Product Details

• Actors: Peppino De Filippo, Carla Del Poggio, Giulietta Masina, John Kitzmiller, Dante Maggio
• Directors: Alberto Lattuada, Federico Fellini
• Writers: Alberto Lattuada, Federico Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli
• Producers: Alberto Lattuada, Federico Fellini
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: Italian
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: June 16, 2009
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001WLMOOG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,380 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Essential Art House: Variety Lights" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

In Federico Fellini’s whimsical and vibrant debut, codirected with Alberto Lattuada, a burlesque troupe manager (Peppino De Filippo) falls for an ingénue entertainer and leaves his wife (Fellini’s real-life wife, Guilietta Masina, from La strada and Nights of Cabiria). Variety Lights is a dizzying, carnivalesque look at infidelity and showbiz from two of Italian cinema’s greatest comic social critics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite neo-realist Fellini film, January 7, 2005

By 

bowery boy (seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Variety Lights (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

First thing first, the DVD cover is misleading. Guillietta Masina does not star in Variety Lights. She is a co-star with a fair amount of screen time. It's worth picking up simply for her performance because when she is on screen she shines. Masina plays Melina a woman who is wronged by her man (a reoccurring theme she will revisit in La Strada, Nights of Cabiria and Juliet of the Spirits). Checco, Melina's man, is a delusional womanizing manager of a vaudeville troupe who takes under his wing Liliana, a girl with stars in her eyes who will stop at nothing to achieve her goal. Liliana's "skirt less" number is a highlight for me. What a great song! Checco, much to Melina's chagrin, unsuccessfully tries his hardest to impress Liliana with his so called "connections" and can barely contain his jealously over Liliana's many suitors. Liliana slowly transforms from "innocent" girl to a calculating manipulative shrew who uses Checco to further her ambitious career goals and thinks nothing of squashing his dreams. The changes in Checco and Liliana are so subtle that by the time the inevitable climax is reached I was hard pressed to tell which character I disliked the most. Ultimately, it's the tragically loyal Melina with whom I sympathized. This film is a true testament to Fellini's genius as a filmmaker. Out of all of Fellini's tragic neo-realist films this is my favorite. I passionately loved and hated many of the characters and at times found myself yelling at the television. A must for any Fellini fan.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First Glimpse at Fellini and Masina, October 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Variety Lights [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Though this was a joint directorial effort, Fellini's style shines through in many ways. A rambling, at times almost incoherent film, it nevertheless remains watchable for the liveliness of its characters and the story of the girl who literally "steals the show." It is also most noteworthy for the performance of the brilliant Giuliette Masina, whose character here is much different from the others she would play in Fellini classics, but her unique talent still shines through. It is worth the film price just to see her in action.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE FIRST MOVIE OF A GIANT, December 30, 2000

By 

Daniel S. "Daniel" (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Variety Lights (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Co-directed by Alberto Lattuada and Federico Fellini, VARIETY LIGHTS is without a doubt already in the library of those of you who long for quality titles available in the DVD standard. If you can find now almost the entire filmography of Jean-Claude Van Damme or Jackie Chan in DVD, only one Luis Bunuel movie for instance can be found amidst the thousands of titles you can buy.

With VARIETY LIGHTS, you are going to join, before LA STRADA, the peculiar world of the artists with no name, the world of the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire look-alikes performing in the 1950 Italy. The camera of Federico Fellini is always tender with these artists and doesn't judge them. Even the ambitious girl who will cheat on the man who has discovered her is depicted as a naive girl blinded by the lights of show-business.

The copy presented by Criterion is far from being perfect but nonetheless is above-average. No bonus features except for a scene access, an interesting booklet, color bars and english subtitles.

A DVD for Giulietta Masina.