The Sheik (1921) Rudolph Valentino

Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres in 'The Sheik.'

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• The
• Sheik
• Rudolph
• Valentino
• 1921
• Agnes
• Ayres

[Kathylouu]

Rudy looks like he is kinda laughing, having fun with this movie.

[TokyoSpike]

@kangadillo I hear you -- as a male friend of mine said when I first showed him Rudy's picture, "He doesn't look real!"

We must all be careful, Rudy can be a dangerous addiction :-)

[TheHuntersBounty]

He had a young John Wayne look about him.

[ND2525]

I love Rudy hugging the dog. He loved animals.

[LindsayMonroe88]

lol he looks like a desperate 15 old at a first date when he tells her she's beautiful

[kls22280]

I LOOOOOOOOOVE Valentino!!!!!!!!!<3 Pola would have had to watch out were I a young lady in his time!!!!! Valentino Forever!!!!!!! XOXOXO

[msrudyfan]

@ccipollini1984 Pola cooked her own career. She put on widow's weeds and engaged in histrionics every time the media were around, but married one of the Mdivani brothers a few months later. The press thought she was faking at the time--this proved it. I do feel sorry for how she found out he died--early one morning, the maid was walking the dog and a reporter called, so Pola answered. He asked if she was the maid and she said yes, and then he asked how Pola took the news of Rudy's death.

[ccipollini1984]

@msrudyfan

Yeah that sounds rather biased to me. That's like people saying they don't like Bette Davis because they like Joan Crawford, or something along that same vein. In any event, I think what Pola did was vile. I also find that Rudy is still being exploited to this day. i've heard of what goes down at that tawdry memorial they do for him and it drives me up the wall. Frankly, Rudy's standup acting and brilliant persona speak for itself. He needs little if any defense.

[msrudyfan]

@ccipollini1984 Jeanine something or other, a film professor at some Ivy League college, who loves, loves, loves Pola Negri, said he wasn't loaded with talent. Then why is he rememberd as one of he legends from the silent era, along with Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, Pickford and Fairbanks? Most people only know of Pola Negri because of her association with Valentino and especially her description of her relationship with him in her memoirs--a must-read! Raise a glass tonight starting at 1:00 am.

[ccipollini1984]

@msrudyfan

Not talented? Thems fightin words.

[msrudyfan]

@kangadillo Have you read about Dick Dorgan's (Photoplay Magazine) review of "The Sheik", in which he reveals that the Sheik character wasn't really Arabic, but states that Valentino's character's mother was a '"dago or something". "Dago" is an insult to an Italian (RV's mother was actually French). This was but one example of Dorgan's abuse of RV. The studio promised that Dorgan would be banned from Valentino's sets, but they let him come back anyway--another reason he went on strike.

[msrudyfan]

Also, in the "Arab Images on Film" series, they cite both "The Sheik" and SOS as examples of racism. Both female heroines fell in love with Valentino's character before finding out he was not Middle Eastern--Lady Diana wrote she loved Ahmed in the sand, but didn't find out until the end that he was European. In SOS, Yasmin was a French girl, and loved Ahmed even though he refused to ID his father. Both characters were Muslim and dressed and lived as Arabs. TCM underestimates RV's fan base.