The Son of the Sheik

One of the most popular films from the silent era, director George Fitzmaurice’s The Son of the Sheik stars Rudolph Valentino who gives perhaps the finest performance of his career. Unfortunately it would be his last, he died suddenly at the age of 31, just days before the film’s release.In this visually intoxicating sequel to Valentino’s career-defining film The Sheik, the silent screen’s greatest lover portrays a cultured yet untamed young man who is lured into a thieve’s trap by  a beautiful dancer, Yasmin (Vilma Banky). After escaping, he kidnaps the damsel and holds her captive in his desert lair, dressing her in Arabian finery and threatening to unleash his violent passion upon her. Exotic romance saturates every frame of this Orientalist epic; its sadomasochistic fantasies are acted out against the lavish set design of William Cameron Menzies (The Thief of Bagdad) and lushly photographed by George Barnes (Sadie Thompson).From a new restoration available for the first time on home video, and featuring a magnificent score by maestro Carl Davis, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present George Fitzmaurice’s The Son of the Sheik in a Dual Format release for the first time in the UK.