Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Bergorks If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

gavin6942 Two young newlyweds from a provincial town, Wanda (Brunella Bovo) and Ivan Cavalli (Leopoldo Trieste), arrive in Rome for their honeymoon. Wanda is obsessed with the "White Sheik" (Alberto Sordi), the Rudolph Valentino-like hero of a soap opera photo strip and sneaks off to find him, leaving her conventional, petit bourgeois husband in hysterics as he tries to hide his wife's disappearance from his strait-laced relatives who are waiting to go with them to visit the Pope."The White Sheik" was Fellini's first solo effort as a director. He had previously co-directed "Variety Lights" in 1950 with Alberto Lattuada. Of course, we know now that Fellini went on to be one of the world's biggest directors and Lattuada is forgotten. And this is a solid effort, both fun and funny. Some have compared it to Chaplin, which is an exaggeration, there's definitely a promising career showcased here.The plot line was re-used by Woody Allen in his film "To Rome with Love", not one of his bigger films. But it is always nice to see Allen pay tribute to his heroes, Fellini and Bergman.

Rindiana Likable early Fellini told in a sprightly farcical vein, with good-natured jabs against hypocritical family honour, marital disharmony and the hokeyness of pulp kitsch.The situations are a tad too low-key to work as premium farce, but the humanity and naturalness that are invested in the story and the characters, despite all tendencies to rely on stereotypes, render this pic highly watchable, if not as memorable as later films made by the master director.And in an age when satire is often equated with a misanthropic attitude it's nice to witness a more empathic way to get one's knuckles rapped.7 out of 10 pitying prostitutes

sol- Quite an interesting comedy with ideas about fantasy versus reality, a wonderful Nino Rota score, and great work by Bovo, an actress who can capture some great expressions on her face: realistically big-eyed, naïve and innocent, as is required for her character. The film does however suffer from unevenness, trying to balance two styles of comedy - light-hearted semi fantasy and silly slapstick. By themselves either style works fine, but when joined together, it becomes a little messy. The film is not really helped by excessively silly supporting characters, and Trieste feels very over-the-top at times. Still, the aforementioned virtues, and interesting camera-work with an extensive range of different angles, are enough to keep this film afloat. Definitely recommended, even if not perfect.

zetes This is Federico Fellini's first solo effort, his first film, Variety Lights, having been co-directed by Alberto Lattuada (although it is unmistakably in the style of Fellini's early films). The White Sheik is quite underrated - there's no reason why it should be so much less respected than the other early films, particularly La Strada and Nights of Cabiria, the two most often cited as masterpieces (and I'd agree). I actually like The White Sheik quite a bit better than I Vitelloni, Fellini's next film (Il Bidone is the only one from his early period that I have not yet seen). The White Sheik is quite humorous, perhaps Fellini's funniest (although so many of his films contain a great amount of comedy). No Fellini fan should go without seeing it, because so many of his themes and images are established in it. In fact, no one should miss Variety Lights, either, for the same reason. But The White Sheik, unlike Variety Lights, stands by itself as a great film. 9/10.