VARIETY is one of the most acclaimed UFA productions of the silent era. Based on a novel by Felix Hollaender—brother of composer Victor Hollaender and uncle of Friedrich Hollaender—director Ewald André Dupont (1891–1956) crafted a psychologically rich drama of love, jealousy, and the search for redemption after a moment of devastating loss of control.
The story follows Huller, a former high-wire artist turned sideshow operator from Hamburg, who falls for a young dancer and abandons his family in hopes of starting over. His dreams seem within reach when the couple is invited to join a renowned trapeze artist for a joint act at Berlin’s legendary Wintergarten. But things take a fatal turn as the professional trio increasingly becomes a trio infernal on the personal and emotional level. A bloody escalation ensues.
VARIETY became one of the biggest box office hits of 1925 and launched its stars Emil Jannings and Lya de Putti, along with director E. A. Dupont, onto the international stage, paving their path to Hollywood. The film’s psychological intensity—especially Jannings’ haunting performance as the tormented lover—earned director Dupont widespread acclaim.
Following his iconic role as the down-and-out hotel porter in Murnau’s THE LAST LAUGH (1924), in Huller, Jannings once again embodies a protagonist battered by life, a type he would later reprise in THE LAST COMMAND (1928) and von Sternberg’s THE BLUE ANGEL (1930) among others.
Cinematographer Carl Freund brilliantly brought the film’s emotional turbulence to life with his pioneering use of the “unchained camera” in VARIETY. His original footage shot inside Berlin’s Wintergarten make the film a historical documentation of the city’s legendary variety theater, which was destroyed during World War II.
The score was composed by Werner Küspert and Richard Siedhoff, and will be performed live by the UFA Syncopators: Küspert & Kollegen.
