A Few Words About A few words about...™ The Sheik & The Son of the Sheik -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Those who are aware of Rudolph Valentino, probably think of The Sheik (1921) and The Son of the Sheik (1926), as opposed to the handful of other films for which he might be remembered, the major productions being:

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Camille (1921), Blood and Sand (1922), and Monsieur Beaucaire (1924).

His death, shortly after the opening of The Son of the Sheik, cut short what may have been an extraordinary career.

Courtesy of Kino Lorber, we now have very viable Blu-rays of these two important silent productions. The overall quality of both is extremely satisfying.

While there is obvious wear to some elements, the overall impact still works. We'll not nitpick.

Based upon the finest known surviving elements, the transfers are able to make full use of the resolution afforded by the Blu-ray format.

For those collecting the historically significant silent classics, you now have another two quality releases to add to the library.

Recommended

RAH

 

[Mike Frezon]

I've never seen a Rudolph Valentino film.

When I saw The Sheik was going to be released, it was immediately added to my Amazon cart.

Looking forward to seeing what all the fuss was about!

 

[warnerbro]

The Son of the Sheik, I think, is the better film. It's very entertaining and has a lot of fun action sequences. You can see Valentino's magnetism and Vilma Banky is beautiful. I wish, however, they had included the sound effects and music track created on it's sound release in the 30s. It's outstanding.

 

[Eastmancolor]

I appreciate having silents released on Blu-ray and I know not to expect restorations of the caliber of Paramount's WINGS. I'm more than willing to forgive visible wear and tear. I was disappointed with the new disc of SON OF THE SHEIK, however. First off, it's has an odd aspect ratio, appearing to be somewhere near 1.19. The old Image DVD does not have that issue and appears to have a bit more picture on the edges.

Lastly the Kino disc does not have the original main title credits, instead having Paul Killiam reissue titles. The old Image DVD does have the original titles and they're quite beautiful.

Though there is some boost in image detail in the new Blu-ray, it's not overly significant compared to the Image DVD. There's definitely an improvement in some of the footage, but overall the old DVD gets my vote for the best presentation.

THE SHEIK is another story though. The new Kino Blu-ray is beautiful and is superior to the Image DVD. So definitely jump on it as it is a major upgrade.

 

[warnerbro]

The Sheik looks amazing. Beautiful detail. The title cards, however, are not restored, blurry, scratchy and seem to be culled from a variety of 16mm pieces found in someone's garage. I do not like the accompaniment. Would have loved to have a Carl Davis score, but I guess they decided to focus on the film, which does look stunning. The commentary is quite good even if she does go quiet sometimes.

 

[warnerbro]

I'm curious about THE SON OF THE SHEIK. It doesn't look nearly as good as THE SHEIK. It almost looks like 16mm. It is severely pillboxed, almost a square, but I don't even mind that. I appreciate getting the full image. But what's interesting here is that the title cards appear to be restored and the film itself isn't. The opposite of THE SHIEK. The versions I've always seen have been culled from the sound version issued in the 30s. It seems to be a superior print with beautiful opening title cards and I actually love the music and effects track. I'm wondering what their source is. It seems to be pretty banged up and edited. The sound version has more content in the parade scene with the little short guy picking up a set of weights like it was styrofoam and dropping a banana peel. There is a cool supplement that seems to be restored beautifully of Valentino going to the beach. He goes to sleep on the sand near the water and someone steals his car. It is pretty cool and I've never seen the full version before.

 

[Eastmancolor]

I'm curious about THE SON OF THE SHEIK. It doesn't look nearly as good as THE SHEIK. It almost looks like 16mm. It is severely pillboxed, almost a square, but I don't even mind that. I appreciate getting the full image. But what's interesting here is that the title cards appear to be restored and the film itself isn't. The opposite of THE SHIEK. The versions I've always seen have been culled from the sound version issued in the 30s. It seems to be a superior print with beautiful opening title cards and I actually love the music and effects track. I'm wondering what their source is. It seems to be pretty banged up and edited. The sound version has more content in the parade scene with the little short guy picking up a set of weights like it was styrofoam and dropping a banana peel. There is a cool supplement that seems to be restored beautifully of Valentino going to the beach. He goes to sleep on the sand near the water and someone steals his car. It is pretty cool and I've never seen the full version before.

The opening title cards (main credits) for the latest Blu-ray of THE SHIEK are not restored and are not the original titles. There are Paul Killiam replacement opening titles. The old Image DVD, however, had the original opening titles. Also there is some image missing on the sides, not much, but some, due to the odd aspect ratio.

What's odd about this is that in the 16mm film collecting world, there are tons of prints of SON OF THE SHEIK out there and most I have seen have been of good quality. Blackhawk Films put out a great looking print which also had the original opening credits. It was always THE SHEIK that looked a bit ragged. Now it's the other way around with these Blu-rays!

 

[Eastmancolor]

Sorry, that should have said in my previous post above, "the opening title cards (main credits) for the latest Blu-ray of SON OF THE SHEIK are not restored..." Sorry for the confusion!