Ewald-André Dupont (1891-1956) directed some 30 films in Germany before leaving for Great Britain in 1927. He brought to his British silents, including Piccadilly and Moulin Rouge, the technique and elegance of his German films, but the move to the sound film brought on his decline, and he died in Hollywood a virtual unknown. Among Dupont's German silents is one film that is not only indisputably a classic, but one of the most influential films of all time; this is Variety. Its sordid tale of love, jealousy and murder among a group of second-rate variety performers inspired American films of the late twenties starring Emil Jannings or Lon Chaney or Jean Hersholt, and it was on the basis of this film alone that Hollywood invited Dupont, Jannings and co-star Lya de Putti to America (where Jannings fared best).
Variety is notable for its fine acting--especially from Jannings as a trapeze artist--and some skillfully evoked side-show atmosphere. But the film is of interest today primarily for the mobile camera work of Karl Freund, whose virtuoso photography is as impressive as his work on The Last Laugh a year earlier. The story of two rivals who perform trapeze acts without a safety net is given heightened suspense by Freund's brilliant first-person use of the camera, which he attached to a swinging trapeze, lowered and raised with cables, and employed from just about every possible angle of Wintergarten, where the shooting was done.