While not one of my favourite Federico Fellini films, this is one of his best early films, almost as good with Il Bidone and on par on I Vitelloni. As ever with Fellini it is beautifully filmed with a touch of quaintness, and his direction is restrained compared to his later films and with a mischievous touch of comedy and fantasy. Nino Rota's score is rousing and cheerful, almost like being at a carnival, while the writing is funny and moving- one of the most beautiful lines of any of Fellini's movies is "Our real lives are in our dreams, but sometimes dreams are a fatal abyss"- and the story is comically precise and sympathetic. The characters are engaging, again while not as identifiable as La Strada and Nights of Cabiria they are not detached as Casanova and Satyricon. Alberto Sordi's performance is top drawer as the dissolute titular character, while Leopoldo Trieste is arresting in his comic timing and Brunella Bovo is wonderfully innocent and entrancing. Giulietta Masina would go on to do even better performances like in Nights of Cabiria but she is still terrific. Overall, a great Fellini film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The White Sheik (Lo Sceicco Bianco) I had taken a break from writing movie review for a while and my rating dropped one point from 298 to 299. The past few months I had been trying to watch every film available on DVD by Fredrico Fellini. This is one of his earlier movies even before La Strada and Dolce Vita. Plot: The first two days of a marriage. Ivan, a punctilious clerk brings his virginal bride to Rome for a honeymoon, an audience with the Pope, and to present her to his uncle. They arrive early in the morning, and he has time for a nap. She sneaks off to find the offices of a romance magazine she reads religiously: she wants to meet "The White Sheik," the hero of a soap-opera photo strip. Star-struck, she ends up 20 miles from Rome, alone on a boat with the sheik. A distraught Ivan covers for her, claiming she's ill. That night, each wanders the streets, she tempted by suicide, he by prostitutes. The next day, at 11, is their papal audience. Can things still be made right? Interestingly enough the prostitute in this movie gets her own movie (Nights of Cabriria) in a couple years. Cabriria was played by Fellini's wife Giulietta Masina) Nights of Cabriria is one of my favorite and Fellini's most powerful movies. The Sheik is fun and interesting. It is a comedy but not filled with all the surreal things of his later movies (but some of the surrealness is still there). Still the images framing and photography are impressive and it is easy to see the makings of a great film maker. By today's standards the plot is a bore. The films historical moral perspective on husbands wives marriage etc is interesting compared to our "no standards anything goes" today. Still it is good fun comic slapstick and motion comedy stuff. Evidently this film is Federico Fellini's first solo effort, his first film, Variety Lights, having been co-directed by Alberto Lattuada. The film is 50 years old There is visible damage and pops and hisses on the soundtrack. At times the image quality looks like it is of Criterion "Rebecca" levels, but it is never consistent showing a little excessive grain and damage at times. Maybe Maybe soon there will be new restored version as this is an excellent film.

This was the first film Fellini directed on his own and it was among his best but most under-appreciated films. While it does not have the usual "Fellini look" (with odd looking supporting characters, unusual stories or unique style), the film is a definite winner--featuring a very cute story and some winning performances. Plus, like most of Fellini's films, the plot is pretty weird--and that I truly appreciate.A young man and woman are married and come to Rome for their honeymoon. The very organized husband seems to have planned every last detail of the trip--scheduling almost every second of every day and allowing them no time alone or to even consummate their marriage. Instead of trying to get this seemingly inflexible man to bend, the young bride hopes to just slip away from the hotel VERY briefly to go meet her idol, the "White Sheik". Unbeknownst to the hubby, she is an avid reader of an adventure magazine that feature this fictional character--complete with photos and stories about his larger than life adventures and romance. And, she'd been writing him for some time and her only real desire in Rome was to spend just a brief moment with him. However, when she arrives at the office that publishes the magazine, the actor portraying him in the stories isn't there. But, the folks see she's a real fan and want to help her, so they tell her to get in the truck and go with the camera crew to the shoot. She only has a moment, but agrees--after all, he is her idol.Well, one thing after another goes wrong and her brief excursion lasts more than a day! In the meantime, the new husband is panic-stricken but doesn't want to tell his uncle or his family--he's too embarrassed to tell them he's misplaced his wife! And, for the next day or so, he makes one excuse after another to explain why she isn't there to go on their fully packed itinerary! The story is very cute and charming,...plus it provides a few laughs. In many ways, it reminds me of the later film THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (where Mia Farrow is a devoted fan of a movie serial star and sees the same film again and again), but it is both more charming and ultimately has a better and more upbeat ending.PS--I know this may make me sound like I am not "with it", but I really do prefer most of Fellini's earlier films and hate the "über strange" films from later in his career (such as SATYRICON). This is a wonderful film that is sure to please everyone--even those who don't think they like the films of Fellini.

When most people think of Fellini, they think of his films La Strada or La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2, but the director's vast catalogue of films is worth checking out just to see a genius at work. Fellini's early and little known film, The White Sheik proves to be a cinematic gem that not only hints at the director Fellini would become, but also stands on its own as an achievement.Part soap opera (read Mexican soaps) and part romantic comedy, The White Sheik leans towards surrealism and comic book camp (over 30 years before Kevin Smith created DOGMA). The premise of the story is that two newly weds, Vanda Giardino (Bruenella Boro) and her husband Ivan Cavelli (Leopoldo Trieste) honeymoon in Rome where Ivan hopes to make a good impression of his relations. Unfortunately for him, his wife sneaks out of the hotel room so that she can meet her comic book hero, The White Sheik (Alberto Sordi.Shot in black and white, this film is gorgeous and surreal. The actors on the set of The White Sheik come across as gypsy or circus like. They sport tough attitudes and this makes a nice contrast to Vanda's wide-eyed innocence.The White Sheik is technically Fellini's second film, but the first one in which he did not share directing credits. However, he did share writing credits with Michelangelo Antonioni, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli. If you are a fan of La Strada and Nights of Cabiria then you must see this film.