Variety (1935) review: sweaty circus drama that's surprisingly fun to watch

If you have a soft spot for old circus dramas where everyone looks sweaty and slightly desperate, Variety (1935) is absolutely worth your time on a lazy Sunday. 🎪

But let's be honest right away. If you can't stand crackly 1930s audio or love triangles where people express their feelings by staring intensely at ropes, you will probably hate this.

The whole plot revolves around two acrobats swinging through the air and fighting over their beautiful partner, Annabella, who honestly deserves better than both of them.

It's a familiar setup, especially if you've already sat through older big-top movies like The Circus Ace.

What kept me hooked was how raw the circus scenes felt. The cameras are positioned right under the trapezes, and you can practically smell the sawdust and the cheap hair grease of the audience.

There is this one oddly specific moment where Hans Albers is holding a tiny teacup with his massive hands. He looks so terrified of breaking it that he completely forgets to act for about ten seconds, and it is easily my favorite part of the movie.

The Good Stuff (And the Weird Stuff)

The stunts actually look dangerous. I don't think they had much of a budget for safety nets, or if they did, the director hid them to make us sweat.

Annabella is great here, even when the script gives her almost nothing to do but look worried from the sidelines.

She has this way of looking at the two male leads like they are stupid puppies, which, to be fair, they kind of are.

Here are a few random things I scribbled down while watching:

• The drummer in the circus band looks like he fell asleep mid-scene.
• Hans Albers' hair somehow stays perfectly combed even after he hangs upside down for three minutes.
• The background extras in the crowd scenes look like they were pulled off the street and offered a free sandwich to sit there.

The movie gets a bit slow in the middle when the characters stop swinging and start talking about their feelings. The dialogue is pretty clunky, and one guy literally shouts, "The circus is my life!" like he's trying to convince himself.

Also, the ending feels incredibly rushed, almost like the crew ran out of film or the circus tent they rented had to be returned the next morning.

But still, it has a weird, cozy charm that modern CGI movies just can't match. It's not a masterpiece, but it's a fun little time machine.