The White Sheik
The White Sheik | |
---|---|
Directed by | Federico Fellini |
Screenplay by | Federico Fellini Tullio Pinelli Ennio Flaiano |
Story by | Michelangelo Antonioni Federico Fellini Tullio Pinelli |
Produced by | Luigi Rovere |
Starring | Alberto Sordi Leopoldo Trieste Brunella Bovo Giulietta Masina |
Cinematography | Arturo Gallea |
Edited by | Rolando Benedetti |
Music by | Nino Rota |
Production company | |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | Italy |
Language | Italian |
Box office | $50,850[1] |
The White Sheik(Italian:Lo sceicco bianco) is a 1952 Italianromantic comedyfilm directed byFederico Felliniand starringAlberto Sordi,Leopoldo Trieste,Brunella BovoandGiulietta Masina.Written by Fellini,Tullio Pinelli,Ennio FlaianoandMichelangelo Antonioni,the film is about a man who brings his new bride toRomefor their honeymoon, to have an audience with thePope,and to present his wife to his family. When the young woman sneaks away to find the hero of her romancephotonovels,the man is forced to spend hour after hour making excuses to his eager family who want to meet his missing bride.[2]The White Sheikwas filmed on location inFregene,Rome,SpoletoandVatican City.[3]
In 2008, the film was included on theItalian Ministry of Cultural Heritage’s100 Italian films to be saved,a list of 100 films that "have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978."[4]
Plot
[edit]Two young newlyweds from a provincial town, Wanda (Brunella Bovo) and Ivan Cavalli (Leopoldo Trieste), arrive inRomefor theirhoneymoon.Wanda is obsessed with the "White Sheik" (Alberto Sordi), theRudolph Valentino-like hero of asoap operaphoto stripand sneaks off to find him, leaving her conventional,petit bourgeoishusband in a quandary 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.
Cast
[edit]- Alberto Sordias Fernando Rivoli, The White Sheik
- Leopoldo Triesteas Ivan Cavalli
- Brunella Bovoas Wanda Giardino Cavalli
- Giulietta Masinaas Cabiria, the prostitute
- Lilia Landias Felga, the photonovel's gipsy
- Ernesto Almiranteas Dottore Fortuna, the photonovel's director
- Fanny Marchiòas Marilena Alba Vellardi
- Gina Mascettias Aida Rivoli, the wife of Fernando
- Ugo Attanasio as Uncle of Ivan[5]
Production
[edit]The White Sheikwas Fellini's first solo effort as a director. He had previously co-directedVariety Lightsin 1950 withAlberto Lattuada.
Originally the treatment forThe White Sheikwas written byMichelangelo Antonioni.[6]Carlo Ponticommissioned Fellini and Tullio Pinelli to develop the treatment. It was satirical in nature, targeting the trashy fotoromanzi comic strips that were extremely popular in Italy when the film was made.[7]
The male lead,Leopoldo Trieste,a playwright who did not consider himself an actor, reluctantly auditioned for Fellini. During the audition Fellini asked him to compose a sonnet that the lead character would have written to his wife. The poem which begins "She is graceful, sweet and teeny..." was included in the film.[8]
Appearing briefly as the prostitute Cabiria,Giulietta Masinawould later return to this role inNights of Cabiria.Her short scene inspired Fellini to write the screenplay and also convinced producers that Giulietta was ready for the leading role.[9]
Reception
[edit]Italian film critic Giulio Cesare Castello, writing forCinema V,argued that Fellini's past as a successful strip cartoonist made him a natural choice as the film's director: "Fellini was undoubtedly the best qualified and for two reasons: firstly, his experience as a strip cartoonist and consequently his familiarity with the secrets and intrigues of the world he was about to bring to the screen; secondly, his gift for sarcastic comment and delight in satirizing tradition... The result is unusual and stimulating but derives more from the failure to establish a basic mood or tone rather than from any direct intention. Fellini should find this tone in future works if he is to avoid the discontinuity we found here."[10]
Soundtrack
[edit]Nino Rotascored the film.
References
[edit]- ^"The White Sheik (2019 re-release)".Box Office Mojo.IMDb.Archivedfrom the original on November 4, 2021.RetrievedMarch 20,2020.
- ^"The White Sheik".Internet Movie Database.Archivedfrom the original on 31 October 2011.Retrieved21 April2012.
- ^"Filming locations for The White Sheik".Internet Movie Database.Archivedfrom the original on 15 March 2016.Retrieved21 April2012.
- ^"Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare Corriere della Sera".www.corriere.it.Retrieved2021-03-11.
- ^"Full cast and crew for The White Sheik".Internet Movie Database.Archivedfrom the original on 22 June 2009.Retrieved21 April2012.
- ^Chandler, Charlotte (March 2012)."My Dinners with Federico and Michelangelo".Vanity Fair.Archivedfrom the original on 14 July 2015.Retrieved16 August2015.
- ^Hancock, Joseph H., Toni Johnson-Woods and Vicki Karaminas (2013).Fashion in Popular Culture: Literature, Media and Contemporary Studies.Chicago: Intellect Books. p. 249.ISBN978-1841507163.Archivedfrom the original on 2021-11-04.Retrieved2015-08-16.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^Trieste, Leopoldo."Lo Sceicco Bianco - Fellini - Interviste".allreadable.com.Archivedfrom the original on 4 March 2016.Retrieved16 August2015.
- ^Smith, Geoffrey Nowell (1996).The Companion to Italian Cinema.London: Cassell. p. 79.ISBN0304341975.
- ^Castello's review first published inCinema V(Milan) December 15, 1952. Cited in Claudio Fava and Aldo Vigano,The Films of Federico Fellini,New York: Citadel Press (1985), p. 65.
Further reading
[edit]- Aristarco, Guido.Lo sceicco bianco,in: "Cinema Nuovo", n° 1, Novembre 1952.(in Italian)
- Burke, Frank M. "Variety Lights,The White Sheik,and Italian Neorealism ". InFilm Criticism,Winter 1978, Volume 3, no. 2, p. 53-66.
External links
[edit]- The White SheikatIMDb
- The White Sheikan essay byJonathan Rosenbaumat theCriterion Collection
- 1952 films
- 1950s Italian-language films
- 1950s Italian films
- 1950s romantic comedy-drama films
- Italian romantic comedy-drama films
- Italian black-and-white films
- Films directed by Federico Fellini
- Films scored by Nino Rota
- Films with screenplays by Federico Fellini
- Films set in Rome
- Films shot in Rome
- Films about comics