Menschen vom Varieté (1939)

The performer Keats has lost his wife, Silvia Castellani, to the trick shooter Jack Carey. Carey has not married Silvia Castellani, but she has been his partner for years. By chance, Keats, Silvia, and Carey are brought together for an engagement at the Coloseum Variety Theatre. Carey has grown tired of Silvia in every respect and is looking for a replacement. Silvia senses this, and the scenes between them become increasingly heated. Three sisters who also perform at the Coloseum Variety Theatre—Alice, Gloria, and the young Ruby—witness these confrontations. Gloria, who has long admired Carey as an artist, applies for the new assistant’s position. She is to get the job only if her sisters agree. They forbid Gloria from taking the position: they fear for her reputation, since Carey is considered a womanizer. The next evening, an accident occurs onstage. During the new act, Carey shoots Silvia Castellani. When Silvia Castellani regains consciousness, she confirms that she herself had loaded Carey’s gun with live ammunition so he would shoot her. She believed she could no longer bear a life without him. Eventually, she breaks up with Carey and remorsefully returns to her husband, Keats.