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Varietes started out as a remake of E. A. DuPont's silent German classic Variety. Unfortunately, DuPont himself made his own remake, so writer-director Nicholas Farkas was obliged to whip up a new story. Annabella, Jean Gabin and Fernand Gravey star as a trio of circus trapeze artists. Both Gabin and Gravey love Annabella, but she has eyes only for Gravey. Seething with jealousy, Gabin plots revenge against his rival. He "accidentally" drops Gravey into a net during rehearsal -- but does he plan to do the same during a performance, when the trio works without a net? Though the audience may have thought that it was a step or two ahead of the story, there's a last-minute surprise in Varietes that never failed to elicit gasps from the viewers back in 1935.