Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Varieté (1925)

This UFA drama of the circus world, infidelity and murder, directed by E.A. Dupont, stars Emil Jannings and Lya de Putti, with Warwick Ward, Maly Delschaft, Georg John and Kurt Gerron.

The film features some innovative cinematography and special effects shots.

This Blu-ray Disc edition has been mastered from a 2K high-definition scan of the 2015 Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung restoration (as close as possible) of the original German release version of the film utilizing a 35mm nitrate print of the USA release version held by the Library of Congress, a 35mm nitrate print held by FilmArchiv Austria, a 35mm duplicate print held by the Munish Filmmuseum, and a 35mm duplicate negative held by the Museum of Modern Art. The results are generally excellent, with a minimum of print flaws as there are only a smattering of examples of dust, speckling, loose splices, emulsion scrapes, and other minor issues remaining. Quite an enjoyable viewing experience, altogether.

The film is accompanied by two optional music scores: one composed by six students of the Berklee College of Music (Nasthan Drube, Kanako Hashiyama, Larry Hong, Austin Matthews, Mateo Rodo and Hyunju Yun) and performed by the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra, and a music score composed by Martyn Jacques and performed by The Tiger Lillies. Our preference is the Berklee musical accompaniment.

Supplementary material includes a presentation of Othello (1922) starring Emil Jannings and Lya de Putti; a visual essay on Varieté by edition producer Bret Wood (11 minutes); and a featurette on the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra music score for Varieté (7 minutes).

This is our highly recommended home video edition for North American collectors.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is accompanied by three optional music scores by Stephen Horne, Johannes Contag, and a music score composed by Martyn Jacques and performed by The Tiger Lillies.

Supplementary material includes a booklet with essays and stills.

This is our recommended home video edition for European collectors. North American collectors will need a region-free Blu-ray Disc player and/or PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

United Kingdom: Click logomark to purchase this Region B Blu-ray Disc / Region 2 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.co.uk.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Martyn Jacques and performed by The Tiger Lillies. The American version of the film is accompanied by a music score performed by Peter Kleinschmidt.

The supplementary material includes a 32-page booklet with stills and essays by Guido Altendorf, Martyn Jacques, Michael Wedel and Anke Wilkening.

North American collectors will need a region-free Blu-ray Disc player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

Germany: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.de. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Martyn Jacques and performed by The Tiger Lillies. The American version of the film is accompanied by a music score performed by Peter Kleinschmidt.

The supplementary material includes a 32-page booklet with stills and essays by Guido Altendorf, Martyn Jacques, Michael Wedel and Anke Wilkening.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film. North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

Germany: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 PAL DVD edition from Amazon.de. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This remastered DVD-R edition has been updated by Grapevine Video from their earlier DVD edition of the 1926 American release version of Varieté. The 16mm source print is a bit contrasty, with almost detailess highlights and dark shadows still manages to retain a reasonable range of greytones in the image. There is some image instability and a noticeable amount of dust, speckling and emulsion wear and scratches. The transfer itself is coarse and contains many compression artifacts that contribute to the disc’s faults. The edition likely plays better on a computer monitor than on a high-definition system.

The film is accompanied by a cobbled-together score of preexisting film music recordings, which is serviceable at best.

Not recommended, as there are better home video editions noted above, but still a viewable edition of the American release version of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is also available directly from . . .

The film is to be accompanied by a cobbled-together score of preexisting film music recordings.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available from REELCLASSIC DVD through . . .

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print of the American release version of the film. As is typical of analog transfers from 16mm materials, the picture (including some of the intertitles) can be quite dark with background details lost in a shadowy wash and some highlights (including facial details) washed-out to an indecipherable white.

The film is accompanied by a cobbled-together soundtrack of preexisting film music recordings, with some of the selections being wildly inappropriate and highly annoying.

Over the years, this company has released DVD-R editions under a number of company names, with the same catalog number and UPC number, including Nostalgia Family Video (as originally reviewed), Hollywood’s Attic, RetroFlix, and (as of 2015) Reel Vault. Not a recommended disc as the Kino Lorber edition or the other Blu-ray Discs for European viewers noted above are far better.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

The film is accompanied by a music score comprised of preexisting recordings.

This edition is now out-of-print, being replaced by the remastered Grapevine Video edition noted above.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

The film is likely accompanied by a soundtrack compiled from preexisting music recordings.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from . . .

Other GERMAN FILMS of the silent era available on home video.