Il figlio dello sceicco

In the Middle East, circa 1860s, the evil Omar seeks to become Khadive by killing off his adversaries and by marrying the reluctant Fawzia, favorite niece of the current Khadive. Omar's brutal policies result in the death of a young woman named Laila. Laila's brother, Kerim, then becomes Omar's sworn enemy.

Kerim, the son of the sheik stars Gordon Scott, who isn't showing his pecs much and is covered up in Arabian nights clothing and he's masked most of the time. He plays a Robin Hood-type character, going up against Omar. Scott, as always, is good in the role and shows his physical prowess in the action scenes. It's a typical desert adventure with guns blazing, horses galloping and scimitars chopping, but it's done well. It's a bit slow in places, but generally it's enjoyable with a meaty performance from Moira Orfei, who plays a villainess.

From the sword and sandal film to the oriental adventure

After a few years of the Peplum boom, Hercules actors like Gordon SCOTT (1926-2007) were increasingly used in other adventure films. What's special about this film is that it was shot in Egypt.

Kerim's (Gordon SCOTT) family is being harassed by the powerful Emir Omar (Alberto FARNESE). When Kerim's sister (Grazia Maria SPINA) is murdered, the limit is finally full...

Other roles in Mario COSTA's film include Cristina GAIONI (as the good one), Moira ORFEI (as the schemer), Jany CLAIR (as an incarcerated woman) and Nando ANGELINI as Kerim's little brother.

Alberto FARNESE cuts a good figure as the evil antagonist, but Gordon SCOTT has the better fight with his Hercules colleague Gordon MITCHELL (1923-2003), who plays the henchman Yussuf in the film.

Well worth seeing for fans of the genre!

This film is rarely listed in reference books or Movie guides, but is an excellent example of the sword and sandal genre & an interesting entry in Scott's filmography.

Even the IMDb does not list this title in an English version, but a dubbed and anglicized version is in circulation, if you hunt around long enough.

For those of you who are interested in seeing this film, a copy is available @ Movieflix.com (membership required), although the print available (listed on the site as "Son of the Sheik", with no mention of Gordon Scott as its star) is smeary, with poor sound and super-imposed foreign subtitles.

Its availability on MOVIEFLIX is a slightly better option than never seeing it, but not much.

This has obviously no relation to Rudolph Valentino's 1926 swan-song nor, for that matter, the 1977 modern-day comedy starring Tomas Milian. The peplum under review marks the momentous (but curiously unexploited) teaming of two genre stalwarts: Gordon Scott as the titular figure (later assuming the Robin Hood-like guise of "The Black Sheik"!) and Gordon Mitchell as a mercenary employed by the villain but who expires after just one brief skirmish! Also on hand is Moira Orfei (who similarly flourished during the form's heyday) as, typically, an evil mistress of the obligatory usurping potentate.

The result is an unassuming film with no outstanding merit…except that it is perhaps the most impersonally-directed such effort I have ever watched: in fact, there is barely any close-up throughout and, what is worse, an awful lot of the running-time is taken up by repetitive footage of riders traveling aimlessly across the desert (and which, for all I know, may have been stock footage anyway)!! Just as amusingly, the chief baddie turns up with his men at the camp of a neighboring tribe (led by Scott's father and currently being entertained by his own daughter's dancing!) – where the initial greeting and any thoughts of an amicable visit are instantly dispelled by the order to assault and decimate the gathering…and himself unceremoniously making off with the hero's sister, unwisely incurring the latter's inevitable wrath in the process (with the two ultimately facing-off in single combat on the sand dunes)!

Largely filmed in Egypt, this Saturday-matinée adventure has an expansive quality not often found in sword-and-sandal movies. Unfortunately, some of this quality will be lost when shrunk onto a TV screen, but an efficient script, replete with sure-fire ingredients, and an enthusiastic cast make up for any visual disappointments. Heading the cast is ex-Tarzan Gordon Scott who takes awhile to enter the scene and who then wears a headdress which often obscures the lower part of his face. By the end of the movie, however, the headdress is gone along with Scott's shirt and finally being able to see his sweaty, sun-bronzed torso is well worth the wait. Along the way he suffers a flogging inside his enemy's dungeon and this may be the only time you'll see Scott writhing under the whip. (The flogging, alas, isn't included in the book: "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies.") Clocking in at little more than a brisk 80 minutes, this minor but worthy effort has the good sense to give the audience what it wants, and then to quit while it's ahead.