Variety Lights
(1950)
★ 6.9 IMDb · 104 votes
Year: 1950
Runtime: 97 мин
Country: Italy
Director: Федерико Феллини, Alberto Lattuada
Cast: Peppino De Filippo, Carla Del Poggio, Джульетта Мазина, John Kitzmiller, Dante Maggio, Checco Durante, Gina Mascetti, Giulio Calì, Silvio Bagolini, Giacomo Furia
Plot
In Italy, Checco Dal Monte manages a troupe of traveling performers with plenty of heart but minimal talent. At a small town engagement, he encounters the starry-eyed, gorgeous Lily Antonelli, and hires her as a dancer on the show. Vivacious Lily quickly sells out crowds and earns the resentment of Checco's mistress, Melina Amour, but the fledgling performer has far bigger ambitions and soon sets her sights on a higher-profile role.
When a beautiful, talented young woman joins a provincial vaudeville troupe, suddenly they're playing to packed houses and their aging comic Checco Dalmonte gets big ideas. Checco falls in love with the ingenue, Liliana, and ignores Melina Amour, his long-time companion who wants to marry him and is saving up to open a deli. Also, believing he can be an impresario, he hires other actors and begins rehearsal for a revue that will star Liliana and himself. Liliana admires Checco, but she's being squired around town by Adelmo Conti, the assistant to the region's biggest impresario. Can Checco's new troupe hold onto Liliana, and can Melina hold onto Checco?