189 The White Sheik

[Martha]

The White Sheik



Ivan Cavalli (Leopoldo Trieste) brings his new wife Wanda (Brunella Bovo) to Rome on the least romantic honeymoon in history—a rigid schedule of family meetings and audiences with the Pope. But Wanda, dreaming of the dashing hero of a photo-strip cartoon, drifts off in search of the White Sheik, thus setting off a slapstick comedy worthy of Chaplin. The style and themes which made Federico Fellini world famous are already apparent in this charming comedy (his first solo directorial effort), featuring such long-time collaborators as his wife, actress Giulietta Masina, and composer Nino Rota.

Special Features

- New digital transfer
- New video interviews with actors Brunella Bovo and Leopoldo Trieste, and Fellini friend Moraldo Rossi
- Essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

Criterionforum.org user rating averages

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[jorencain]

I'm surprised nobody has commented on this yet. I just revisited it, and although it's not my favorite from Fellini, it's certainly very good, and is overall extremely funny. It's clear that he's not fully developede as a filmmaker at this point (it feels a little choppy, and the editing is kind of a mess), but it has all the hallmarks of his later films (albeit in smaller doses). His love for Rome is clear here, even though most of the scenic shots are fleeting glimpses from Ivan and Wanda being whisked around town. The story may be a little simplistic, and the characters could have been fleshed out a little more, but this is still a sweet and very funny movie.

[denti alligator]

I'm almost with Welles and Rosenbaum on this one. This is just about my favorite Fellini film. In fact, I'd say it is my favorite, head to head with 8 1/2. So much of the rest of Fellini's work is uninteresting to me--very contrived and not particularly funny or poingant. Nights of Cabiria may be an exception-- and 8 1/2 is a tour de force, but The White Sheik , I think, outdoes both of these. The film exudes a palpable joyousness in the face of the marvels of life and love and the workings of fantasy in ways Fellini never managed again without producing something stilted and, frankly, vapid. If you don't particularly like Fellni, see this! If you do like him, give this one a chance as more than just a sophomore effort-- it's a gem, nay, a masterpiece.

[Narshty]

Agreed - it's sublime. As someone so rightfully said on the old board, this has more sheer acting in it than almost any other film you care to mention. Fellini's earliest films (in which I'd also include Variety Lights and I Vitelloni) have a kind of purity and unspoiled quality, and the occasional flamboyant touches feel like fairy dust rather than their raison d'être.

[ellipsis7]

Agreed - my Fellini collection stops at JULIET OF THE SPIRITS...

[montgomery]

Yeah, I think this film is underrated...Fellini was a master from the beginning. This is Fellini's funniest film, and of all his films, this has my favorite ending.

[skweeker]

I'm impressed at how many of the themes present in this film show up again in Fellini's later works, to one extent or another: in this film's dialogue, there's even a reference to "ships sailing on".

The simplicity of the story told here also greatly appeals to me; there is a sense of trying too hard for gravitas in the later films, a sense of "putting on airs" ( no doubt such was by then expected of Fellini, by both his audience and his backers) which is absent in this earlier - perhaps 'simpler' - film. As I have seen Fellini's more recently-made films prior to seeing this, it's quite refreshing.

I agree with the earlier posters in this thread. This is a very enjoyable film, perhaps the best Fellini - for accessible enjoyment - I've yet watched. IMO "being Fellini" was not yet any kind of a hassle for Frederico, and his touch here as a film-maker seems lighter: which happily fits the material. Much more comic, than tragi-comic: although there is a scene in an asylum, and a suicide attempt....

[ellipsis7]

Antonioni had quite a hand in the script, before he eventually walked away, so see his short L'AMOROSA MENZOGNA about similar photo comic strips and TENTADO SUICIDO his ep from L'AMORE IN CITTA about failed suicides of passion, before you attribute all to Fellini... Some of WHITE SHEIK is Antonioni seen through a Fellini prism, if you get me...

[dad1153]

Going Out of Print by the End of March.

[FrauBlucher]

The new 4k restoration trailer for The White Sheik

[dvining]

So, StudioCanal is releasing this in the UK but not the US, right?

Seems like one more data point saying that the Fellini box set is coming next year to me.

[FrauBlucher]

Correct. And most likely correct.

[Speakeasy]

Can someone explain to me what Trieste is doing when he starts unpacking at the hotel? He removes a drawer from the dresser and smells it?

What am I missing?