Variety Lights (1950) review

Young girl vies for fame in this first film by Fellini; predictably she's an egomaniac and spurns the people who helped her out (every man that meets her wants to bed her, too, although that may not be that much of a stretch from 'real life'). I had trouble finding much to hang onto in this unsurprising, rather ordinary movie; even the stage numbers sag and feel restrained. The most potentially interesting characters are the street performers in the final act (the American plays the trumpet, a friend of his is an expert with pistols - a lot like Annie Oakley) but their roles are so small it's as if they don't exist.