Paramount Pictures; 1921, dir: George Melford; cast: Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Lucien Littlefield, Adolphe Menjou. Vintage original 47 x 63 in. (120 x 160 cm.) French one-panel poster, stone lithograph, art by Fernand Louis Gottlob, linen-backed, fine condition.
The artwork on this true first release original French poster features a large full-length image of Sheik Ahmed Ben-Hassan (Rudolph Valentino), wearing the most recognizable costume from this film, and Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayres) sharing a romantic embrace outside of the Sheik's desert oasis under a gently setting sun. This poster has been professionally linen-backed by Poster Mountain and was in outstanding condition prior to linen-backing. The upper horizontal foldline had random areas of minor separation in primarily the left quadrant (approximatley 11.5 in.) and, to a lesser degree, on the same foldline in the far right quadrant which extended through the lower portion of Miss Ayres' face (the quality of work at Poster Mountain is so consistenly high that the small amount of restoration to this foldline now blends seamlessly). There was an area of paper loss starting at the center of the upper outer white border starting at the upper edge and extending down to just above the red outer border and extending approximately 3.5 in. to the left which has been expertly replaced. There was also an area of paper loss about the size of a dime in the very center of the poster at the crossfold within the light gray portion of Valentino's robe. There were two very small chips and one slightly larger chip on the upper outer white border. There was a small chip on the left outer white border at the edge of the horizontal fold line and the same sized chip on the opposite end of the fold line on the right outer white border. The colors are as fresh and vibrant as when the poster was printed in 1921 and the dark pink title and rich red in Valentino's robe and headgear are complimented by the background color and composition. The artist's signature (Gottlob) appears in the lower right corner in the yellow background.
This French one-panel poster offered here is for the film's initial theatrical release in France when the film was originally issued in 1921. There is a very similar French one-panel poster with the same artwork but with slightly different Paramount studio credits and that poster is from a late 1920's French theatrical reissue, which makes the poster offered here the most desirable as well as valuable from this film.
THE SHEIK premiered in Los Angeles on October 21, 1921. Critical reception was mixed with many critics feeling the toned down rape scene ruined the original message. However, it was a major success with audiences, smashing attendace records where it debuted. In its first week of release, it set attendance records at two of New York's major theatres, the Rialto and the Rivoli. The New York Telegraph estimated that in the first few weeks, 125,000 people had seen the film. The film's producer, Jesse L. Lasky, declared the last week of November "The Sheik Week" and had the film premiere at 250 theatres in the U.S. on November 20, 1921. The film ran for 6 months in Sydney, Australia and 42 weeks at one theatre in France. THE SHEIK was the first Valentino film to show in his native Italy. Within the first year alone, THE SHEIK exceeded $1 million in grosses and was made at a cost of approximately $200,000. Fresh from his success as young Julio Desnoyers in Rex Ingram's THE FOUR HOURSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE, Valentino's performance in THE SHEIK catapulted him to silent screen superstardom.
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