Sexiest Silent Film ever – The Son of the Sheik – Valentino and Banky, 1926

Name: The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It
Availability: InStock
Author: Sharrie Williams
ISBN: 0984308113

By Sharrie Williams · Written February 2012 · 3 min read

The on-screen chemistry between Valentino and Banky puts this Silent Film, in a category of it’s own… Steaming!!

Sexiest Silent Film ever – The Son of the Sheik – Valentino and Banky, 1926

The premiere of, “The Son of the Sheik,” opened at Grauman’s Million Dollar Theatre and was one of Hollywood’s most glamorous affairs.

A month later in New York City, Valentino died.

I remember my grandmother, Evelyn, (Nana,) refer to Valentino as…an exotic, adventurous romantic, handsome, hot-blooded Italian-born,

Latin lover. In today’s terms, that means,

The Sexiest Man Alive.

The Son of the Sheik, was so popular, because it had everything going for it… Romance, humor, action, adventure and especially a happy ever after ending.

I have to say, for a sizzling 1920’s romantic Silent Film, this has to be the best ever made. But that’s just my opinion. Check the video below, and see for yourself what I’m talking about.

Notes about the making of “Son of the Sheik” from Motion Picture magazine January, 1927:

“The ‘sudden’ death of Rudolph Valentino, idol of millions of motion picture fans, shocked America and Europe. Yet we in Hollywood who knew him from the ‘Four Horsemen’ days onward were not so shocked.

In five years, he changed from a blithe, happy youth to a weary man, his heavily shadowed eyes showing every indication of some serious illness. It is not difficult for us to believe that he paid for ‘Son of the Sheik’ with his life, that he had not the physical resistance to throw off the strain of his last location trip which took him into the bitter wastes of the Arizona desert.

Click on video to watch the most exotic love scene in Silent Film history.

The Son of The Sheik (1926) Rudolph Valentino

Controversial “rape” scene from Son of the Sheik starring Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Banky.

Velma Banky, known as “The Hungarian Rhapsody,” was exotic and beautiful enough to star with Rudolph Valentino, in The Son of the Sheik and the The Eagle.

By the 1920s, Hollywood had created a hunger for Silent Films… a desire for beautiful eyes… and a need for romance… after decades of Victorian restraint.

Silent Film Stars, like, well respected, Ethel Clayton, seen here in this Maybelline ad, made it okay to be seen in public with Velma Banky Eyes!!!!

Leon Redbone, singing “The Sheik of Araby.”

Thank you, to my cousin, Linda Hughes, for another fantastic music choice for today’s post. Stay tuned for another classic tune tomorrow, from the,

Silent Film Concert Series on The Maybelline Docu-Blog.

Coming soon · Next from Sharrie Williams

Maybe She’s Born With It

The next chapter of the Maybelline family story. Get a text the day it’s out.

Where it began: The Maybelline Story — Amazon · Ebook · Signed copy