The Sheik / The Son of the Sheik (Special Edition)

Starring:Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Ruth Miller, George Waggner, Frank Butler, Charles Brinley, Lucien Littlefield, Adolphe Menjou, Walter Long, Natacha Rambova, Polly Ann Young, Loretta Young, Sally Blane, Vilma BÃ¡nky, George Fawcett, Montagu Love, Karl Dane, Bull Montana, Bynunsky Hyman
Director: George Melford, George Fitzmaurice, David O. Selznick
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

If you have the slightest interest in the phenomenon called Rudolph Valentino, this terrific disc is absolutely the place to start. The screen's great male sex god of the 1920s had a mammoth success with The Sheik, a slice of desert romance both exciting and completely absurd. Valentino plays a dashing "sheik of Araby" who rather forcefully romances an adventure-minded English lady (Agnes Ayres); if the story creaks with Victorian storytelling conventions, it also works. Five years later Valentino returned to the sands with his final film, The Son of the Sheik, playing both his original role and the sheik's impetuous boy. More madness here, and a wild saber duel on horseback at night reminds us they don't make movies like this any more. Valentino's faux-exotic allure may seem curious to modern viewers, but squint hard and you can imagine the frenzy caused by the sultry eyes and rapacious grin. --Robert Horton

Description

The great silent screen lover Rudolph Valentino is captured in his most famous role in this special double feature. Women fainted in the aisles when "The Sheik" (1921, 86 min.) was released, as Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayres) is carried into the desert by an Arab chieftain (Valentino) who takes one look at her and wants her, right then and there. Nobody had seen anything like Valentino's natural sex appeal on the screen before, and the sequel "The Son of the Sheik" (1926, 69 min.) was designed to revive Valentino's flagging career. In the sequel, Young Ahmed (Valentino) falls in love with Yasmin, a dancing girl (Vilma Banky), but he is captured and tortured by bandits. Believing Yasmin to be responsible, he escapes and plans his own form of revenge, although true love, of course, finally prevails. In New York for the premiere of "The Son of the Sheik," Valentino collapsed and died eight days later at the age of 31. The public hysteria surrounding his funeral is documented in the original Pathe newsreel which rounds out this extraordinary DVD.

Customer Reviews:

Rudy is My Valentine - O.......2007-04-20

Another review by PD's daughter.

I was given this movie from one of moms friends (which I am sooo very happy that I got it!!) but even before that I was mightily curious as to what created such an insane craze and obsession in the 1920's. Now I know. His name was Rudolph Valentino.

I had read "The Sheik" (well the condensed version by Barbara Cartland, but it followed the original story never the less) a few months ago and was really captured by this ruthless Spanish-Brit mix desert sheik. The Sheik Ahmed was cruel, and seemingly heartless (brutal really, but I guess it would be called animal brutality, if you know what I mean..), stating "an Arab takes what he wants" What the Sheik really wanted was Diana, the spoiled yet beautiful aristocratic brit whose room he had snuck into and switched her bullets for blanks and later kidnapped on the desert dunes. Well the Sheik got Diana and wanted to "break her" to his will. And he did so quite violently (as could be seen in Valentino's face, which, ohmygod, he had done so effectively, but I'll talk about Rudy later..)
The one part I really enjoyed was when The Sheik releazed how cruel he was really acting and Rudy's face changed from twisted lust to a look of compassion (it was such a magical part and my mother said "rewind that part!" and so we watched it again)

The Sheik pivoted Valentino's career into the "he'll never be forgotten for ever" mode and really made the 1920's. All the ladies became shebas and the guys sheiks...and everyone from the farm girls to flappers were in love with Rudy.

Now there are 2 movies on this DVD and the second is my FAVORITE!! The Son of the Sheik, where Valentino was the son Ahmed and the father from the original picture, was a far better backdrop for Valentino's acting skills. The special effects were amazing (for that time peroid I mean, today I'd laugh and point and say ha! you must be joking!) in the sense of how the two Valentino's were juxtaposed together (like the part where he has his arm on his other self... creepy cool), it must of cost a fortune to do. In this picture the younger Ahmed falls passionately (passionately I say because he was very .... well I felt it to be very romantic even for today's standards and back then I'm not sure how the older mama's would have acted to his fevered kisses) with a beautiful dancer of a circus troope. The young Ahmed is captured by the jealous "bad guy" of the troope and is whipped (I really didn't see that coming!) and tied to bars (it was horrible and I was very upset at this point) and then the guy lays a horrendous lie at his already bound feet and WELL I can't tell you that because it is the major conflict of the movie (but it's good and I was upset even more).

The DVD has special features. One includes the "Valentino Beauty Pageant" which was creepy but very fasinating for historical reasons. One was a silly skit Valentino did (which made no sense what so ever buuut I did get to see him run around in his bathing suit :Ogasp!) and the last is a short film of the publics reaction to his death (to think there was a report of mass suicides afterwards!)

The one thing I really liked about the DVD was the choice of the soundtrack you wanted to use. It gave you the option of a new sythisized version or the original music they would have used in the theaters (which I personally prefer better). It really adds to the "Sheik" experience.

Overall (finally!) I really LOVED this DVD collection and LOVE Valentino. Why you may ask?? He's in incredible actor!! His expressions are amazing and very naturally changable... he can smoothly transition expressions in a scene that it puts the topgal to shame and makes her almost invisable. But (of course) Rudolph Valentino was extremely attractive and wonderfully handsome (see Son of the Sheik where there is a part where his headgear is stripped off and his shirt is opened ohmy!)

Valentino was certianly bad for his time and my favorite photograph of all time is by him.... where (in the son of the sheik) he is wearing all black with his hood over his head and a cigarette in between his ringed fingers... glaring...
Valentino screams HOTTNESS!!!

This famous film was largely a tease, an art at which Valentino was particularly proficient..........2007-01-13

For reasons difficult for mere man to diagnose, the sheik represented the ultimate in masculine appeal... Call it the mystery of the burning sands, the magic lure of the tropics, the titillating uncertainty of the unfamiliar, the reputed animal magnetism of the Arab aristocrat--these are mere words which leave the cult of this particular sheik unexplained...

Give Valentino a burnoose, a bejeweled dagger and fancy belt, a pair of riding boots, a luxurious tent with intimations of a harem in the background and a well-cushioned couch in the foreground, and he became irresistible... To be borne in his arm on a white Arabian stallion, struggling virtuously but not too violently, was apparently the goal of nearly every woman's ambition...

Much of the action of "The Sheik" consisted of a menacing Valentino staring at a pleading Agnes Ayres while they warily circled each other in preparation for the clinch that was a long time coming...

"For once your kisses are free.".......2006-07-05

If you've heard about the charisma of silent star Rudolf Valentino and wondered what all the fuss is about, then this wonderfully packaged DVD is for you. The DVD presents two films "The Sheik" (1921) and "The Son of the Sheik" (1926) and naturally, Valentino stars in them both. In "The Sheik" directed by George Melford, Valentino plays the role of Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, a French-educated desert dweller. The incorrigible, willful heiress Lady Diana (Agnes Ayres) runs amok in an Arab town. The Sheik comes to town to gamble in the Arab-only casino, his eyes lock on Diana, and the die is cast. Diana sneaks into the casino disguised as a dancing girl, but all those veils don't fool the Sheik, and he unmasks her. When the Sheik learns that Diana is taking a tour in the desert, he decides to kidnap her and take her to his sumptuous tent with the intention of making her his bride. Diana doesn't take kindly to the kidnapping thing, and this makes for a bumpy romance....

"The Son of the Sheik" directed by George Fitzmaurice was made just 5 years later, and it's the better of the two films. Valentino plays two roles--young Ahmed and his father the Sheik (the hero of the first film who's now middle aged). Ahmed falls in love with Yasmin (Vilma Banky), a dancing girl whose father is a thief and a bandit. Yasmin's father has promised her to another member of the gang, and this spurned lover sabotages Yasmin's budding romance by capturing and torturing Ahmed. Ahmed, believing that Yasmin betrayed him seeks revenge--and of course this means carrying her off in the desert and throwing her in yet another sumptuous tent.

Image Entertainment's juxtaposition of the two films allows the viewer to see the progress of Valentino as an actor. In the first film, his facial expressions are limited to gleeful grins, but in "The Son of the Sheik" he's mastered a range of expressions--from cold disdain, to passion and distress. In "The Sheik" there's an attempt at colorization. The daytime scenes are gold tinted. The dawn scene has a pink tinge--while the night scenes have a blue-black cast. "The Son of the Sheik" is much more fluid, much more exciting, and full of stunts--swordplay, fighting, and leaping on beautiful horses that race across the desert sands. "The Son of the Sheik" also displays Valentino stripped and tortured by the evil bandits, and the filmmaker is confident enough to include elements of comic relief found in the relationships between the thieves. The thieves' lair--the Cafe--is stuffed full of smoking dancing girls with "hips full of abandon", and they drive the customers mad with desire. But even with the humour, "The Son of the Sheik" is a much darker film for it contains a controversial implied rape scene.

Extras include three short clips of film. The first clip "Rudolf Valentino and His 88 American Beauties" is about 12 minutes long and shows Valentino judging a beauty contest. The second 3-minute clip is "The Sheik's Physique." It's a teaser of sorts and shows Valentino undressing to change into a bathing suit before he lounges on the beach falling asleep. The third clip (about three minutes long) is newsreel of Valentino's funeral in August 1926.

There's an irony in the fact that "The Son of the Sheik" 'ages' Valentino almost beyond recognition by giving him a double role as both the hero and the hero's father. Sadly, Valentino's early death negated aging--he died at the age of 31 from complications of appendicitis just days after "The Son of the Sheik" premiered--displacedhuman

Rudy shines!.......2006-05-12

If you'd like to see the film that brought Rudolph Valentino to super stardom, this is the DVD to purchase. You'll get to enjoy 2 films, "The Sheik" (1921) and Rudy's last film "The Son of the Sheik" (1926). As well as 3 film shorts. My only complaint was about "The Sheik". I am a devoted fan of the VHS version in which the film was in Black and White and featured a synthesizer music score by Roger Bellon. The version contained on this disc has a different music score and while it is in keeping with the time period and theme, I miss the evocative and atmospheric music score of the VHS version. This version of "The Sheik" also has color tints for various settings (i.e. night, outdoors etc.) but almost of the color is in sepia which I find irritating. I may be in the minority in that school of thought but I'd rather have no color (black & white) then those sepia colors which make everything look brown and lifeless. Those are my only complaints.
Interestingly the VHS version of "Son of the Sheik" was filmed with those sepia color tints but on this disc it's in black and white which is an improvement. I just wish "The Sheik" was left in its black & white coloring, but what can you do? I also wish the DVD gave buyers the option of choosing to watch it with the old VHS score or the revised one, that way we'd at least have a choice.
Just to give you a brief synopsis of each film. "The Sheik" is about a British woman (Agnes Ayres) kidnapped by desert chieftain Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan (Rudolph Valentino) to be his love interest. "Son of the Sheik" has Rudy playing both roles of Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan and his wild son. The latter falls for a poor dancing girl (Vilma Banky) and complications soon arise. This is a terrific DVD to purchase and a great way to see what the legend of Rudolph Valentino was all about.

Pristine "Shiek," Son also rises.......2005-02-17

The print of "The Shiek" in this DVD edition is as good as it gets, although the tinting was a bit overdone, to the point of becoming distracting - I turned down the color intensity of my set and found it much more enjoyable. For "Son...," the 1936 reissue print has been used, which means this film - by far the more entertaining of the two - has been transferred at the wrong speed, quite a disservice. The original scores for both are very good; the thing to do here would have been to slow down the reissue to the proper speed and then match the score to the action. Oh, and Rudy? He's a God. I'll spend the extra bucks to get Kino's restored DVD of "Son..." and enjoy it all over again.

Average customer rating:

Masterpiece of Film
The "Son of the Shiek"
A true legend of the silent screen ...
VALENTINO'S FINEST FILM.
Mesmerising !

Son of the Sheik
Starring: Rudolph Valentino , Vilma Bánky , George Fawcett , Montagu Love , and Karl Dane
Director: George Fitzmaurice
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 6305765677
Release Date: 2000-04-10

Customer Reviews:

Masterpiece of Film.......2006-08-03

This is one of the greatest films ever made in the history of time.Even if you are not a fan of silent films I would recommend watching this masterpiece.I even like this movie better than the first movie simply titled The Sheik.Rudolph Valentino playing dual roles of the old Sheik and his son.Not only was he a sexy actor he was also good at acting.When I watch him acting I get so depressed that he didn`t convert to talkies.If he would of he would of won several awards.
This movie also stars Hungarian actress Vilma Banky as Rudy`s love interest Yasmin.It also Agenes Aryes as the young sheik`s mother and his father`s wife.I don`t want to give the whole movie away,and think viewers should see it themselves.I am a devoted Valentino fan.I collect his movies and books about his life.I think he is a sex symbol who will never go out of style.This movie is a must see for ladies all over the world.

The "Son of the Shiek".......2006-07-05

As a historical silent movie, I enjoyed the disk very much. Considering when it was produced the scenery and technical aspects were very interesting. Jack Ward's pipe organ backup greatly enhanced the action of the film. Rudolph Valentino's eyes were very expressive. It is too bad that he met an untimely death. It would have been very interesting how he would have performed in sound motion pictures. Vilma Banky, as history tells us, couldn't make in the soundies because of a heavy accent. That is unfortunate, she was beautiful.
I am old enough to remember the silent movies and the Wurlitzer and similar Pipe Organs that backed and enhanced the silent movies.
I collect silent movies for the joy of taking me back and the historical values.
Allen Zimmerman
Allentown, PA.

A true legend of the silent screen ..........2003-02-02

"Not east of Suez but south of Algiers" ... with these intertitles abounds one of the greatest legends of the Hollywood that is no more. When one thinks of those times one remembers The Wizard Of Oz, Casablanca ... and those
scenes between Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Banky in a tent under
the desert sun.
Made in 1926 for United Artists, directed by master director
George Fitzmaurice and destined to even beat the 1921 original
"The Sheik" at the box office, this sequel to the former Valentino classic is in many ways the better of the two films.
Rudolph Valentino has never looked better than in this film, which would ultimately be his last, and Hungarian born Vilma
Banky outshines the original heroine Agnes Ayres from the "The Sheik" as well, together making these film the ultimate love story of the silent film age. Agnes Ayres however also appears in this film as the Sheik`s mother as a tribute to Valentino (his father is played by Rudy as well in a double role). But the movie has more assets to it. It is also more handsomely produced than "The Sheik", it has a far more glossy look with its` bigger budget and excellent art direction (by William Cameron Menzies of "Gone With The Wind"-fame), a slightly better script and it exposes far better the enormous acting range of Rudolph Valentino, who is still seen today only as the great Latin Lover (despite for example also being a great drama actor or comedian). The big difference might also líe in the fact that "The Sheik" was a typical product of the studio system and "The Son Of The Sheik" was made far more independently. The other interesting fact is that when this movie was made the silent film style had changed greatly since 1921, making the former film look far more primitive. And it is no wonder that all the famous scenes by which Rudolph Valentino is still judged today emerge from this movie, while the other Valentino films (even "The Sheik") are mostly forgotten today - this movie has its place as a sort of silent screen pop icon (and probably the only silent film most people have heard of in their lifetime today - I remember that as a child I only knew one silent film actor - Rudy, courtesy of this film). This
is also probably the curse of this film. It overshadowed all of his work so much and even made the critical judgment of "The Son Of The Sheik" nearly impossible. In fact it is an entertaining piece of Hollywood fairytale, packed with action and romance, exotic escapism and a great climax when Rudolph Valentino frees his love interest Banky from a band of robbers and rides with her into the endless desert ... and right into movie eternity. Truly a film of these ages, even not hampered by its dated plotline and some outrageous "silent film acting".

A note about the video quality: after being available for two decades only on bad quality tapes, KINO on Video now has released the first really good print of this film. Though not as beautiful as some of their other films or a Kevin Brownlow restoration, this version is multi-tinted and has an appropiate organ score that enhances many of the scenes. Only some of the reels seem a bit washed out, but at least you have now the chance to get a good quality video tape from Rudy`s most famous film.

VALENTINO'S FINEST FILM........2002-11-12

Like many classic movie buffs, I often wondered what all the fuss about Rudolph Valention a.k.a. "The Great Lover" was about. The answer lies in watching this mesmorizing film! Really a tongue-cheek examination of his own bigger-than-life personna, the actor magnificently portrays the double role of father and son. As Ahmed, the son, Rudy falls in love with the Hungarian Vilma Banky (as Yasmin), a beautiful dancer. Ahmed later holds the beguiling young woman responsible when he is captured and held for by her roguish father's thieves. When Ahmed's father, the Shiek, intervenes, it is discovered that Yasmin is innocent of betrayal and after some heavy derring-do, there is a happy ending. This fast-paced film from 1926 has lost none of it's charm with the passage of time and proves over and over again that Valentino was without question the least understood and most maligned of all of Hollywood's great stars. He was indeed an enigmatic presence in this film. The photography is ethereal, and the desert looks more enchanting here than in any film, and the chases, rescues and stunts are still wonderful to watch. Valentino would die prematurely at the age of 31 of peritonitis 26 August, 1926. For a great companion piece, watch Valentino's great 1921 hit THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE.

Mesmerising !.......2002-08-17

On the strength of reading other reviews I held off buying the double DVD..The Sheik/Son of the Sheik and elected to buy KINO's version of Son of the Sheik and I have to say I am not disappointed.The quality of the picture far exceeded my expectations;the clarity is sharp and sound is equally good.Silent films have to rely heavily on emotion and the different moods portrayed by Valentino are startling, Vilma Banky holds her own but it is Valentino's movie; the down side is there are no extras bar chapter listing,it would have been nice but in truth I am not too bothered.I hope KINO issue an equally if not better DVD of The Sheik, look forward to it.

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