love Song" and realizes it was he who was outside her window that morning. He tells her he is singing because he is happy, his friend (who wrote the book she was reading) Raoul St. Hubert (Adolphe Menjou) is coming for a visit. He orders her to be cordial and kind to his guest, and she freaks because 'a man of her own world' will see her dressed in those clothes. He orders her once again, and she runs off crying. He feels bad, and commands to his servants that her every wish be granted, and her things returned to her so she may wear Western Clothes again.
The Sheik needs to go to Biskra for a few days and tells her she can do as she pleases. While out riding that day she tricks her 'servant' (more like watcher) and tries to run off. She almost runs into the arms of Sheik Omair's (Walter Long) tribe yet Ahmed by chance catches her before she does and is deeply upset that she tried to leave him and he 'almost lost her forever'. She promises to behave from now on but he worries.
Raoul arrives and The Sheik speaks of his love for Diana. Raoul chides him, saying he forgot the laws of the civilized world and is acting like 'an Arab'. Ahmed brushes it all off, as he is deeply happy having Diana. Later that night the three have dinner, with Diana acting like her spirit is broken. When she retires Raoul again chides him, but the Sheik seems oblivious saying she is content.
Later Raoul and Diana befriend each other, and Ahmed overhears them...fearing they may be falling in love with each other. However a servant runs in and tells Raoul (who is also a Doctor) that someone has been hurt. Diana screams unprompted, "AHMED!" fearing it was he who was harmed. The servant says no, someone else's gun exploded in their hand. Raoul calms her and assures her everything is already, and runs off to help the injured person. Ahmed is elated, knowing she may love him too now. He casually enters and tells her he will be leaving again, and asks if she wont run off again. She promises she wont. He gives her her gun back, saying he trusts her and to be careful...because Omair and his bandits may be after her. She is touched by his trust and he kisses her. She acts slightly cold to this and he asks, "My kisses, you do not like them?" Diana can not answer, and he is a little hurt and leaves.
Later Diana is out on a ride, while Ahmed is speaking with Raoul. Raoul is again trying to convince him to let Diana go back to her own people. Ahmed lashes out at him, saying he wants her for himself and that is why he says such things. But he feels bad realizing that is not the case, and apologizes to his friend. He says he does not want to let her go. Raoul says that's because Ahmed is in love with her. Ahmed agrees, and orders him to take her back with him and 'leave me to my loneliness'. He's extremely upset by this but does not recant.
On her outing Diana is sitting in the sand while her guards talk near by. She is drawing and writes, "I love you Ahmed" in the sand. Omair's homies realize she's unguarded, and attack. They kill most of her guards and injure her man slave, eventually kidnapping her. Diana faints but Omair is pleased to have gotten her. They return to their village.
Ahmed is out riding and notices the bodies. He gets off his horse to inspect whats up and notices the writing in the sand. His heart is glad, but then he sees man slave and realizes what happened. Man slave conveys some of it (in all of 3 words) and Ahmed takes him back to camp where he assembles a massive army to fight Omair's army.
In Omair's lair Diana is still passed out, in a room of her own guarded by a Nubian slave. Orders have been given to alert Omair when she is conscious. When she does wake up she completely freaks out, and it takes 5 or so Nubian servants to undress her (she was to put on Arab clothes again) and deliver her to Omair. His first wife 'The Jealous One' buys Diana some time when she tries to kill him, but he overpowers her. As this occurs Ahmed's army attacks, and start trying to make their way to the castle. Ahmed eventually does, just in time. He and Omair begin to fight, and eventually the rest of both armies make their way over there. Ahmed is shot in the back, after he stabs Omair to death. Diana is frantic and asks if he will die. She is told, "It's in Allah's hands now".
Back in Ahmed's camp, Raoul is tending to him while he lays sleeping. Diana sits beside him and comments how "He has large hands for an Arab". This is when Raoul corrects her, telling her that he is not an Arab. His mother was Spanish and his father British. They died when their guide abandon them and the ruling Sheik found the baby. He raised Ahmed, and sent him to Paris for schooling. When that Sheik died, Ahmed returned to rule his tribe. Now that their love is okay, Diana cuddles Ahmed who is happy to see her. It is implied they will get together forever, and he will live. The End.
Thoughts and Best Scenes
I had seen both Sheiks before, as obviously what else do you first buy as a Valentino fan? I always enjoyed both of them, but Son of the Sheik way more. The Sheik has its flaws which were as evident in 1921 as they are now. Only now we have the added racial and feminists issues that weren't fully problematic in 1921.
The worst thing here is that Valentino, who was an excellent actor long before any of these films, looks like an overacting one note vampy man. He looks and acts like a cartoon, and its hard for people to see this film and then believe it when you say he's a good actor. "All Night" was made in 1918, and showcases what an amazing actor Valentino was then. "Four Horsemen" was made in 1920 and again showcases what an amazing actor he was. Even Camille was made before The Sheik, and it also showed him as a brilliant actor. So why was he so...blah in The Sheik?
From Leider's biography two culprits rise. George Melford and Natacha. Natacha was definitely of the Nazimova school of acting (I cite her Evil Queen performance in 1925's "When Love Grows Cold" as proof of this) and much of the Sheiky-ness could be directly related to Nazimova's 'never dying' Camille. HOWEVER (watch me throw Natacha a bone here) Valentino never after or before The Sheik overacted again. He worked with Natacha on several films after, and never had the problem. He also worked with George Melford again on Moran of Lady Letty, and he did not overact there. You know who *I* think prompted him to do so? NAZIMOVA! He never acted with her again, but he only did two films directly after "Camille" and one of those was The Sheik. I have not seen "The Conquering Power" so its hard for me to judge there, but if he did not overact in it I give all credit to June Mathis (who directed him). So I still believe Nazimova is the culprit. If not then its a combo of her, Melford, and Natacha. But I don't think so...
Valentino's overacting isn't so direly bad that its unbearable. As I watched it tonight I tried to figure out why it looked SO exaggerated and I finally pinpointed it: the wide eyes and the pasty makeup. Valentino was extremely pale in this film, with mostly his face showing (the hats and cloaks covered his hair) thus exaggerating the exaggerations making it look even worse then it is. However its not like The Sheik was Oscar material to begin with. Somehow the cartoony-ness seems almost appropriate, as its kitsch and you just aren't going to change that.
Agnes Ayres is DREADFUL. I'm sure she was a lovely lady, but Christ was she a horrible actress. I don't believe in Silent stereotypes, one of those being the melodramatic overacting. I rarely see it...even in early shorts. But Ayres embodied it. She makes me cringe. She actually had a meatier role than Valentino did, and she butchered it. Why? To top it off the two seemed to have no chemistry...she seemed wooden. Come on your living every woman's fantasy! At least pretend to enjoy it!
The rest of the cast is okay enough. Patsy Ruth Miller only had a bit part but I liked her in it. Adolphe Menjou is fitted right. I hate Walter Long and his brown faced villains, YET I kinda like him. Hes cartoon-y...but like you shouldn't expect anything else. Does he remind anyone else of that Popeye villain? Seriously I swear that's the inspiration here! I wonder who played 'The Jealous One'...I think she did good. She was hot too!
As for best scenes they all involve Valentino. When he captures Diana, when he lusts upon her before dinner, and even the subpar rape scene are all scrumptious. Also the scene where he tells Diana he trusts her, is extremely sweet. Some of his best acting in this film is when he tells Raoul to let her go, though even that is not of usual Valentino quality.
Savage Arabs and Rapey feelings
I'm quite a fan of Arabic culture, which has very little to do with Silent film love. But here it becomes relevant. I am not Arabic, so maybe its just less offensive overall because of that, but I do think a little credit should be given. Islam is hinted at, but not made fun of. You see a lot of praying in the background, and I don't feel it was stereotypical or cartoony like other things. Obviously the implications that Islamic Sheiks go around raping women would be quite bothersome, but to me that's more fantasy then 'in real life that is what happens'. This whole movie was planned as a fantasy, people have trouble accepting that sometimes.
Given that many of the sets are beautiful, and I don't feel outrageously far from realistic. Very Moroccan looking to me. The costumes are more problematic. The men's clothing isn't too bad, but the women's has quite a few issues. Since the Arabic settings are imaginary its hard to know which culture they were exactly going for. The Arabic clothes Zelahl and Diana wore might not be too unrealistic, but the belly dancer costumes made me cringe. I don't know what belly dancers these people thought they were going off but I thought when you make fantasies you don't put CLOTHES ON women! This just added to the problem that the dancing looked silly as is. I cant see one dance move related to real belly dancing or any form of Arabic dancing. Veils are used yes, but not like that. Weiiiird.
However the movie does go above and beyond in terms of race and sex...which I'm sure to Silent Virgin eyes are quite shocking and old fashioned looking. We constantly see the Arabs refereed to as savages and that 'civilization had passed them by'. Obviously this is an unfair and again weird assessment. The fact that they wanted Valentino pale for this is also weird...it just makes him look all the more cartoony. Had he been an overall shade of tan (like Son of the Sheik) it would have been more palatable.
Also the last minute tacked on 'white washing of his race' is just annoying by modern standards though we already went over why they did it. I wish there would have been a better ending overall...as it seems stilted and rushed all at the same time.
And as for that 'rape scene' it was a shame. People in 1921 (including the novel's author) felt so as well. Its sincerly hard to tell a rape occured, and it detracts from the story as its a pivotal point in the novel and supposedly the film. Fuck you censors of 1921!
Behind the Scenes Tidbits:
*Valentino's new girlfriend, Natacha, thought the novel was trash
*This would mark the second time Valentino and Patsy Ruth Miller worked together (the first being Camille)
*Most of the film was shot at Famous Players-Lasky Studios in Hollywood
*The film was dubbed "The Shriek" because thats what women did at the screenings
*This was Valentino's second major role, and probably the biggest one to define him and his legacy
*Valentino did not much care for the portrayl of Arabs as barbaric. When asked if Diana would fall for such a savage in real life, he snapped back that Arabs were an ancient civilized culture who he thought highly of
*Hollywood High School has The Sheik as their mascot
*Agnes Ayres was given top billing and considered the star...before the release (thus the publicity poster with just her on it)
Reception: Then and Now
Then: The Critics pretty much agreed with everything I had to say. However it was extremely commercial successful. Women could not get enough of it! It launched several commercial products including condoms and dolls! Till his dying day, 90% of movie goers wanted to see Valentino reprise The Sheik role. He loathed it.
Now: I got my wish! I got there a half hour early, and the line was already about 30 people long. By the time they opened the doors the line was to the end of the block! The theatre was PACKED and more packed then any other silent screening since their opening I am sure of it! Maybe no more then 10 people less of the busiest Pickford screening. But no film students here! It was a very mixed crowd, all ages and types. Many film buffs and many people who had only seen one or two silent movies. Many people were first timers, and there were also a few women there who had been alive when Valentino died. For them Bob Mitchell who again did the accompinment, performed "There's a new star in heaven tonight". His scores for the films were wonderful and I just adore him!
The theatre had to be the said 10 people short of a full sell out, but it was still extremely good. However I must admit, I was disappointed once again with a modern crowd. The no0bs didnt quite know how to take this film, and some snickered inappropiatly throughout (The Sheik is not a comedy). However Agnes Ayres was the butt of most of this, the belly dancers being the other major one. Valentino's overacting only got a few, but most people were glad to see him on screen.
From what I heard most people enjoyed it, but more enjoyed Son of the Sheik much MUCH more. Im sure Valentino would be glad to know that. So let's move onto that one now...
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