[La Dolce Vita] propelled Fellini into the front rank of international directors.

The western cinema has needed for a long time its own kind of healthy puritanism to counter that from the east - notably Poland - and with directors like Fellini and Karel Reisz it now seems that it is getting it.

Fellini admits to having a confused sense of values, to being as uncertain as a child. Why then does he try to make realist films? It's a great pity; for if La Dolce Vita had beenless grandiose and more private and personal it might have worked.

Fellini is noted for his mastery of contrasts, his uncanny ability to find off-beat and bizarre occurrences which expose both the little and gross facets of life... Its impact is violent. Its irony is grim. Its wit is sardonic. Its pathos is awesome.