Movies like The Sheik (1921)
The best movies like The Sheik (1921) are Sahara (1983), Elephant Walk (1954) and Strange Cargo (1940). If The Sheik hooked you with its adventure and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedI Still Believe (2020)7.6/10 from 1,255 votes
- NewestA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)Released 2025
Sahara (1983)
Intent on winning a competition in place of her distinguished late father, beautiful young heiress Dale takes on the guise of a man and competes in his spot, embarking on a car race that crosses the unforgiving Sahara desert.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisElephant Walk (1954)
Colonial tea planter John Wiley, visiting England at the end of World War II, weds lovely English rose Ruth and takes her home to Elephant Walk, Ceylon, where the local elephants have a grudge against the plantation. Ruth's delight with the tropical wealth and luxury of her new home is tempered by isolation as the only white woman in the district; her husband's occasional imperious arrogance; a mutual physical attraction with plantation manager Dick Carver; and the hovering, ominous menace of the hostile elephants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisStrange Cargo (1940)
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeter Ibbetson (1935)
When his mother dies, young Peter Ibbetson leaves Paris and his best friend, Mary, behind to live with a severe uncle in England. Years later, Peter is an architect with little time for women, until he begins a project with the Duke and Duchess of Towers. When Peter and the duchess become great friends, she reveals that she is Mary — but the duke soon suspects his wife of infidelity and challenges Peter to a duel, threatening the pair's second chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret: Dare to Dream (2020)
A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe History of Love (2016)
The story of a long-lost book that mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Black Pirate (1926)
A nobleman vows to avenge the death of his father by the hands of pirates. To this end, he infiltrates the pirate band; Acting in character, he single-handedly captures a merchant vessel, but things are complicated when he finds that there is a beautiful young woman of royal blood aboard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost Husband (2020)
Trying to put her life back together after the death of her husband, Libby and her children move to her estranged Aunt's goat farm in central Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Still Believe (2020)
The true-life story of Christian music star Jeremy Camp and his journey of love and loss that looks to prove there is always hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlamingo Road (1949)
A stranded carnival dancer takes on a corrupt political boss when she marries into small-town society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNobody Has to Know (2022)
After a stroke and no memories from his past, Phil encounters Millie who inhabits a desert part of Isle of Lewis. She will shortly entrust him with his deepest secret : they were in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Valentine's Match (2020)
Fired from her job as a reality TV host, Natalie returns home for Valentine's Day, only to find herself running the town festival's auction with her ex-fiancé thanks to two scheming mothers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Brilliant Career (1979)
A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sleeping Dictionary (2003)
In the 1930s, British officer John Truscott journeys to a remote village in colonial Malaysia to educate and Westernize the local Iban population. There, he's introduced to the lovely Selima. In keeping with tradition, Selima is assigned to sleep with Truscott and teach him the native language and customs. But when they fall in love, both colonists and natives object to their plans to marry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Grit (1969)
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLovely, Still (2009)
A holiday fable that tells the story of an elderly man discovering love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Age of Adaline (2015)
After 29-year-old Adaline recovers from a nearly lethal accident, she inexplicably stops growing older. As the years stretch on and on, Adaline keeps her secret to herself until she meets a man who changes her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorthanger Abbey (2007)
A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Ring of Endless Light (2002)
When 15-year-old Vicky Austin, her sister Suzy and little brother Rob visit their grandfather on Seven Bay Island, Vicky faces several unexpected challenges. Her beloved grandfather, retired Reverend Eaton, seems to be seriously ill, but tries to pretend that nothing is wrong. Vicky met the rich but emotionally troubled Zachary Gray the previous summer, and he reappears to renew the acquaintance. Another boy, 17-year-old Adam Eddington, recruits Vicky to help him with a research project, working with a dolphin called Basil. Vicky discovers she can communicate telepathically with the dolphin and his mate - and possibly with Adam as well
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mark of Zorro (1920)
Don Diego Vega pretends to be an indolent fop as a cover for his true identity, the masked avenger Zorro. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisQueen Kelly (1929)
A convent girl is abducted and seduced by a prince before being sent off to a brothel in East Africa.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnderworld (1927)
Boisterous gangster kingpin Bull Weed rehabilitates his former lawyer from his alcoholic haze, but complications arise when he falls for Weed's girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOur Dancing Daughters (1928)
A flapper who's secretly a good girl and a gold-digging floozy masquerading as an ingénue both vie for the hand of a millionaire.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
A Woman of Affairs (1928)
Childhood friends Diana, Neville and David are caught in a love triangle as adults. Diana and Neville have long been smitten with each other, but her father disapproves of the relationship, resulting in her eventual marriage to David. It's not long after their wedding, however, that tragedy strikes, sending Diana on a downward spiral. When Neville reappears in her life, will he be able to save her from her own misery?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Sadie Thompson (1928)
A young, beautiful prostitute named Sadie Thompson arrives on the South Pacific island of Pago Pago looking for honest work and falls for Timothy O'Hara, an American sailor who is unfazed by her unsavory past. However, Mr. Davidson, a missionary who arrived on the island at the same time, aims to "save" Sadie from her sinful life and petitions to have her separated from her beau and deported back to San Francisco.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOrphans of the Storm (1921)
France, on the eve of the French Revolution. Henriette and Louise have been raised together as sisters. When the plague that takes their parents' lives causes Louise's blindness, they decide to travel to Paris in search of a cure, but they separate when a lustful aristocrat crosses their path.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924)
When Kriemhild, thirsty for revenge, marries to Etzel, king of the Huns, she invites King Gunther and his court to visit them, intending to finally take the life of the man responsible of her disgrace.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Latest from Paris (1928)
The Latest from Paris takes place in New York's garment district, where business rivals Blogg and Littauer have been carrying on a feud for years. In the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, heroine Ann Dolan works for Blogg, while her sweetheart Joe Adams is employed by Littauer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Navigator (1924)
The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Sheik?
The closest matches to The Sheik are Sahara (1983), Elephant Walk (1954) and Strange Cargo (1940). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Sheik?
Start with Sahara (1983), the closest match to The Sheik.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Sheik?
I Still Believe (2020), rated 7.6/10 by 1,255 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Sheik?
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Sheik?
Yes: Sahara (1983), Elephant Walk (1954) and Strange Cargo (1940).
How are movies similar to The Sheik chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Sheik, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.