Director: George Melford

Writers: Edith Maude Hull (from the novel by) (as Edith M. Hull), Monte M. Katterjohn (adaptation)

Stars: Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Ruth Miller 

The movie link will be here.

So...How Was It?

 I've come to watch this film for the ensuing "exotic" male lead after Mr. Hayakawa who drove the ladies real mad in Hollywood-- His name is Rudolph Valentino. The main idea is pretty much identical to "The Cheat (1915)". A white dainty lady gets seduced by a foreign hot boy, but eventually "enlightens" herself and returns to the white, righteous world. I do have a word for such plots so I'll get to that later as well.* So without any further due, let go chitty chat about this film.

Similarities avec "The Cheat(1915)"

 Like the film "The Cheat (1915)", the movie was a bundle pack of stereotypes and prejudices towards the Arabs: Hollywood was enthusiastic about labeling them as barbaric savages living in a retrograded patriarchy. (I swore I could've heard the white say "well at least we're better than them, with more rights to women ehem, presumably)")

The Sensuality for Women 

 Diana (Agnes Ayres), the white woman in this film is threatened around the beginning of this film to being raped by the sheik (Rudolph Valentino). Now, rape has been a hot topic in "The Cheat (1915)" as well. It seems that women clandestinely can have fluttering sexual imagination in being raped by their interested sex.** The story has a lot of SM motifs as well and the sheik does spell some sweet words out of his sly, fine shaped lips. I can see how the ladies swooned over him. (btw, Rudolph Valentino clearly distinguishes the characters of his real-life him and the role Sheik- he has spoken in some of the interviews that it distresses him when the public perceives or expects him to be like the Sheik in real life) There are ample of SM motif I won't disagree if someone says that this is a romantic latent pornography.*rolls eyes*

Down here would be a sweet scene:

"Lie still, you little fool!"

The East and the West 

 Now, another similarity to point out with the preceding film is that they cleanly separate the "our world" and the "barbaric uncivilized world that's whole a lot worse than us oh praise the lord, etc..".  And amid the story, the Sheik's French acquaintance, Dr. Raoul de St. Hubert (Adolphe Menjou) comes over to visit him. He comes in wearing the quintessential western outfit, contrary to the Sheik and Diana, who have adjusted herself into the exotic garments (clothes are symbolic in films to a significant matter)***. He takes the role of an opportunity for Diana to once go back to her authentic world. This stirs up the emotions inside the Sheik and Diana both.

Well, Hollywood is Hollywood. 

 Since I don't want to make it too long, I'm going to start wrapping this up. We have covered some of the parallels of "The Cheat (1915)" and this film. However, a major differentiation erupts in the last scene. Diana realizes that she likes the sheik. Like the other damsel in distress, she is saved by the sheik in the last minute of some other guys luring for her beauty and they finally share their feelings towards each other. If you were very keen on this subject, you might have thought: "since the sheik is Arabic, that's too much of an avant-garde! Hollywood at that time of the period detested miscegenation; the whole nation detested it!"
If you did, congrats, because you're right. In the end, Dr. Raoul reveals to Diana that the sheik is an Englishman. Now, with all the uneasy facts all cleared, Diana and the sheik confesses their love towards each other and voila!- Happy ever after.

Hollywood and the Patriarchy 

 *Now, these kinds of films are truly entertaining-it is a pleasure to be able to watch it on youtube whenever we want. But there are several concerns for the deception and the ideology. Racism, prejudice, yes of course all those orientalism but one factor that is under looked is that in fact, such movies were, and is a sweet sweet sugar boost and a marvelous deal for the "whites society". It underscored the idea of empirical white male patriarchy in the US. The pyramid of the empirical white male patriarchy would be like this:

 To be more precise, I would rather say that white women/children don't exactly grip the prominence or authority subsequently to while male. It just happens to be like that since they're somehow akin to white males and they just can't be worse than the other ethnic minorities. They're like "sub-allies" with the prior dominant class. 

Edith and Dianna  

 So now I'm going to combine with the two movies, "The Cheat (1915)" and "The Sheik(1921)". The two main women characters: the former Edith, and the latter Dianna, both share the same feature of being emancipated from their male relationships.
Under the conditions of her husband encountering economical degradation, Edith seizes her wants and needs through her red cross that she organizes and she harshly interacts with her white husband- she is on loose from the triangle. Dianna, a cultured white woman leaves to Arab alone even though her white male friends and family try to interfere from doing so-again, a white woman loose from the control of white males. 

This is a phrase from Diana

 Well, would the "whites society" allow the two to leave the hierarchy? Hell no fam, you gotta be kidding.
In conclusion, Edith is "enlightened" by her white husband's forgiveness with the dignity of a white gentleman, cutting off any relation with her exotic Japanese lover and leaves the film hugging her man, who has recovered all her financial burden. And for Dianna, she ends up loving an Englishmen who has educated himself in Paris and shows her affection dearly. You see the truth - white women have enrolled herself back again into the "divine" white hierarchy. 

 
Toxic, isn't it?

 Well, now I think you can see how these kind of movies are some sweet treats to such social structures.

**Please please note that dear misogynists, that does not settle down to the point that women want to be raped in real life, and that does that grant you any rights to justify such vile sins. I'll put a link down here if you are interested in women's sexual imaginations about rape and the myths about real-life raping.**

***Clothes does represent one's dignity and identity. Before Dianna suits herself under sheik's shelter, her face shows relief when the sheik allows her to regain her western outfits.***

"Guston will return your clothes."

So I think this is it! Thx for keeping up with me, love ya!xxxxx

Bye!

 Oh, be sure to check about Rudolph Valentino; he has an interesting biography just like Hayakawa!