Lights of the variety show

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Movie
German title Lights of the variety show
Original title Luci del varietà
Country of production Italy
original language Italian
Publishing year 1950
length 100 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Federico Fellini
Alberto Lattuada
script Federico Fellini
Alberto Lattuada
Ennio Flaiano
Tullio Pinelli
production Federico Fellini
Alberto Lattuada
music Felice Lattuada
camera Otello Martelli
cut Mario Bonotti
occupation

Lights des Varieté ( Italian : Luci del varietà ) is an Italian feature film from 1950. It is a co-production by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada , who also wrote and directed the script together.

For Fellini, who had worked mainly as a screenwriter before this film, the film marked the beginning of his career as a director. Lattuada, on the other hand, was already a well-known figure of Italian neorealism .

action

Lights of the Variety Show is about a group of actors on tour through small provincial towns. They find it hard to make a living, which changes suddenly when the beautiful, talented Liliana joins her ensemble. Liliana not only ensures sold-out performances, but also messes up the private life of Checco, the director of the troupe. After he cannot resist her seduction skills, he leaves his lover Melina and the vaudeville with her. In the search for a new livelihood, however, the only possible opportunity is thwarted by Checco's jealousy, so that Liliana finally leaves him. The story closes in a circle when Checco, reunited with his old ensemble, notices a pretty young woman in a train compartment on the way to a performance.

criticism

The Lexicon of International Films wrote that the film made references to the director's " later masterpieces ". In addition, Lights of the Variety Show is a " keenly observing satire enriched with humor and compassion on the world of provincial variety shows ".

Ennio Flaiano writes in a film review in the magazine Il mondo :

Uno di meriti del film Luci del varietà ci sembra essere l'indifferenza che gli autori mostrano per quelle soluzioni drammatiche già provate da una lunga consuetudine, il sospetto con cui osservano queste eroine del momento che sono le miss o le aspiranti divette. C'è un breve quadro nel film giusto alla fine, in cui la protagonista, finalmente seminuda sul palcoscenico (come ha semper sognato) manda baci al pubblico e ringrazia, con le lagrime agli occhi per gli applausi che vanno al suo corpo. E 'un'apoteosi feroce, che corona tutta una serie di osservazioni sul carattere dei comici, sul loro concetto del successo e dell'arte, e che pongono pertanto questo film (che non manca di difetti) su un piano insolito, al di sopra del genere ameno [...] ,

which is in a (free) German translation

One of the merits of the film Lights of the Variety Show seems to me to be the indifference that the authors show towards the already sufficiently exhausted dramatic possibilities of the subject, the suspicion with which they watch these little starlets. In a short scene towards the end of the film, the leading actress stands half-naked on the stage, just as she had always dreamed of, giving hand kisses to the audience and is moved to tears by the applause that surges on her body. This is a gruesome transfiguration that crowns a whole series of observations about the characters' attitudes towards the importance of success and art, and that lift this film (which is not free from defects) to an exceptional level, above average in any case.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lights of the Varieté. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ^ Il mondo , III n.18, May 5, 1951