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I started up a new cinema blog on behalf of my employers where I'm on staff. Going to be resurrecting my audio commentaries on schreckbabble soon, but I've created a written-only adjunct to my stuff; first subject is Variete and the Blu Ray.

Wonderful to hear about and read your new blog, Schreck, and thanks for starting it off with an entry on this film and the release. I hope this will alert more people about this desaster. But now I'm looking forward to what you'll have to say about hopefully more happy silent affairs.

Just back from a screening of Dupont's Varieté at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. I had not seen this film before but this restoration was visually stunning. And what really made the screening special was the score written and performed by the students of the Berklee Silent Film Orchestra -- a perfect accompaniment. I had heard them last year with an equally impressive accompaniment to Der letzte Mann. (Coincidentally, both films starred Emil Jannings and featured the cinematography of Karl Freund.)

And, some wonderful news for those looking for a home video release of this title with a better soundtrack than the Tiger Lilies: They announced at the screening that the Berklee score and performance has been licensed to accompany the forthcoming Kino release. Good news indeed.

Eureka-Masters of Cinema has announced the release of a DVD/Blu-ray edition of Varieté on January 23, 2017 with a score by the excellent pianist Stephen Horne. Hurray!