2. The White Sheik - Federico Fellini - 1952 - 86 minutes
The plot:
[quote]The first two days of a marriage. Ivan, a punctilious clerk brings his virginal bride to Rome for a honeymoon, an audience with the Pope, and to present her to his uncle. They arrive early in the morning, and he has time for a nap. She sneaks off to find the offices of a romance magazine she reads religiously: she wants to meet “The White Sheik,” the hero of a soap-opera photo strip. Star-struck, she ends up 20 miles from Rome, alone on a boat with the sheik. A distraught Ivan covers for her, claiming she’s ill. That night, each wanders the streets, she tempted by suicide, he by prostitutes. The next day, at 11, is their papal audience. Can things still right themselves? [/quote]
An early Fellini, so many moments foreshadow later films of his, the one that just played was some kind of fast paced march through a street, which was perfectly done in Amarcord. ..... and now as i leisurely put this post together the use of the sound of wind, which for example is used memorably in Juliet of the Spirits. A film crew having chaotic hysterical confusion going on harkens forward to Intervista.... the facial expressions, bulging eyes ---> And the Ship Sails On, a singer serenading people eating --> Roma... etc ....
A light comedy, Federico's wondrous career would only get much better in the coming years later in the 50's and beyond, with La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, La dolce vita and so on .... in interviews, The White Sheik was remembered fondly by the Maestro.
