Variety

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Audience Member One would think that a circus couldn't be exciting on a movie screen, not least because what makes acrobatics and acts of derring-do so riveting is being physically present at an event where there is the possibility of a terrible mistake. And yet, Varieté manages to be exciting with quick cuts and exceedingly clever camera angles, such as when the camera shoots from the point of view of an acrobat perilously swinging upside-down above an enraptured audience. Dupont's visual intelligence is on full display here, and narrative symmetry is used to breathtaking effect, such as in the two trapeze scenes which rhyme with one another to create tension. The acting is very good, even down to the extras. For example, the audience members watching the trapeze show midway through the film all exhibit distinct personalities during their short time on-screen. Jannings has astonishing emotional range as the front-man, and makes this tale of envy and betrayal highly believable without ever speaking a word. The film also has a great score, which drives the action along without resorting to the repetition that silent film scores often do (I watched a restoration of the German version with the score by the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra). Silent melodrama at its finest. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A beautifully restored German Classic about a mysterious prisoner reflecting on his life as an acrobat & his struggles with life & the young woman he has an affair with that is distracted by the other acrobat. Visually decades ahead of contemporaries & shots that stay with you long after the scene has moved on. Emil Jannings was truly a consummate actor that engulfed the film. From early in the piece you know the film is going in a tragic direction but it is none the less gripping. A stunning circus drama that must be seen for film lovers. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Boss is a washed up trapeze artist who gets a second lease on life once he abandons his wife and child to go on the road with a younger woman. The adulterous pair are taken in by a renowned and successful acrobat, but his lecherous designs bring out Boss' homicidal jealousy. Variety's frank depictions of lust and violence resulted in it being cut, censored, and edited into an incomprehensible mess for its initial American release. Overlooked for decades, a 2014 restoration of this film shed new light on its daring cinematography, cool stunts, and intense storytelling. As a whole, Variety is an underrated gem of German Expressionism and it's worth tracking down. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/05/23 Full Review Audience Member A wonderful movie from the Weimar period, when German cinema was exploring the endless posibilities of the film medium as the new form of expression of the Modern Era. Had the chance to enjoy a restored version of the film by the Murnau Stiftung. The movie was accompanied by music by Mambo Noire Trio who played live at the Stockholms Cinemateket. Emil Janings plays an acrobat who along with his new young wife would become big acrobat stars in Berlin. The complex camera work, and the unusual camera angles take the stage than the plot in "Variete". Dupont tried to capture the excitement of the spectacle, both from the perspective of the acrobats and from the perspective of the spectator. The plans interchange one another, with close shots to the faces that capture every feeling, every blink of the eye. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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