I have access to the following films:

8.1/2
Amarcord
Ginger And Fred
And The Ship Sails On
Orchestra Rehearsal
Casanova
Roma
La Dolce Vita
Nights of Cabiria
La Strada
The White Sheik

I have limited time, could anyone suggest which of these are 'must sees' and which could possibly be put to the bottom of the pile? and also a suggested order? There must be some Felliniphiles out there that can help me. Thank you

I have recently seen both La Strada and The White Sheik and they are both excellent movies.

My first Fellini was I vitelloni which is one of his first movies so I decided to follow the Argos approach and start from the beginning, kind of...

Next up for me are The Swindle, Nights of Cabiria and La Dolce Vita.

Seriously, though, see La Strada for the great performance by Giulietta Masina and The White Sheik for its Chaplinesque quality and a slight neorealist approach that I can say was present in the early Fellini movies I have seen and enjoy him from the ground up.

Thank you, that was a quick response for this forum!

La Strada and The White Sheik go to the top of the pile for now, any other recommendations anyone?

OMG OMG OMG!

Ok, ok, calm down dolce, just...calm...down.

My recs:

LDV
Nights of Cabiria

8 1/2

Others are very excellent, but it depends on your mood.
For instance, I do not like Amarcord as much as so many others do (actually, I don't even like 8 1/2 as much as some others do, but I recognize its a must see).

Orchestra Rehearsal is only so-so, and As the Ship Sails on is just...different. If you want to watch classic Fellini, that isn't it. Its a very, very different project for him. It doesn't quite have the choreography and camera movement his other works do, but hey, its a weird opera on a boat. I liked it, but I would wait until you've seen some other the other Fellinis first.

Ginger and Fred is so nice and sweet. But it is so much about Masina and Mastroianni that you should see a handful of each of their earlier works first. G&F definitely doubles as a sort of 'aged character' work where this couple is not only old and reuniting to play dance partners, but are also old and reuniting to play,well, Masina and Mastroianni.

I have a real soft spot for Casanova. I loved it, a lot of people don't, and Fellini himself, I believe, did was not satisfied with it. I think I remember it was released only after his death, so if you watch it remember that.

Don't bother with Roma.

La Strada is definitely up there, ands I consider the span from Strada to 8 1/2 to be pretty much Fellini's peak activity years when he gained the most international reknown and when he consolidated his work around Masina and Mastroianni. So if you really just want to go for it, watch Strada/Cabiria/LDV/8 1/2 in that order and you will get a sense of his top form.

The White Sheik - Funny and totally different. I really liked it. Its one of his earlier works and just really cute and comic for him. Circus performers already play a big part, too. Very different tonally than the rest of his stuff, but you already start seeing his technical developments here and it is good fun.

You don't have access to Intervista, do you? Because I would highly recommend watching that, too.

Cabiria and 8 1/2!!

Fellini's Satyricon :-P

I am dying to see Satyricon!! It just sounds so good. But I am also dying to see Nights of Cabiria and La Dolce Vita and I know his style got more personal after 8 1/2 so I'm scared to see it out of order you could say.

juliet of the spirits = gay man's guilty pleasure

French & Saunders made the funniest parody of that film ever. Not just a guilty pleasure for gay men; I assure you!

OK, my Fellini-thon will take place throughout March, so far on the definite list is:

La Strada
The White Sheik
Strada
Cabiria
La Dolce Vita
8 1/2
Satyricon
Casanova

juliet of the spirits added because of snack's comment

Order not decided yet and knowing me and my lack of conviction/time i won't get through them all, but i'll give it a shot.



Unfortunately not, but i'll keep an eye out for it.

Thanks for the recs everyone

Watched...
La Dolce Vita

To go...
La Strada
The White Sheik
Strada
Cabiria
8 1/2
Satyricon
Casanova

LDV was looooong. I really should have checked the run time before starting this baby at 11.30pm

Not 100% sure what i made of it, will give more thought to it and make comment later, after i sleep tonight. No more Fellini on a work night! I have a feeling this will run well into April.

I did.

And i won't ignore your advice again It was very frustrating to watch.

Moving swiftly on:

Watched...
La Dolce Vita
Roma

To go...
La Strada
The White Sheik
Strada
Cabiria
8 1/2
Satyricon
Casanova

I know my Fellini. Roma and City of Women are my least favorite from all his films. I will comment more on why I think so later, because I have to run and meet my family uptown right now. But I love how you and Tony are plugging through these. Every year we should have a Fellini festival at least once!

I just saw Il bidone (The Swindle), the film may be a bit overlong but Broderick Crawford carries it with a fine performance all the way to the very end. He really does win you over despite being an old loser who doubles as a Catholic priest to extort people and take their money. The New Year's Eve party scene is really quite good, and the addition of the daughter to the plot adds weight to the story and is played out very well. Masina doesn't have much to do here but I love that face of hers! And those old streets of Italy's cities, the piazzas that seem to show in every Fellini film. I love one quote that says something about man deserving to rest while he's alive, it kind of encapsulates what I take to be a side of Fellini in some way. Very sad ending but nothing compared to La Strada. This was the follow up to La Strada, wasn't it?

Next up: Nights of Cabiria!!

Roma had its good points, both artistically and technically. I particularly liked the destruction of the frescos in the underground metro, the filming of the traffic jam and the 'ecclesiastical fashion show'. Made me want to visit Rome even more, hopefully before the year is out.

Roma is too dry. There is a sort of midpoint in Fellini's career where he loses touch with his actor/protagonists. These are the people that keep him grounded. He also loses touch with his own memories and trying to content with his own nostalgia (which he pretty much pokes fun at in most of his films). Not even a real love for a literary source. Many films in this period get saved (like Masina informs Juliet of the Spirits, in my opinion). Roma, Orchestra Rehearsal, And The Ship Sails On, they don't resonate with me. While I admit Ship is just so cooky I enjoy it more than the others, my theory doesn't really hold true for City of Women. It has Marcello, and I still couldn't get through the first 45 minutes before shutting it off. But the rest of the time my theory holds true! He lacks a love and he lacks empathy. The films feel like a mental and visual excercise to me, and not one that moves him even as he was producing them. I am guessing about this last statement, but the movies feel dry. No source that I feel, really, of any kind, and he gets lost. He operates best on debt and homage.

Anyways, junio, Il Bidone is one of the only Fellinis I have never seen! I am jealous to the point of turning green! I haven't seen it or his contributions to Boccaccio 70 and Love in the City. That's it. So Bidone will happen, mark my words. Then I would love to discuss it with you. It'll probably be a year from now, since there are no video rental places near me, but I work to find my Fellini, so it will happen eventually.

Something's happened, Nights of Cabiria left a weight on me which I hadn't felt in a while.

But La Dolce Vita is top 3 material. Need to see it again ASAP. More to come later.

I liked Roma. Like, a lot! The religious garb fashion show scene is simply one of the best scenes Fellini ever gave the cinema.

Amarcord and Satyricon not so much. Anyway, it is a year later now dolcevita. You seen Il bidone yet?

1. La dolce vita
2. La strada
3. Le notti di Cabiria
4. 8 1/2
5. Lo scceico bianco
6. Roma
7. Il bidone
8. I vitelloni
9. Amarcord
10. Satyricon
11. Luci del varieta

I have seen it now! Long time ago (years?). Loved it. It was really funny. Funny but not in a snarky way. It was fairly slapstick for Fellini without actually having a tragic undercurrent. I was really surprised. Usually Federico's clowns are hopelessly pathetic.

The Foreign and Independent Film forum: Snail Mail v. 2000 B.C.

I thought the ending of The Swindler was quite tragic. It would play well in a double feature with von Sternberg's The Blue Angel.