The Son of the Sheik

The Son of the Sheik
Film poster
Directed byGeorge Fitzmaurice
Written byFrances Marion (adaptation)
Fred de Gresac (adaptation)
George Marion Jr. (titles)
Paul Gerard Smith (uncredited)
Based onThe Sons of the Sheik
by Edith Hull
Produced byGeorge Fitzmaurice
John W. Considine Jr. (uncredited)
StarringRudolph Valentino
Vilma Bánky
Montagu Love
Karl Dane
George Fawcett
CinematographyGeorge Barnes
Music byArtur Guttmann (1937)
Jack Ward (1969)
Alloy Orchestra (2014)
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • July 9, 1926 (1926-07-09)
Running time
80 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)
Box officeover $2 million[1]

The Son of the Sheik is a 1926 American silent adventure drama film directed by George Fitzmaurice and starring Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Bánky. The film is based on the 1925 romance novel The Sons of the Sheik by Edith Maude Hull, and is a sequel to the 1921 hit film The Sheik, which also stars Rudolph Valentino.[2] The Son of the Sheik is Valentino's final film and went into general release nearly two weeks after his death from peritonitis at the age of 31.

In 2003, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][4][5] On January 1, 2022, the film went into the public domain after years of being in copyright due to the Copyright Term Extension Act.[6]

  1. ^ Balio, Tino (2009). United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-23004-3. p56
  2. ^ MacCaffrey, Donald W.; Jacobs, Christopher P., eds. (1999). Guide To the Silent Years Of American Cinema. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 247. ISBN 0-313-30345-2.
  3. ^ Progressive Silent Film List: The Son of the Sheik at silentera.com
  4. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  5. ^ "Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  6. ^ "Public Domain Day 2022". Duke University School of Law. January 1, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.