The Sheik (1921)

(Youtube Streaming, June 2022) I started watching The Sheik fully intending to have something to say about its lead Rudolph Valentino (for whom it was one of the highlights of a surprisingly short career), but by the time the film was over, I had more to say about another film released a hundred years later – the critically panned but immensely popular erotic thriller 365 Days. If you haven’t seen 365 Days, don’t worry, because what I have to say also applies to 50 Shades of Grey, Twilight or many, many other movies released between 1921 and 2021, and the likely history of film going forward. None of the twenty-first century films I have mentioned have been favourably reviewed, and there are some perfectly valid reasons for that. But there’s another reason that is far less respectable, and it’s this idea that movie critics are ill-equipped to deal with films having to do with female desire, especially if said desires don’t reflect a progressive outlook. From The Sheik to 365 Days, a perennial female fantasy has to do with power and reluctance. A story exploring what happens to a woman when she’s reluctantly held by a powerful man intent on conquering her is not respectable… but apparently it worked a hundred years ago and still works today – audiences swooned at the sight of Valentino as a sheik with a crush on a headstrong woman, and many swooned (sometimes secretly) about more modern depictions of the same archetype. (And if you think The Sheik invented it, I have news for you – it’s based on a bestselling romance novel published a few years earlier… exactly like Twilight, 50 Shades of Gray and 365 Days.)  There are many ways in which the film is not so impressive today – blunt-force plotting, refusal to allow the protagonist his ethnicity (as he is revealed to be a British aristocrat raised in the desert, clearing the way for a happy ending) and shaky technical production values. On the other hand, you can see what charmed audiences about Valentino, and there are some impressive desert battle sequences in the mix. Still, what’s perhaps most notable about The Sheik is another reminder that nothing is really new, and while the setting may change, the same human quirks are what drive stories. Women have long been intrigued by the idea of being seduced by powerful men and will continue to do so well into the next century and beyond. (Important note — then, now and forever: Non-rich, non-powerful, non-attractive men should not apply, because what’s hot in a lavish fantasy setting becomes creepy horror when it’s in a mundane suburban basement.)