Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Variety Lights Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 9, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Essential Fellini.

It may not quite match the treatment Criterion afforded a certain iconic Swedish director with their frankly almost overwhelming Ingmar Bergman's Cinema release, but Essential Fellini should pretty easily serve as either an absolutely first rate introduction to or a nostalgic reacquaintance with one of Italy's most legendary filmmakers. Fourteen beloved if sometimes controversial Fellini films have been aggregated in this set, along with a bonus disc offering a special devoted to Marcello Mastroianni, and while Criterion only provided check discs for the purposes of this review, from the looks of things online, this is another beautifully packaged set from the label with a number of non-disc swag packaging bonuses.

Variety Lights understandably holds primary position in this collection on Disc One, as it was Federico Fellini's debut as a feature film director, though as any Fellini fan will know, he was actually a co-director on this project with Alberto Lattuada. Despite this being a collaboration, there's an undeniably Fellini-esque atmosphere here, both with regard to plot mechanics as well as general tone, if not always in terms of what later came to be defined as Fellini's visual sensibilities. While arguably less tragic than La Strada, there are certain tethers between these two films that may provide some interesting "compare and contrast" moments for some viewers.

If Shakespeare famously opined that "all the world's a stage", Fellini might have slightly amended that to state "all the world's a circus", or at least some kind of spontaneous street fair or exuberant stage outing, at least as evidenced not just by sometimes literally out of left field imagery, but actual content in terms of the vignettes or at times actual settings of various of his films. It's almost a challenge to think of all the circus, stage and/or spontaneous open air performance material suffusing so many of Fellini's pieces, but Variety Lights, if more of a realistic (maybe even Neo-realistic) enterprise rather than some of Fellini's later, more overtly visionary, work, is firmly entrenched in the world of what might be broadly termed, if not circus activity per se, then most definitely stage performances that suggest vaudeville days of yore.

And in that regard, it's a music hall which provides the opening vignette for Variety Lights, which offers what would later be termed a Fellini-esque assortment of audience faces, one of which is an obviously star struck young woman named Liliana (Carla Del Poggio). But "backstage" drama is also on tap where some absconded funds lead to a threatened walkout by the cast, which includes singer and dancer Melina Amour (Giulietta Masina). Suffice it to say Liliana ingratiates herself to this traveling troupe of performers as a veritable Deus ex Machina early in the story, and in what plays as a kind of analog to some aspects of All About Eve in terms of a newcomer's arrival supplanting an established star, Liliana's arrival starts to attract the attention of manager Checco Del Monte, who is in a relationship with Melina.

The quasi-ménage à trois activity that ensues between Melina, Liliana at Checco provides the emotional underpinning of the story, which flirts with ideas of fame and glory within sometimes tawdry contexts, both in terms of performance venues but also perhaps in terms of moral ambiguities. While things never attain the almost majestic tragedy of the relationship between Gelsomina and Zampanò in La Strada, there's certainly a bittersweet quality to the relationship between Melina and Checco, which, to cite that other aforementioned show business drama, is kind of like the one between Margo and Bill in All About Eve, in that it somehow manages to survive the invasion of a younger, hotter talent.

Variety Lights Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Variety Lights is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Criterion only sent check discs for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfer that may be included in an insert booklet, but the actual film includes some introductory text which offers the following information:

Luci der varietà was restored in 4K by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, in collaboration with Turin's Museo Nazionale del Cineman, from the original camera and soundtrack negatives. Some shots were restored from a 1st generation combined dupe positive held at Istituto Luce Cinecittà and made available by Studio Cine.

The restoration work was carried out a L'Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in 2020.

This is an impressive looking transfer, perhaps made especially commendable since this is the oldest film in the set. Fine detail on aspects like the showgirls' costumes or even things like cobblestone streets and masonry walls is often exceptional, and the presentation also benefits from some nicely deep black levels and expressive, consistent contrast. Grain also maintains an organic appearance throughout. There are still a few niggling issues, including some minor frame instability in some transitions and occasional very slight fluctuations in densities, but for anyone who had the kind of questionable DVD that Criterion put out a lifetime ago, this will be something of a revelation.

Variety Lights Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Variety Lights features an LPCM Mono track in the original Italian. Some of the reviews I'm doing for this set may get to sound like a broken record, but quite a few of the older tracks in particular have an undeniably boxy, hollow sound, and in that regard Variety Lights is the first example. The bizarre opening music for the production masthead (is that a theremin?) struck my ears as being a bit brittle, and even the main theme by Felice Lattuada (there's your non-Nino Rota trivia datapoint for future use) can sound just slightly distorted and crackly, but once the film actually gets underway, there are no huge issues to report other than the aforementioned overall boxy sound. Dialogue and the song and dance moments are all rendered without major issues, and any age related wear and tear other than some slight background hiss has been nicely ameliorated. Optional English subtitles are available.

Variety Lights Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Fellini: I'm a Born Liar (HD; 1:41:24) is a great 2002 documentary by Damian Pettigrew that is kind of like (to cite another iconic director who I wouldn't be surprised to be featured in an upcoming Criterion mega-release) a Rashomon biography where truth is perhaps variable, as evidenced by the quote in its title. Subtitled in English.


• Second Look (HD; 34:52) features the first episode of a four part interview Fellini did for Belgian television in 1960 (see other discs for the remaining episodes). Subtitled in English (and burnt in French).

Variety Lights Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are some who probably consider Variety Lights to be "lesser" Fellini (whatever that means), and others who may think this isn't "really" a true Fellini film at all (whatever that means), but I've always been fond of this (bitter)sweet story of those bitten by the showbiz bug, but sometimes not knowing how to deal with it all. Criterion is offering a release with generally nice technical merits (video probably more than audio), and very appealing supplements. Highly recommended.