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 (
In 2008, the film was included on the
Plot
Two young newlyweds from a provincial town, Wanda (Brunella Bovo) and Ivan Cavalli (
Cast
- Alberto Sordi as Fernando Rivoli, The White Sheik
- Leopoldo Trieste as Ivan Cavalli
- Brunella Bovo as Wanda Giardino Cavalli
- Giulietta Masina as Cabiria, the prostitute
- Lilia Landi as Felga, the photonovel's gipsy
- Ernesto Almirante as Dottore Fortuna, the photonovel's director
- Fanny Marchiò as Marilena Alba Vellardi
- Gina Mascetti as Aida Rivoli, the wife of Fernando
- Ugo Attanasio as Uncle of Ivan[5]
Production
The White Sheik was Fellini's first solo effort as a director. He had previously co-directed Variety Lights in 1950 with Alberto Lattuada.
Originally the treatment for The White Sheik was written by Michelangelo Antonioni.[6] Carlo Ponti commissioned 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 Masina would later return to this role in Nights 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
Italian film critic Giulio Cesare Castello, writing for Cinema 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
Nino Rota scored the film.
References
- ^ "The White Sheik (2019 re-release)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ "The White Sheik". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ "Filming locations for The White Sheik". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ "Ecco i cento film italiani da salvare Corriere della Sera". www.corriere.it. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
- ^ "Full cast and crew for The White Sheik". Internet Movie Database. Archived from the original on 22 June 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2012.
- ^ Chandler, Charlotte (March 2012). "My Dinners with Federico and Michelangelo". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ISBN 978-1841507163. Archived from the original on 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2015-08-16.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link - ^ Trieste, Leopoldo. "Lo Sceicco Bianco - Fellini - Interviste". allreadable.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
- ISBN 0304341975.
- ^ Castello's review first published in Cinema 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
- 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". In Film Criticism, Winter 1978, Volume 3, no. 2, p. 53-66.
External links
- The White Sheik at IMDb
- The White Sheik an essay by Criterion Collection