The White Sheik

Lo Sceicco bianco

Italy, 1952

Comedy, Drama

Synopsis

Ivan Cavalli brings his new wife Wanda 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.

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The White Sheik Directed by Federico Fellini

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Awards & Festivals

Venice Film Festival

1952

Toronto International Film Festival

2009

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Cast & Crew

Articles from the Notebook

Fellini's Fancy: Close-Up on "The White Sheik" and "Nights of Cabiria"

Fellini brings cinema to life in two early films, both featuring his wife and muse, Giulietta Masina.

Critics reviews

MUBI

Through the course of her devastating awakening, it's easy to feel bad for Wanda. "Life is a dream," she dejectedly concedes, summarizing the core of Fellini's fancy, "but sometimes a dream is a bottomless pit." On the other hand, as enacted by high-tension Trieste, who had little prior acting experience, as opposed to Bovo, who had the year prior appeared in Vittorio De Sica's thematically comparable Miracle in Milan, Ivan's plight is equally tragic, albeit less heartbreaking.

Jeremy Carr

January 20, 2018

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Criterion

I would argue that Welles' privileging of The White Sheik is entirely defensible, for a number of reasons — not least of which is the provinciality that forms its central subject, which Fellini identifies with as well as satirizes. Indeed, the film might even be seen as a distillation of Fellini's vision of innocence and corruption that preceded the more stylistically elaborated versions of it.

Jonathan Rosenbaum

April 28, 2003

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What are people saying?

Ethan's rating of the film The White Sheik
Ethan

This is a delightful film that shows Fellini coming into his own craft as a filmmaker. Perception vs. reality at its finest and Alberto Sordi is exceptional, as per usual, in this film.
April 30, 2016 13:00
- 6
- 0
Mr. Smifff's rating of the film The White Sheik
Mr. Smifff

Fellini's first solo directorial project is as Woody Allen put it, "The perfect little comedy". I agree completely. This is a small, funny, clean little movie, and Fellini's tiny masterpiece. Every second of this movie belongs where it does. Sure, you can munch on some giant movies like La Dolce Vita, and 8 1/2, but this movie's a little Fellini snack, which shows just what he is capable of, and an underrated gem.
February 06, 2016 01:59
- 3
- 0
Juan Valero's rating of the film The White Sheik
Juan Valero

The perfect introduction to Fellini's films.
January 19, 2014 02:10
- 3
- 0
Adriano Rocha's rating of the film The White Sheik
Adriano Rocha

Ri e chorei, revendo essa obra-prima do gênio Buñuel. I laughed and cried, by reviewing this masterpiece by Buñuel, the genius.
October 03, 2011 01:30
- 4
- 1
chanandre's rating of the film The White Sheik
chanandre

[Cinémathèque PT #488: 35 mm] (2007) - Terry Malick has a deep film-crush about this film. True facts.
August 06, 2017 13:42
- 2
- 0
Richmond Hill's rating of the film The White Sheik
Richmond Hill

Sweet stuff: neat, clean and naively charming. The bounce of this early bloom contrasts sharply with the grotesquery of later films, yet one can still see the honest - not yet jaundiced - eye on humanity with all our foibles and pretensions laid out with kindness. Rota is straight out of the starting block in typically jaunty mode.
May 30, 2018 11:03
- 1
- 0
Duncan Gray's rating of the film The White Sheik
Duncan Gray

Fellini is an interesting case because his most "Felliniesque" movies aren't necessarily his best, so many newcomers arrive at his more famous later films and get turned off by the heavy style. You have to go back to lighter, early films like this to clearly see what his work was always really about: an exquisitely heartfelt affection for simple minds—for the juvenile, the lustful, and the naive.
August 05, 2017 00:12
- 9
- 0
Wee Hunk's rating of the film The White Sheik
Wee Hunk

Pretty amazing for a first outing. Comedies are hard to do, and that's why this was such a nice surprise. Everybody does a great job in this deft comedy of manners.
February 14, 2018 06:34
- 0
- 0