Variety

E. A. Dupont's 1925 German film opens with a man telling his story to the warden after ten years in prison. Huller, a former trapeze artist working the fairground, builds a new act with a young woman he meets there; the three-person trapeze show turns into a space where jealousy becomes lethal. Its place in film history is in the photography: Karl Freund's freed camera, mounted on the trapeze itself, puts the viewer's eye inside the performer's body. The technique reached Hollywood through this film and changed how cameras were used. Emil Jannings carries a heavy guilt without falling into the excess of the silent era. The story is simple; the real matter is the look itself. Who it's for: viewers interested in the history of silent cinema and cinematography. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a complex story, or who finds silent films hard going.