LO SCIECHO BIANCO (THE WHITE SHEIKH)
Italy, 1952, 86 minutes, Black and white.
Alberto Sordi, Leopoldo Trieste.
Directed by Federico Fellini.
The White Sheikh is Fellini’s first major feature film. He had been writing for some time and appeared in Roberto Rossellini’s The Miracle opposite Anna Magnani. He regarded Rossellini as something of a mentor and made cuts to this film on Rossellini’s advice. (They have been restored for the DVD edition in 2008, featuring both the film version and then showing the cuts.)
Fellini went on to make Il Bidone and I Vitelloni before making an international name for himself and an Oscar with La Strada in 1954. He never looked back. His classics include Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8½ , Juliet of the Spirits, Fellini’s Satyricon, Amacord, Ginger and Fred, and The Ship Moves On.
The White Sheikh is a very entertaining film. It is one day in the life of two newlyweds coming from the provinces to Rome. They have a full program with an uncle supervising every moment including a papal audience. However, the young wife is enamoured of the film character, The White Sheikh, and slips away to visit the studios. While her husband is desperate when she disappears but has to continue his tour with the family, the wife is tricked by the scriptwriter and other members of the staff into going to location. She ends up changing costume, being in a scene with Alberto Sordi as the sheikh, his making advances and her hurrying away, losing her trip back to the city. She is so despairing that she throws herself into the Tiber but is rescued and taken to an institution. In the meantime, the husband wanders the streets and encounters Fellini’s wife, Juliette Massina, as Cabiria (the role she was to play in Nights of Cabiria). He goes home with one of the women but returns to the hotel the next morning to get the good news that his wife has been found. They continue the journey with the relatives.
Fellini shows great flair with comedy as well as social observation with the satiric touch. He is also interesting on the film industry itself, the personalities, the film-making and the vain stars like Alberto Sordi as the sheikh. He also has a few grotesques who were to increase in his films later (some of them cut for the final issue of the film).
1.An enjoyable film? Italian feel?
2.The work of Fellini, early films, black and white, comedy, comic turns, clowns, grotesques? The music of Nino Rota? The dance and the joy? The inclusion of his wife, Julietta Massina?
3.The movies, movie stars, their image, offering escape, dreams? The reality? The White Sheikh on the screen and the Valentino tradition? The making of films, the reality of films? Compared with the reality of reality? Vanda and her waking up from the dream?
4.The train, arriving in Rome, the excitement? Ivan and Vanda and their marriage, getting the carriage to the hotel, the explanations to the concierge, the background of the wedding, their plans for Rome?
5.Ivan and his type, prim, organised? Vanda and her being young, the marriage? Her hopes?
6.The uncle and his timetable? The other members of the family? Ivan and his taking a rest, Vanda and her going to the bath? Leaving the water running and her escape being discovered?
7.Vanda and her leaving, the letters from the White Sheikh, meeting the writer, the staff, her being led on? Her being tricked? The phone call to her husband? The truth, in the van, going to the beach, still searching for a phone? The White Sheikh on the swing, catching her up, going with her for a drink, changing the dress, going on the boat? The fulfilment of her dreams, romance? His approaches, her being upset, her being left behind?
8.Ivan and his relatives, trying to cover, the upset after the bath, the uncle and his dominance? The meals, the sightseeing, the pretence?
9.Ivan and his wandering, seeing the two women in the night, the fountain, the discussions, about love and marriage? His return to the home of the girl? Not having breakfast, hurrying back to the hotel, the phone call just in time?
10.Vanda and her being upset, going to the hotel, unwilling to go in, going to the river, seeing the angels and their symbolism? Jumping, the shallow water, being saved? The police, going to the institution?
11.Ivan going to the institution, his reaction to Vanda? Hurrying her, the clothes, going to the hotel, meeting the family? Getting ready?
12.The relatives, their personalities, concern, the older generation, the young boy? The visit to the pope, going to the Vatican? Vanda arriving?
13.Each saying that they were pure – and the background of what they had done? The hopes for the future?
14.Fellini’s insight into human nature, comic aspects – with the satirical touch?
The DVD release has the film itself, then an extra with the cut sequences along with the remaining sequences:
THE WHITE SHEIKH: NOTES
The perspective of having the film clip and then the cuts? The comparisons?
- The concierge, his information, the discussion about the marriage ceremony.
- More on the plot, the writer, the phone call, the promise?
- The relatives and detail.
- The sheikh, the boat, his advances
- The girl, the search for the phone
- Ivan, the women in the piazza, his spending the night with the woman, the aftermath in the morning, the offering a meal, her parents
- More detail on the drowning
- The irony of the final comment that Vanda was innocent and pure and Ivan saying that he was also.
