This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered in high-definition from 35mm archival materials.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on virtual pipe organ by Ben Model.

Supplementary material includes audio commentary by author Gaylyn Studlar; archival footage taken at Valentino’s funeral; and original theatrical trailer of Valentino’s Blood and Sand (1922).

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Comparing this DVD edition to the VHS edition released in 1992 by Paramount Home Video, one immediately realizes that the Paramount edition utilized a reedited and retitled rerelease print for its video transfer, and that this DVD edition has utilized for its transfer an excellent color-toned 35mm print of the original theatrical release version. Owners of the Paramount videotape may choose to hold onto it as a document of the reissue print.

The Blackhawk Films print for this Image DVD features a broad range of greytones and very-good image detail, with very slight print damage in the form of light speckling, scrapes, and emulsion scuffing. The transfer is full-frame but is also generously cropped at the extreme edges of the film frame to render the maximum picture (as long as your television doesn’t excessively crop overscan area). Some intertitles will be slightly cropped on some TV monitors, but that appears to be the fault of the camera framing rather than the transfer framing.

We’re not impressed by the music score performed on MIDI synthesizers by Eric Beheim (performing under the moniker, the “Café Mauré Orchestra”), however. We feel that the synthesizer sounds that are achieved are irritating at best and undermine the musical compositions themselves.

Featured with The Sheik on this DVD is the film’s sequel, The Son of the Sheik (1926). The Son of the Sheik DVD review.

Among the supplementary material is Rudolph Valentino and His 88 American Beauties (1923) is documentary produced by the young David O. Selznick during Valentino’s contract dispute with Famous Players-Lasky, and served the purpose of keeping Valentino before the moving-going public during his vaudeville tour. Valentino was a judge in a beauty contest held in New York, with 88 contestants, including future film star Eugenia Gilbert. The film is padded with a hodge podge of footage taken during the event and of the contestants afterwards, but the film served its purpose for Valentino and made Selznick a goodly sum of money at the beginning of his career as a film producer. The transfer has been made from an excellent 35mm print, with mild speckling and moderate frame jitters. The film was previously available as a supplement on laserdisc.

The Sheik’s Physique (192?) is an odd little fiction film of Valentino (complete with long, pointed sideburns) driving to the beach and, to wow female viewers, changing into a swimming suit to spend a leisurely afternoon relaxing. Having fallen asleep, Rudy awakens to discover that he is late for an undefined appointment, realizes that his car is gone, and he must hitch a ride back into town. The film, which is likely exerpted from a longer compilation reel, has little purpose other than to keep new Valentino footage on the world's cinema screens until he formally returned to film acting. Transferred from, what appears to be, an excellent 35mm print.

[Pathe News: Rudolph Valentino Dead!] (1926) is a portion of newsreel footage of the funeral of Valentino. Includes footage from The Son of the Sheik and an incidental glimpse of Pola Negri. Transferred from an excellent 35mm print that is lightly speckled, moderately jittery and slightly damaged.

All of the films on this Image DVD feature music scores performed on synthesizers by Eric Beheim, who has written extensive notes on the scoring for the insert booklet. The disc also features an alternate music track of the 1937 reissue music and sound effects track for The Son of the Sheik.

This DVD edition of Valentino’s sheik films, produced for home video by David Shepard, encompasses a five-year span during which Rudolph Valentino rose to fame, fought studio control (almost disasterously), successfully returned to films, and ultimately died a premature death at age 31. With its wealth of Valentino films in great prints, this DVD is a great buy for both value and quality.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This DVD-R edition has been mastered from what appears to be a 16mm reduction print, which may originate from the Blackhawk Films collection, but the low-resolution disc encoding (or the print itself) makes the picture undesirably blurry. On standard-resolution monitors, the horizontal lines of resolution can clearly be seen. The disc will look better when viewed on an HD system capable of deinterlacing the picture and resolution upscaling (preferably upscaled to a 60FPS progressive scan signal).

The film is accompanied by an improvised music score performed on an upright piano by Keith Taylor.

Over the years, this company has released DVD-R editions under a number of company names, with the same catalog number and UPC number, including Nostalgia Family Video, Hollywood’s Attic (as originally reviewed), RetroFlix, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault. This is not a bad edition of the film but the disc will play better on a computer screen than on a high-resolution big screen. Ultimately, just get the Kino Lorber Blu-ray Disc edition noted above.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack of preexisting recordings.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 2 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

It is unknown which version of the film is presented (original or rerelease version).

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting recordings.

NOSTALGIA FAMILY VIDEO has discontinued business and this DVD-R edition is . . .

It is unknown which version of the film is presented (original or rerelease version) or the quality of source materials used for the video transfer.

Other silent era ADOLPHE MENJOU films available on home video.