The Son of the Sheik (1926)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

George Fitzmaurice

Writers:

Edith Maude Hull (novel)
Frances Marion (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

5 September 1926 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

A Sequel to "The Sheik"

Plot:

Men and women, fathers and children. Ahmed, son of Diana and Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan, falls in love with Yasmin...

Plot Keywords:

Sheik | Ruins | Ransom | Dancer | Fight

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rudolph Valentino	...	Ahmed, the Sheik's Son / Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan
Vilma Bánky	...	Yasmin, André's Daughter (as Vilma Banky)
George Fawcett	...	André Romez
Montagu Love	...	Ghabah (as Montague Love)
Karl Dane	...	Ramadan
Bull Montana	...	Ali - a Mountebank
Bynunsky Hyman	...	Pincher - a Mountebank (as Binunsky Hyman)
Agnes Ayres	...	Diana - Wife of the Sheik

Runtime:

68 min (1969 alternate version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Approved (1937 re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Dunes, Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

Feature Productions

Trivia:

Rudolph Valentino personally picked Vilma Bánky as his leading lady for this film, which would be his last.

Quotes:

Dancing Girl: I am tired... yet I must dance!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime: The Affair of the Pink Pearl (#1.1)" (1983)

Soundtrack:

My One Arabian Night

Valentino 101

If anyone has heard about Valentino and wants to see what all the fuss was about, The Son of the Sheik is an excellent way to do so. Here he is five years past the overacting he exhibited in parts of the earlier installment. To top it off, he plays dual roles: the son and the father. And he does both admirably. The shots of the two characters in the same frame - touching each other, no less - are flawlessly executed. Generally, this is standard melodrama culminating in physical battles between the good guys and the bad guys and a final chase. Along the way we get a lot of exotic set pieces, lavishly furnished desert tents, horses racing across the dunes, smoky cafes in which dancing girls wriggle for tossed coins and a grand palace with spacious rooms and shiny floors. The intimate scenes between Valentino and the beauteous Vilma Banky are more sensuous than those of the previous film. Clips from these scenes will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen Valentino references in documentaries. Agnes Ayres reprises her role from The Sheik as Diana Mayo, now the wife of the older sheik and mother of his son, and she appears to have aged 20 years but is no less attractive. For Valentino, Banky and Ayres alone this is a treat.