THE SON OF THE SHEIK (1926) – Having had more flops than hits in recent years, Valentino jumped at the chance to try reviving his box office mojo by playing both father and son in this sequel to his mammoth hit The Sheik.
Agnes Ayres returned as the Sheik’s wife Diane, and in old age makeup she and Rudy reprised their roles from the 1921 film. Via split-screen technology, Valentino’s aged Sheik interacted with his son, also named Ahmed.
The younger Ahmed falls in love with a dancing girl named Yasmin (Vilma Banky), who acts as the honeypot to lure wealthy suckers into her father’s web of con artist scams. The attraction is mutual, and Ahmed and Yasmin begin regular rendezvous at desert ruins near the city of Touggort, where she dances and her father’s gang pulls off their cons.
Ghabah the Moor, to whom Yasmin was promised by her father, is furious at this betrayal, but he and the international grifters realize who Ahmed’s father is. During the next assignation between Yasmin and Ahmed, Ghabah leads the gang in abducting the young man.
They relay a ransom demand to the Sheik and rough up his captive son, who mistakenly believes that Yasmin intentionally set him up. Will our hero survive? Will he learn that Yasmin is innocent? And will the villains be overcome? You know the answer to those questions in this 69-minute film.
*** Valentino died shortly after this film’s release at age 31. The mourning frenzy of his female fans and the chaos at his funeral are legendary. Actress Pola Negri’s exploitation of Rudolph’s death makes Courtney Love look dignified.
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