If you've seen Billy Wilder's masterpiece 'Sunset Bvd.', the story of Agnes Ayres might just be a familiar one. She spent a decade and a half trying everything she could to get one last moment in the limelight. She was going to make a comeback, or die trying. Sadly, in her case, it was the latter - but there were many incredible moments along the way.
A note on pronunciation. In this video, we will be talking a lot about her greatest role - opposite Rudolph Valentino in 'The Sheik'. I'm sure many of you will be rushing to the comments to inform us that 'sheik' is more correctly pronounced like 'shake'. This is true in modern English, as it comes closer to the original Arabic pronunciation of sheikh.
However, back in the 1920s, it was more common to transliterate words into English, both in spelling and pronunciation. Back then, almost everyone pronounced it as though it rhymed with 'chic'. This included Jesse Lasky who ran 'Sheik Week' for the film, and no lesser figure than James Mason who pronounced it 1921 style in the classic documentary 'Swanson and Valentino.' With that in mind, we decided to stick with the 1921 pronunciation of 'The Sheik'.
If you'd like to check out the products mentioned in the video, here are the links.
'American Silent Film' by William K. Everson https://amzn.to/3QzA12A
The Sheik BluRay remaster https://amzn.to/4doxan3
Fritz Lang, The Silent Collection on BluRay https://amzn.to/3JOeGi2
The Phantom of the Opera, also on BluRay https://amzn.to/3y7zrTf
So, settle in for another Hollywood Mystery, with the Film Noir mood of rain on a deserted L.A. sidewalk, deep into the night, as always.
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