Paul Wegener
the Old Sheikh
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Synopsis
Travelling performers arrive in a city where a sheik's household conceals forbidden attachments. A dancer attracts the ruler while a lovesick clown tries to keep her near him. Hidden visitors, a feigned death and competing desires bring the troupe and the palace into a chain of deceptions that threatens to end violently.
Cast
DirectorsErnst Lubitsch
Behind the scenes
Ernst Lubitsch directs and plays the clown in his final starring screen performance. The large studio sets and ensemble action adapt a theatrical pantomime, using an imagined Eastern court as the setting for a distinctly European fantasy.
Sources and availability
The synopsis and editorial text were written for this collection. The references below were cross-checked to identify the film and its copy; each editorial section identifies its reference.
Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.
The reference concerns the original work. Restorations, colorization, translations and other territories may have different conditions. This site uses the player enabled by the channel.
Availability checked on September 10, 2026.
Photograph credit
Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.
- Paul Wegener — Photouploader · Public domain
- Carl Clewing — Becker & Maass , Berlin · Public domain
