Varieté

The 1925 silent classic Varieté is one of the great examples of German Expressionist cinema at its height. Emil Jannings stars as Boss Huller, who runs a cheap girlie show in a carnival sideshow to support his wife and child but was once a famed trapeze artist. Lya de Putti costars as an exotic, orphaned young woman who comes looking for a job, becomes Huller's star act, and ends up seducing and running off with the boss to create a new trapeze act. Told in flashback as Huller is about to be released from a 10-year prison sentence, the story involves a love triangle with a trapeze superstar (Warwick Ward), betrayal, overpowering obsession and jealousy, and a fatal trapeze "accident." Jannings is a powerful, brooding presence who radiates intense emotion, and director E.A. Dupont—working with the great cinematographer Karl Freund (Metropolis)—uses the camera to express both the anxieties and emotions of Huller and the danger and thrill of the daredevil trapeze act, employing extreme angles and a moving camera that (at its most vertiginous) swings with the trapeze artists high above the crowds. A powerful silent classic with operatic emotions and dynamic imagery that was hugely influential, this 2015 restored edition bows with two new scores, along with extras including the 1922 silent film Othello (with Jannings and de Putti), a visual essay by filmmaker Bret Wood, and a featurette on the score created by the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)