A charming Arabian sheik (Rudolph Valentino) becomes infatuated with an adventurous, modern-thinking Englishwoman and abducts her to his home in the Saharan desert.
On the one hand, this film is interesting in its depiction of "Arabia" because it was probably one of the first, and makes it a rather romantic setting. Today, we tend to think only of war and strife.
But also, this is no all-happy romance. In the novel, Sheik Ahmed sexually assaults Lady Diana; in the film, the assault is only suggested as a curtain closes on Sheik Ahmed and Lady Diana before there is any physical contact between the two, but this is still questionable subject matter for the time. George Melford said, "We have handled the frank scenes in 'The Sheik' so delicately that I think the censors will be the only disappointed reviewers." Today (2016), this film is probably the one that Rudolph Valentino is best known for, though more people probably know him for appearing in a lyric from "Manic Monday"!
On the one hand, this film is interesting in its depiction of "Arabia" because it was probably one of the first, and makes it a rather romantic setting. Today, we tend to think only of war and strife.
But also, this is no all-happy romance. In the novel, Sheik Ahmed sexually assaults Lady Diana; in the film, the assault is only suggested as a curtain closes on Sheik Ahmed and Lady Diana before there is any physical contact between the two, but this is still questionable subject matter for the time. George Melford said, "We have handled the frank scenes in 'The Sheik' so delicately that I think the censors will be the only disappointed reviewers." Today (2016), this film is probably the one that Rudolph Valentino is best known for, though more people probably know him for appearing in a lyric from "Manic Monday"!