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The White Sheik was Federico Fellini’s first solo effort as a director. Made in 1952, the renowned movie-maker begins a long string of successful collaborations with his wife, Giulietta Masina who stars in the film, and Nino Rota, who composed the music. The plot involves two young newlyweds, from a provincial town, who go to Rome for their honeymoon. But Wanda (the wife), dreaming of the dashing hero of a photo-strip cartoon, drifts off in search of the “White Sheik” setting off a slapstick comedy worthy of Chaplin. The husband, in hysterics, tries to hide his wife’s disappearance from his strait-laced relatives who are waiting to go with them to visit the Pope. If this was in the here and now, it would be on Saturday Night Live. Running time: 83 minutes.
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