The Sheik (1921)
8/10
This famous film was largely a tease, an art at which Valentino was particularly proficient…
31 July 2005
Warning: Spoilers
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…
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