Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

gavin6942 The son of the sheik (Rudolph Valentino) and a dancing girl fall in love, but when he is made to believe she has betrayed him he seeks revenge.At the time of the film's release, Rudolph Valentino was attempting to make a comeback in films. He rose to international stardom after the release of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Sheik in 1921, both of which were box office hits and solidified his image as "the Great Lover". By 1924, however, Valentino's popularity had begun to wane after he appeared in two box office failures, Monsieur Beaucaire and A Sainted Devil, both of which featured him in roles that were a departure from his "Great Lover" image.And this was the end of Valentino, who died all too early. Interestingly, despite his brief run, he is still more or less remembered today. Maybe people haven't seen his films, but they know his name. No other silent star, except Lon Chaney, can really claim that distinction. (Buster Keaton probably should have retired after the silent era.)

Claudio Carvalho In the south of Algiers, in a camp of outcasts, the Frenchman André (George Fawcett) leads a troupe of mountebanks and thieves. His daughter Yasmin (Vilma Banky) is the dancer of the group and is promised to the cutthroat Moor Ghobah (Montague Love). However, Yasmin meets Ahmed (Rudolph Valentino), who is the Sheik's son but she does not know, and they fall in love for each other. When the young couple secretly dates in the ruins of Touggourt, where Yasmin dances, the criminals attack Ahmed, beat up and capture him, expecting to ask for a ransom. Ghobah poisons Ahmed, telling that Yasmin is a bait to lure victims for them. Ahmed escapes, and he abducts Yasmin and despises her. When he knows the truth, he fights against the gang of criminals trying to rescue her from Ghobah."The Son of the Sheik" is the last movie of Rudolph Valentino and a delightful adventure with romance, action and drama. The cinematography is impressive, and I particularly liked very much the sequences when Vilma Banky dances in Touggourt beginning with a close and opening to the whole place, and when Ahmed chases Ghobah and Yasmin in the desert. Considering the equipment available in 1926, big, heavy and with serious limitations, it is amazing how these scenes were shot. Rudolph Valentino is fantastic in the role of the son of the Sheik, and his agility recalled me Errol Flynn, when he fights in the bar of Touggourt, jumping on the chandelier. The beautiful Vilma Banky dances magnificently well, shows a great chemistry with Rudolph Valentino and has also a great interpretation. The intense music of Arthur Gutmann gives a perfect dynamic to this wonderful underrated film. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "O Filho do Sheik" ("The Son of the Sheik")

jldmp1 Valentino's final film is unremarkable for its characters or plot - the latter is but a melodramatic trifle. It is, however, of some historical interest with regard to visual narrative.Of course, back then there were no 'vocal technician' actors. Every actor had to tell a story with his or her body, face, and especially with the eyes. On that count, there's plenty of trademark Rudy glares, modulated with knowing smirks and slight raises of his right brow. He was keenly aware of his power over women, and wasn't afraid to use it - it shows here.Likewise, Banky has to keep the male audience interested, so she has to project this without words - and so her dances are engineered to send men into smoldering paroxysms -- somewhat risible, today. Compare this to Samantha Morton's performance in "Sweet and Lowdown" to see how far we've come, not only in movie craft, but in the degree of competence we expect from the actors.The key technical feature is the split screen compositions with Rudy playing 'the Sheik' and 'the Son' in the same frame -- not original, but quite effective and nearly seamless. Simultaneously, it ties in the first "Sheik" AND this story; Rudy has to reinvent the first character - very clever.The big weak spot, though, is in the intertitles. These were not well handled - they aren't edited to any effect, they're simply cut right in between the actors' mouth movements. This could have been essential viewing if someone had the vision to manipulate us more effectively through the editing.

claudecat I agree with most of the other reviewers' comments about how beautiful this film is (especially the Kino dvd I saw, which has the original tints), and what good performances Rudolph and Vilma gave, but I was surprised that no one else was disturbed by the "ravishment" scene. It really made me wonder about the time period: did women of the 20's enjoy seeing rape fantasies onscreen, because of different attitudes about women and sex? Or was this something filmmakers of the period imagined women wanted to see, and the fans put up with it in order to enjoy the sight of Rudolph's face? (The filmmakers also seemed to want to have it both ways: Rudolph and Vilma remain elaborately clothed throughout every scene, so if you want to, you can imagine nothing very bad happened when the camera cut away!) Anyway, other than that I thought the film was rollicking--a textbook example of the wonderful extremes silent movies could go to.