The White Sheik

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Joaquin U @Joaquin1 Aug 17, 2026 Entertaining. A light comedy with some layers. First movie as a solo director; it’s very enjoyable and already shows several of Fellini’s themes that he would later explore more deeply. Good script, great cast, and nice music. It’ll probably make you laugh at times, and also feel for the couple’s struggles. It works for relaxing, but also worth watching if you’re getting into the works of this legendary filmmaker. See more Feb 11, 2021 Thematically, the film is on-point, insomuch as it deals with notions of showmanship as escapism from one's reality. It is the tale of vacationing newlyweds separated when the bride (Brunella Bovo) runs off to meet the true love of her life, the White Sheik- a romance novel hero brought to life in movies by a hammy actor with an inflated ego (Alberto Sordi). The husband (Leopoldo Trieste), flummoxed and left in an embarrassing bind by her disappearance, spends the film making excuses and searching for her, but mostly making awkward faces at the camera. While not a bad romantic comedy, it is, by Fellini standards, an unstable effort. See more Aug 24, 2017 Fellini's first film is a comic fantasy that already shows signs of his penchant for unusual faces and detours from reality. A newlywed couple travels from the provinces to Rome for their honeymoon, but unbeknownst to the husband (Leopoldo Trieste), his young wife (Brunella Bovo) has been writing to the photoplay magazine star, The White Sheik (played by Alberto Sordi), and immediately escapes to seek a meeting with her fangirl crush. Of course, he turns out to be much less than imagined, although she is swept off her feet at first onto a photography set 26 km from Rome from whence it proves difficult to return. At the same time, the husband has to make excuses to his uncle and aunt and extended family who had planned to take them to visit the Pope among other destinations. Trieste's eyes bulge and he sweats profusely as he struggles to keep this secret under wraps. Giulietta Masina has a cameo as Cabiria, a sympathetic prostitute (a character she would later play to acclaim in Nights of Cabiria, 1957). The whole thing is short and sweet, funny and impossible without Nino Rota's distinctive score (a definite preview of his later work with Fellini). A great start to a masterful career. See more Jul 6, 2017 A rather straightforward comedy by Fellini standards, but one bolstered by expressive performances and with no shortage of thematic depth. See more Jun 3, 2016 "-Real life is the life of dreams" See more Nov 26, 2015 Fellini's first pic mixes rom-com-dram See more Read all reviews

The White Sheik

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