Sheik to Sheik (1936) User Reviews

Nobody yelled FOUR

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 23 June 2016]

Sheik To Sheik is the kind of film that was an average short subject with some original music with it that could never be made today. Musicals just cost too much even a 20 minute short

Georges Metaxa who had a couple of Broadway shows to his credit like The Cat And The Fiddle and Revenge With Music moved to Hollywood, but never had that kind of success. He settled into non-singing roles in a lot of B pictures.

I'm betting RKO did this musical short fantasy to showcase his vocal talents. Comedian Johnny Berkes while golfing is caught in a sand trap when he's banged on the bean with a ball. Berkes dreams he's in the Sahara where he encounters Metaxa as a Foreign Legion lieutenant and Richard Rober as a sheik.

Berkes tries to sell both sides radios. Of course there's a limited amount of electrical outlets in that territory.

Sheik To Sheik is silly, but pleasant nonsense and it's no pain to be watching it.

Not terrible...

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 18 June 2011]

I was surprised when I saw this short included with the RKO film "Shall We Dance". Surprised because this short is from Vitaphone--a division of Warner Brothers--not RKO. I assume that since Turner Entertainment now owns practically every old film, they could combine their RKO releases with non-RKO shorts (since, after all, RKO is not known for shorts).

This short stars a bunch of folks I've never seen before--and I've seen a lot of films! It begins with a guy getting hit in the head by a golf ball and, oddly, he dreams he's in the desert with the Foreign Legion! What's more odd is that many of the scenes do not feature him (but it's HIS dream!) and there's some limp singing--and people hardly ever break into song in my dreams (and I wish they did...). Unfortunately, the songs aren't that good--and it's made all the more obvious as I'd just finished watching the Astaire-Rogers musical...with music from the Gershwins! All in all, not an especially inspired film...but at least it's free.

Golf Swing Time

[wes-connors · 4/10 · 16 July 2012]

On the sixteenth hole of a golf course, comedian John Berkes (as Johnny) is hit by a golf ball and transported from the sand trap to an Arabian desert. The French Foreign Legion marches by, led by singer Georges Metaxa (as Georges). Ann Barrie (as Ann) is his fiancée. The transported characters were also golfing. Promoted as the star of this short musical, Mr. Metaxa also appeared in the concurrent musical "Swing Time" (1936) starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The title "Sheik to Sheik" spoofs Mr. Astaire's huge #1 hit "Cheek to Cheek" (1935). Also notable in the cast is Richard Rober (nee Rauber).

**** Sheik to Sheik (10/10/36) Roy Mack ~ George Metaxa, John Berkes, Ann Barrie, Richard Rober

Too Bad, They didn't expand it to a a full film!

[Sylviastel · 5/10 · 13 June 2019]

The short subject of life in the Arabian desert with a salesman is too short. The film was forgettable for the most part. The shorts were often shown before the main film. This short film appeared on the DVD of "Shall We Dance?" It's okay but not great.

On a day when an opinion page columnist . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 31 January 2017]

. . . for USA TODAY diagnoses the President of the United States with THREE concurrent mental illnesses (including paranoid schizophrenia), going back to the "innocent" days of the 1930s theater offerings--even ones as insanely crazy as SHEIK TO SHEIK--would seem to be a comparatively welcome respite from all the Madness of Today. However, such is NOT the case with SHEIK, because it's as much a warning to America from Warner Bros. as it is a Half-Hearted stab at entertaining its contemporary audience. Clearly the dreaming golfer in argyle socks has been transported to Our America of the 21st Century, as the only "Advanced Search" Google result for "Legionnaires," "Mayhem on the Golf Course," and "Desert Water Quality" yields reams of reports from Flint, MI, 2016. Loathed by the U.S. Rich People's Party (RPP) because Black Golfer Tiger Woods whipped the White Boys year after year in the Buick Open there (despite incessant shouts at the tees of "Mashed Potatoes!"), Party Backer Vlad Putin ordered RPP Michigan Czar "Slick Rick" Snyder to beta test a program which Putin will have his White House Puppet Rump expand nationwide to Dumb Down America with leaded water and kill off millions with Legionnaires' Disease AFTER the RPP destroys the U.S. Health Care Safety Net of ObamaCare, Medicaid, and Medicare. Warner's prophets saw all this coming in the 1930s, when they threw together golf, Legionnaires, and a desert wasteland in SHEIK.