Home
search
more | tips
IMDb > Varieté (1925)
Photos (see all 1 | slideshow)

Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   137 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 17% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Writers:
Felix Hollaender (novel)
Ewald André Dupont (scenario)
Contact:
View company contact information for Jealousy on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
31 January 1926 (Finland) more
Genre:
Crime | Drama | Romance more
Tagline:
THE MOST ASTOUNDING PICTURE EVER PRODUCED! (original poster - all caps - USA) more
Plot:
Prologue: The murderer "Boss" Huller - after having spent ten years in prison - breaks his silence to tell the warden his story... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
User Comments:
A German sexual triangle set backstage at the circus more

Cast

  (Credited cast)
Emil Jannings ... Boss Huller
Maly Delschaft ... The wife of Boss
Lya De Putti ... Bertha
Warwick Ward ... Artinelli
Alice Hechy
Georg John ... Sailor
Kurt Gerron ... Harbourworker
Paul Rehkopf ... Spectator at the Fair
Charles Lincoln ... Actor
Georg Baselt
Trude Hesterberg
Werner Krauss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alex Hyde and his Original New York Jazz Orchestra ... Himself
more
Create a character page for: ?

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Jealousy (USA)
Variety
Vaudeville
more
Runtime:
USA:72 min | 112 min (18 fps)
Country:
Germany
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Silent
Certification:
USA:Passed

Fun Stuff

Movie Connections:
Featured in "Cinema Europe: The Other Hollywood" (1995) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful:-
A German sexual triangle set backstage at the circus, 28 January 2008
10/10
Author: Trent Bolden from Chinatown, California

The male flyer initially appears in cinema as a flawed hero. The prototypes are characters found in Variety (1925), directed by Ewald Dupont and based on Felix Hollaender's novel, The Oath of Stephen Huller.

This is a semi-expressionist film about a heavy-bodied catcher-husband, Boss Huller (Emil Jannings), whose wife, Bertha-Marie (Lya de Putti), is seduced from domestic bliss by the trio's lighter-bodied star flyer, Artinelli (Warwick Ward). The cather-husband imagines dropping his rival, the flyer, but murders him instead in a fight, and goes to prison. The seducing male flyer is the provocateur of extreme passion, a position subsumed by female aerialist characters in later films. But the male aerialist as a criminal, even murderer, intermittently reappears in representation because he epitomizes a capacity for extreme risk-taking, which is translated into socially risky immoral behavior. But it is the male flyer who becomes especially vulnerable to depiction as a fallen hero, literally and for losing emotional control.

Although little-known today, Variety is one of the major works of German Expressionism. It's an immorality of emotion drama with a fine performance by (the always great) Jannings and the wonderful visual film-making that is the hallmark of the Expressionist movement (extraordinary cinematography by Karl Freund). Variety was heavily censored for its American release; how it was changed makes it almost as interesting as a case study in film censorship as it is enjoyable as a movie.

In its original version, the film begins with a drawn-out portion showing how Emil Jannings falls in love with Lya De Putti, left his wife for her, and created a trapeze act with his lover. This part of the story was excised completely by the American censors, and title cards added to redefine Jannings and De Putti as the married couple of the U.S. release version. The censors' intent was to erase the plot point of casting adulterous lovers as the established couple in a love triangle. The effect was to far more radically transform the story. The unfaithful husband who is in his turn betrayed by his unfaithful lover is transformed into a sympathetic cuckold. The opportunistic temptress who catches two men only to end up with none is transformed into a young wife who succumbs to temptation. From unsparing morality play to conventional melodrama, courtesy of censorship.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more

Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Varieté (1925)

Recommendations

If you enjoyed this title, our database also recommends:
- - - - -
Stimme des Blutes The Drag-Net Tension No Man's Woman Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
IMDb User Rating:
Show more recommendations

Related Links

Full cast and crew Company credits External reviews
IMDb Crime section IMDb Germany section Add this title to MyMovies

You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers. They will be examined and if approved will be included in a future update. Clicking the 'Update' button will take you through a step-by-step process.