Saw 'Vaudeville' being somebody that has for a while been very interested in silent film, recognise their importance in the development of film and have highly appreciated to loved many of them. Some great silent film directors too, at their best in the 1920s (a couple in the 1910s too). Emil Jannings was also to me one of the greatest silent film actors, so imposing and full of life. The concept sounded interesting if not exceptional.

Which is pretty much what sums 'Vaudeville' up. It is a well done and very intriguing film with a lot of brilliant things. At the same time, it is not an exceptional film either, it could easily have been though, and there were things that could have been done quite a lot better. One will find the story easy to criticise, but 'Vaudeville's' influence on some is hard to deny as is the amount of effort that clearly went into it in pretty much every regard.

'Vaudeville' has so much that works in its favour. It looks fantastic, especially the cinematography which takes the breath away at its best. Some very inventive camera angles and the Expressionistic look is so beautiful and haunting. The editing is fluid and near-seamless if not quite revolutionary level like it became with GW Pabst and Abel Gance, while the sets are elaborate and beautifully designed. It is a very well directed film, exceptional at its best.

The trapeze acts especially truly captivated me and made my jaw drop, not just the not-afraid-to-take-risks choreography but even more so the filming. Inducing the right amount of excitement and awe. The other variety acts are well done, are not mundane or indifferently done and capture the fun yet enchanting spirit of the setting. Liked too the film's cynical edge and irony. Jannings is riveting as usual, the intensity and larger than life qualities he brings to his performance not being over-acted. The cast in general do well, though the rest of the cast are not quite in the same league as Jannings.

For all those brilliant things though, 'Vaudeville' had potential to be even better than it was. The storytelling is very slight and incredibly old fashioned, and while starting off beautifully some of the second half is very conventional and sudsy.

Also felt that things started to happen and get resolved too hurriedly and the ending feels too neat. The music doesn't always fit either.

Overall though, much impresses and it is a good film if not a great one. 7/10

In 1915 Germany, burly trapeze artist Emil Jannings (as Stephan "Boss" Huller) leaves his wife and partner for sultry young Lya de Putti (as Berta-Marie). Soon, the carnival performing pair are hired by famed trapezist Warwick Ward (as Artinelli),after his flying brother is derailed by a fall. The high swinging threesome is an immediate success. But, after his trimmer partners begin to take care of their mutual attraction, Mr. Jannings must commit the crime for which he serves ten years in prison - as revealed in the present-day prologue. No doubt, it's going to get nasty…

Appearing decidedly middle-aged, and with his overweight figure impossible to disguise, Jannings is miscast to the point of ridiculous. But, he was so popular most viewers accepted Jannings as the trim athletic "catcher" flying high. For American consumption, Paramount left out Jannings' adulterous first act (and trimmed the remainder of the film). This softens Jannings' character, of course. The film cutters did leave in some flashes of female nipple. That, Jannings, and some great camera-work from Karl Freud made "Varieté" a critical and commercial success in the US.

****** Varieté (11/16/25) E.A. Dupont ~ Emil Jannings, Lya de Putti, Warwick Ward, Maly Delschaft

"Varieté" or "Variety" is a German black-and-white film from 1925 and as this one is already over 90 years old, nobody should be surprised that this is a silent film of course. The writer, who adapted the novel by Felix Hollaender, is Ewald André Dupont and he is also the one who directed this movie. There are contradictory statements about the runtime, but the version I saw was slightly under 100 minutes long. The big name here is of course the one who is also credited first in the cast list: Emil Jannings. The female main character was played by the ill-fated Lya De Putti. All in all, there was a decent scene here and there, but overall it was not working well enough for me as a whole to recommend it. Then again I am not the greatest silent film fan in general. One major problem here is the one that was really common back then: namely the lack of subtitles or I could also say they were not frequent enough. this is a real deal breaker in many movies and this one here is no exception, because if you are not familiar with the novel, it is occasionally impossible to understand what is going on and if you lose the connection to the story, you also lose interest quickly. This is what happened to me here. I give "Varieté" a thumbs-down. Watch something else instead.