Variety | |
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Directed by | Ewald Andre Dupont |
Written by | Screenwriter:
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Based on | The Oath of Stephan Huller by Felix Hollaender |
Produced by | Erich Pommer |
Starring | |
Cinematography | |
Distributed by |
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Variety (German: Varieté [ˌvaʀi̯eˈte], also known by the alternative titles Jealousy or Vaudeville) is a 1925 German silent drama film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont based on the 1912 novel The Oath of Stephan Huller by Felix Hollaender.[1]
The trapeze scenes are set in the Berlin Wintergarten theatre. The camera swings from long shot to close-up, like the acrobats.[2]
The story was loosely remade by Dupont as the 1931 German sound film Salto Mortale.
Plot
In the film, Jannings portrays "Boss Huller", a former trapeze artist who was badly injured in a fall from the high wire and who now runs a seedy carnival with his wife (Maly Delschaft) and their child. Huller insists that the family take in a beautiful stranger (Lya De Putti) as a new sideshow dancer, with whom he develops a new trapeze number. He falls in love with the new star, and the story ends in tragedy.
Cast
- Emil Jannings as Boss Huller
- Maly Delschaft as wife of Boss
- Lya De Putti as Bertha
- Warwick Ward as Artinelli
- Georg John
Release
The film was heavily censored when it was released in the United States (except for New York) by excising the entire first reel, "thus destroying the motivation of the tragedy, implying that the acrobat was married to his Eurasian temptress."[3]
Influence
The film is noted for its innovative camerawork with highly expressive movement through space, accomplished by the expressionist cinematographer Karl Freund.[4]
Decades later, the German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck cites being unexpectedly exposed to the film as a child of four as the start of his interest in the medium.[5]
This film is believed to contain the first documentation of unicycle hockey – it features a short sequence showing two people playing the game.
See also
- The House That Shadows Built (1931 promotional film by Paramount which excerpts this film)
References
- ^ Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek listing. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
- ^ Eric, Rhode (1985). A History of the Cinema: from its origins to 1970. New York, USA: Da Capo Press. pp. 184–185. ISBN 978-0-306-80233-1.
- ^ Morris Ernst and Pare Lorentz, (1930). Censored: The Private Life of the Movie, New York: Jonathan Cape. p. 12.
- ^ Kristin Thompson. Youtube commentary for Varieté. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Tov1vgoVI
- ^ Rohter, Larry, "German Director Plunges Beyond His Comfort Zone", The New York Times, 8 December 2010 (9 December 2010 p. C1 NY ed.). Retrieved 8 December 2010.
External links
- Varieté at IMDb
- Synopsis at AllMovie
- Photographs and literature on Jealousy
- Varieté is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive