I am now watching "The Sheik" with Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, and Adolf Menjou.  This movie was released in 1921...92 years ago!  Having never watched a Valentino film before I am quite fascinated with it and with Valentino. Although he had a Bella Lagosi-like glare, which he used to express his desire.  When Valentino was showing his tender side I found him to be very sensual and appealing.  I totally see why women were enamored of him and why his name and films are timeless.  He was also a fabulous dancer as shown in "The Four Horses of the Apocalypse".

Sadly, Valentino died at the young age of 31 from a burst appendix or peritonitis.

Interestingly enough these were times when praying to Allah did not stir negative feelings in America as it often does today. However, as with many Hollywood productions, the different traditions of a foreign country and its people shone through.  (not that there is anything wrong with that) The Sheik and its  opening credits show a poem that ends in "...saint and sinner chant as one / praise to Allah bowing beneath the desert sun."  I assume that since we were not experiencing any animosity from the Middle East at that time and we were more enthralled with romantic stories coming from there, such as "The Sheik"; we and they lived on this planet in relative harmony. 

There was some political incorrectness in the movie the "Sheik". It was quite comical and blatant. It turns out that the Sheik was of  English and Spanish ancestry and not an Arab.  Diane, (Agnes Ayres) commented on how large the Sheik's hands were for an Arab.  Menjou then told her the story of how the Sheik had been found abandoned in the desert as a young boy (his parents had been killed).  They were English and Spanish.  Diane was more in love or relieved of shame for being in love with him upon learning of this discovery.

Adolph Menjou had continued success in talking movies, but to me, Menjou did not have the intense sex appeal that Rudolph Valentino enjoyed.