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OPEN CLASSIC CINEMA · 533

The Sheik

192180 minUnited States
RomanceDrama
Video edition
Wikimedia Commons
Original language
No spoken dialogue. Intertitles: English.
This copy runs
75:37
Subtitles
No subtitle track in this language

Languages and subtitles

No subtitle track in this language

Wikimedia Commons · George Melford; The Sheik · Public domain

Synopsis

An independent British traveller plans a desert journey after refusing a conventional marriage. A powerful sheik becomes fascinated by her and arranges her abduction, placing her declared freedom under his control. Captivity, resistance and threats from another chieftain shape a romance built around a deeply unequal encounter.

Cast

DirectorsGeorge Melford

Inspirations

Edith Maude Hull's bestselling novel provided the basis for the film that helped establish Rudolph Valentino's star image. The adaptation softened parts of the book's sexual violence, but its romantic treatment of coercion and its imagined North Africa remain central to its historical reception.

Sources and availability

General references identify the work and its copy. A reference beside an editorial section is linked to the claims checked in that section.

Wikipedia — film referenceDuke Center for the Study of the Public Domain — US term reference

Work catalogued as public domain in the United States.

The public-domain references concern the original films in the United States. Rights can differ for other countries, editions, restorations, music or translations. Sources are listed on each film page.

Availability checked on September 12, 2026.

Photograph credit

Photographs cropped, resized and optimized as WebP, displayed in monochrome.

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