SILENT • ROMANCE • DRAMA
A spirited Englishwoman's journey across the Sahara takes an unexpected turn when she encounters the mysterious Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan. Starring Rudolph Valentino in the role that made him an international sensation, The Sheik became one of the defining romantic dramas of the silent era and helped establish one of Hollywood's first screen idols.
October 16-18, 2026
Festival dates
Capitol Theatre
Port Hope, Ontario
Tickets & Passes
View options and pricing
View Full Schedule
See all films and events
Release Year
1921
Runtime
86 minutes (1 hour 26 minutes)
Rating
Not Rated
Genre
Romance, Drama
Director
George Melford
Country
United States
Language
Silent (English intertitles)
Studio
Paramount Pictures
Sunday October 18, 2016
9:00 AM
Capitol Theatre
Port Hope, Ontario
The Sheik, based on a bestselling romance novel by Edith Maude Hull, was a huge success with audiences: it set new movie theatre attendance records, and grossed more than a million dollars in its first year of release. It made Rudolph Valentino an international film star, and established him as one of the first male movie sex symbols. The Sheik’s popularity also inspired a Middle Eastern vogue in fashions, jewelry and even hairstyles; and the word “sheik” come into use to mean a young man on the prowl, or a man irresistibly attractive to romantic young women.
This silent film will be accompanied live by VFF favourite, pianist Jordan Klapman.
Made on a modest budget of around $200,000, The Sheik grossed well over $1 million in its first year alone, going on to pull in over $3 million—making it one of the most profitable and culturally seismic films of the silent era.
- The massive cultural footprint of the film inspired Hollywood High School to name its sports teams "The Sheiks," a proud moniker that the school's teams have kept for over a century.
The film is based on Edith Maude Hull's bestselling 1919 novel, which became an international publishing sensation before its screen adaptation.
- To make the romance palatable for 1920s American racial censorship and audience expectations, the plot features a late-in-the-film revelation: after Diana comments that his hands are "too big for an Arab," it’s explained that the Sheik is actually the orphaned son of British and Spanish parents who was raised by a desert tribe.