Variety Lights

Variety Lights

Directed by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada • 1950 • Italy
Starring Peppino De Filippo, Carla Del Poggio, Giulietta Masina

Made in collaboration with Alberto Lattuada, Federico Fellini’s directorial debut unfolds amid the colorful backdrop of a traveling vaudeville troupe whose quixotic impresario (Peppino De Filippo) is tempted away from his faithful mistress (Giulietta Masina) by the charms of an ambitious young dancer (Carla Del Poggio). Though the details of what the division of duties was between the two directors are unclear, this lively backstage capriccio is unmistakably Felliniesque in its whimsical fascination with the heightened reality, carnivalesque characters, and exotic allure of the world of show business. In the first of her celebrated collaborations with her director husband, Giulietta Masina displays the spirited vulnerability that would soon become an archetype of cinematic emotiveness.

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Variety Lights
  • Variety Lights

    Directed by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada • 1950 • Italy
    Starring Peppino De Filippo, Carla Del Poggio, Giulietta Masina

    Made in collaboration with Alberto Lattuada, Federico Fellini’s directorial debut unfolds amid the colorful backdrop of a traveling vaudeville troupe whose quixotic im...

Extras

  • Fellini: I’m a Born Liar

    This feature-length 2002 documentary by Damian Pettigrew’s tracks the life and career of director Federico Fellini through his often contradictory statements. As Fellini said in the quote that gives the documentary its title: “I’m a born liar. For me, the things that are the most real are the one...

  • Fellini on “Second Look,” Episode 1

    In this first episode of a four-part interview Federico Fellini did on the Belgian television program “Second Look” in 1960, the director discusses his early life and his career as a cartoonist before he began working in cinema.