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| Peep show |
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| Confused |
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| Damned |
Title: Varieté
Year: 1925
Director: Ewald André Dupont
Format: Blu-ray
Label: Masters of Cinema
Notes:
A fairly straightforward silent drama about jealousy and revenge enlivened by a rather risqué sensual tone and the thrilling monochrome photography of the trapeze artistes.
I feel like I can't really give a reliable report of my thoughts on the film though because I was rather distracted by the music provided by the contemporary band The Tiger Lillies. Thematically they may be a great fit for Weimar cinema but a silent soundtrack with frequent vocals that narrate and almost amount to spoilers for upcoming scenes was a bit too much for me... initially. I grew to enjoy the music ("Varieteeeee") but wish I'd tried another soundtrack option on the disc. A lesson in the effect of soundtracks on silent films I suppose!
It's not easy to capture the in-motion splendour of the trapeze photography so I haven't tried with these screen captures. Nevertheless I think they show some of the striking photography in this very well-crafted film. Emil Jannings is consistently good at playing decrepit men in all of the few films of his I've seen - this is no exception.
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