BY LEE PFEIFFER
Paramount has commemorated the 100th anniversary of the landmark Rudolph Valentino film, "The Sheik"", with a newly-restored special edition Blu-ray as part of the Paramount Presents line. In viewing the film today, I was impressed how well it has held up over time. The movie packs a great deal into its modest 66-minute running time. Set in contemporary times, Valentino plays the title character, Ahmed Ben Hassan, a French-educated, highly sophisticated young man who is the benevolent ruler over his nomadic tribe. Through a rather intriguing series of events, he meets Lady Diana Mayo (Agnes Ayres), an adventurous woman who is visiting the Sahara with her brother to see the wondrous sites. When she embarks on an ill-fated multi-day tour, she is captured by Ahmed, who is obsessed with having a European lover as a trophy. Although he allows her to live in the lap of luxury- or as much luxury as a desert setting can provide- she attempts to escape, a decision that leads to even more dramatic consequences. Naturally, as these types of plots tend to run even in today's films, the abrasive relationship between an attractive man and woman will ultimately lead to a love affair. As directed by George Melford, "The Sheik" retains its attributes as a landmark in cinema history, providing ample evidence why Valentino (who died young), would become the greatest male sex symbol in that era of the film industry. Perhaps, most fittingly the newly-restored version of the film also allows Valentino's leading lady, Agnes Ayres, to have her considerable and often forgotten talents placed back in the spotlight. She is every bit the heroine to Valentino's man of action, rather like a female Indiana Jones, which was a novel idea in the days of silent cinema.
Paramount's meticulously restored version of the film impressed this writer enough that I reached out to Andrea Kalas at Paramount, who oversaw the restoration process. Andrea leads
Asset Management at Paramount Pictures. Prior to Paramount she was Head of
Preservation at the British Film Institute, Digital Studio Director for
Discovery Communications, Archivist for Dreamworks SKG and preservationist and
research data expert at UCLA Film and Television Archive. She is a member of
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and currently serves on the
Science and Technology Council where she chairs the committee on Digital
Preservation.
- Can you provide some insight
into how you became involved in the unusual profession of film
restoration?
I worked at the UCLA
Film and Television archive when I was a student – my first job was inspecting
nitrate film for deterioration – I guess because I was willing to do that they
gave me a full time job in preservation. I learned on the job from some
of the best in the profession – Bob Gitt, Preservation, Martha Yee, Cataloging,
Eddie Richmond, Curation and Management. I was really lucky.
- Prior to "The Sheik",
what other classic movies did you assist with or oversee in the
restoration process?
I’ve had the
privilege of being involved in restoring hundreds of films – Sunset Boulevard,
Wings, Harold and Maude, Saturday Night Fever, Roman Holiday. Just a few of my
favorite Paramount films…
- "The Sheik" must have
proven to be a challenge, given the fact that the film is 100 years old.
Can you tell us what the process was like in sourcing the best possible
print. Were multiple prints utilized?
We looked around the
world for best sources and Film Preservation Associates graciously loaned us
a a 35mm black and white print. We also had a finegrain which
turned out to have a better overall picture quality, but the print turned out
to be great for the intertitles.
- You had to engage the process of
"stretch printing". Can you describe what that entails?
Actually
we had to kind of reverse-stretch. The original frame-per-second cadence was 22
FPS. The fine grain we used had been “stretched†to 24 – essentially by
adding frames. With the help of the lab, Pictureshop, we went back to 22FPS
- The film's scenes alternate
between various color tints. Was this the way the film was originally shown
or was it presented in standard black-and-white?
We had a continuity
script that was a critical guide to the digital tinting and toning we added –
which was the way the audience in 1921 would have seen it.
- How long did it take to restore
the film, from inception to completion?
6-8
months
- What was the most challenging
aspect of the restoration process?
The
greatest challenge of all restorations is to respect the elements you are
working with as well as the tools you have to make the film look as great to audiences
as possible. The Sheik should look as good as it can, but always look like a
film from 1921.
- The film features a fine original
score by French composer Roger Bellon. Can you tell us about his
background and how he became involved in the project? Was there ever an
official score for the film or did individual theaters provide their own?
Roger
Bellon’s score was commissioned in 1990 as part of a celebration of Paramount’s
75th, and it really stands up. Paramount did provide theaters
with music that was written for its films, but Mr. Bellon’s score is one he
composed.
- In viewing the film today, how
would you describe its legacy in the cinema history?
First of
all, the power of Valentino’s very modern acting style and connection with the
audience is something that endures in the performances of so many who have come
after him.
Secondly
it’s legacy is how different lenses of history interpret controversial issues
of gender and race. Valentino was considered very dark – so in 1921 a
bias against darkness was on display. Interestingly in 2021 the idea that
an Italian American would play an Arab would be frowned upon. Similarly,
the depiction of sexuality was scandalous in 1921 but scholars in later years
have pointed to the character of Lady Diana in the film as somewhat powerful
before her time….
(Thanks to Deborah Annakin Peters for her help in arranging this interview.)
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