A beautiful ingenue joins a tawdry music hall troupe and quickly becomes its feature attraction in Fellini's stunning debut film (directed in collaboration with neorealist filmmaker Alberto Lattuada). Featuring Giulietta Masina, Fellini's wife and frequent leading lady, Variety Lights introduces the director's affection for the carnivalesque characters that frequent the cinematic landscape of such classics as Nights of Cabiria, La strada, and La Dolce Vita. Criterion is proud to present Variety Lights in a beautiful digital transfer.
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Last edited by Martha on Fri Dec 02, 2005 4:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Well Criterion the cat is out of the bag.Gary Tooze has just posted his dvdbeaver review of this film.It is not HD sourced!Probably copied from their laser disc. At least we didn't pay $39.95 for it.I feel slighted!
Last edited by Napier on Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Having reviewed well over 100 Criterion DVDs, I had always thought every single one was HD-sourced (we also call this "film-sourced" as opposed to "video-sourced"). Variety Lights, on the other hand, was claimed to be taken directly from the original 35mm fine-grain master (see last large capture for extensive 'combing'). There is a slim chance that it was taken from their old laserdisc. It looks very rough. There is a fine scratch down the center of the screen for many segments of film. It tends to leave and annoyingly return. I also notice shimmering and edge enhancement. Criterion's usual care was not taken for this 2000 release. By their usual high standards, this is quite sloppy. No extras, great subtitles. Nothing along the lines of their other Fellini releases. This is my lowest score ever for a Criterion DVD - *** out of *****
"I had always thought every single one was HD-sourced"
You thought wrong pal. Most of their early releases were not sourced from HD masters. Criterion never claimed to be using HD masters. I respect Gary's site, but how can he not know this?! He actually seems surprised to discover that they used the same D2 source as the laserdisc!
I don't understand the criticisms of the image, which (especially from the screengrabs) is pretty damn good. Far from the worst image transfer of CC, how about Salo (and I'm sure there are others)? Great film too, by the way.
I rented this last Christmas and loved it, but I couldn't afford to buy it at the time. Yesterday I went to the same video store and saw it priced at 1.99!! I checked the sticker from the last rental and it was due back 12/27/2004, meaning I was the last one to rent it. So there is my bargain of the week.
Lucky. I did find the Samurai boxed set used at EBgames for 15 dollars though, complete with inserts, so I shouldn't be talking. Unfortunately I haven't found a used criterion DVD there since, except for armageddon and royal tenanbaums.
The new Essential Arthouse edition (and Criterion spine re-release?) is described as having a "New, restored high-definition digital transfer". I hope so, because this is one of Fellini's best.
After all these years, I finally got around to watching this. And it's wonderful! I loved Peppino De Filippo, a little reminiscent of Raimu in Marcel Pagnol's films, being a sympathetic buffoon. And I appreciated seeing Giulietta Masina doing something other than being aggressively winsome as she is in all the other Fellini films I've seen her in. (I know that's a bad take and I'm watching more or her films with Fellini to prove myself wrong.) I guess I don't have much else to say about it besides "it was nice, I liked it," but that's usually enough for me these days.
