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The Sheik (1921)

Rate: 2
Viewed: 6/24

Sheik
6/24: After seeing Rudolph Valentino's name over and over in books, I thought it's high time to check out The Sheik.

And yep, it's as exactly as I thought. That's why silent movies suck. They're simply BORING. The plot of The Sheik is pretty simple: female slavery. It's hard to get into the film while that's going on apart from everybody, except for Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, looking so white to pass for an Arab. The whole thing was obviously shot on location in California. I expected rape to occur, but that was cut out although it's mentioned in the book written by E. M. Hull.

Sex symbol? Ha! Rudolph Valentino shows absolutely no trace of it, but he was actually a better-looking person when out of costume while acting more like himself as evidenced in Rudolph Valentino and His 88 American Beauties and The Sheik's Physique. What makes him unattractive in The Sheik is the way he moves his eyebrows up and down and how often he carries his cigarette.

All in all, Rudolph Valentino may be famous for The Sheik, but it's a terrible and boring movie that makes an unconvincing case of why he was a sex symbol back then.