The Blue Angel (1930)

Today, most people know this film as featuring Marlene Dietrich's signature tune "Falling in Love Again." But it was the first sound film to be made in Germany; and is the first great sound film to be made anywhere. Although it exists also in an English version that was made at the same time, both Dietrich and Jannings give better performances in their native language; and, as the sound is rather poor, it is easier to follow in German with the English sub-titles. Jannings was the first actor to win an Academy Award (though not for this film) and his performance as the professor who is lead to ruin by a femme fatale remains one of the memorable film performances. Fans of Dietrich should not miss this film which brought her international success. This is one of those films that only grows with continued viewing. If you were fond of Cabaret, then this is the real Germany between the World Wars. Highly recommended.

Fmovies: Marlene Dietrich at her best in the German language version of Joseph Von Sternbergs THE BLUE ANGEL, unfortuonatly the English language version was rushed and not made very well so the film never really went down well with 1930s English speaking audiences. The film to me is a dark look at self destruction and degradation. My favourite scene in the film is at the end when Lola Lola is sitting almost triumphantly on a bar stool crooning "falling in love again" whilst her lover, the once great professer slips out into the dark street preparing to walk the long road to death. Although visually the film is no longer superior and Dietrich does not appear to have lost any of her plumpness as she would for her American debut she still appears radiant and her on screen persona would never be quite so strong again, maybe it is because this is the only film that Dietrich would make speaking in her Mother tongue.

Proper and respectable Emil Jannings, a teacher at a boys high school takes quite an interest in their moral well being. Seems there's this naughty establishment called The Blue Angel in his town where women have been known to entertain in various states of undress. Some of his boys have some postcards of one of the dancers and Jannings catches them with it. After confiscating the material, Jannings decides to go down to the Blue Angel and tell them not to be catering to minors.

Of course he takes one look at the subject of those naughty postcards and since it turns out to be Marlene Dietrich, he realizes his own education has been sadly neglected.

He's spotted the kids in the establishment, but they've spotted him as well. From an authoritarian figure, Jannings is now a figure of derision and has no authority in or out of the classroom. He marries Marlene and tours with her company as a clown. A return to his hometown proves to be more than he can bear.

Though Marlene Dietrich became an international sex symbol from this film and got a Hollywood contract as a result, the film is really the story of Jannings, his downfall, his humiliation, his degradation. Their respective career paths were really meeting halfway in this film. She was going to America on the strength of this film, Jannings was returning to Germany where he became a very big star and leader of Adolph Hitler's amen corner in German cinema

In the supporting cast is also Kurt Gerron who is a magician and manager of the troupe of entertainers Marlene and Jannings are part of. His life had the worst tragedy of all, as a Jew he met death in Auschwitz, but not after undergoing a lot of humiliation before. Not unlike what Jannings had in the film, but this was real life.

The Blue Angel is a milestone film for many people and in an indirect way for Adolph Hitler as well since he got his biggest film star from the cast. Still though it's a stunning bit of cinema with performances that still hold up very well today.

The Blue Angel fmovies. Joseph von Sternberg 'packaged' his muse, Marlene Dietrich to become a world star with "The Blue Angel". The disturbing story of a revue entertainer (Dietrich) and the middle aged professor(Emil Jannings)who falls madly in love with, and later is destroyed by her, based on the novel "Professor Unrat".

Many unforgettable songs by Friedrich Hollander are featured, most noteworthy of course "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt" ("Falling in Love Again") and "Ich bin die feche Lola" ("They Call Me Naughty Lola").

There is an English language version available (filmed simultaneously for an intended International release), but I recommend the original German with subtitles. Many effects are lost with the former. I can highly recommend this film, a must for fans of either the stars or the director!*****

I just got through watching The Blue Angel (1930) for the second time in a month. When I was watching the beginning this time, I thought: oh, this isn't as powerful as I remembered. I even thought Jannings was overdoing it a little -- he couldn't be as good as I remembered. And then it absolutely knocked me for a loop all over again.

Bear in mind that I have a tape that cost $3.98. The film looked old and scratchy, the tape quality was bad, and the sound was poor. This is one of the very earliest sound movies and the sound technique was sometimes distracting. After the first 20 minutes, I couldn't have cared less about the technology. The images of this film are burned into my brain. The business at the very beginning with the dead bird and the sugar cube, the caricatures on the blackboards, Lola's reaction to the marriage proposal, the wedding party and, most of all, the entire last half hour of this film -- none of that left me in the three weeks since my first viewing and it lost none of its impact the second time around.

Emil Jannings was just absolutely wonderful. His face in the mirror toward the end is heartbreaking. He doesn't have to say a word. This was Dietrich's debut, and she is great too, but it is Jannings' picture.

Highly recommended. 10/10

Like THE GODFATHER, CITIZEN KANE, NIGHT OF THE HUNTER and a few others,

THE BLUE ANGEL is one of the great films of all time, simply because

everything works.

Marlene Dietrich is amazing, probably never as good again, as her Lola

is the quintessential woman mixed with Circe, Delilah and all things

different and apart. As she leads men to their doom she sings honestly

that she "just can't help it," yet men follow her willingly. Emil

Jannings as Professor Rath gives what, in my estimation, is the greatest

performance by an actor on film, first as a martinet, then a man finding

first love, then a devoted married man, then a cuckold, a clown and,

finally a broken, destroyed man. (The moment where he wakes in Lola's

bed and finds delight in Lola's doll is one of the great miniatures in

any film.) To see Kurt Gerron's powerful, nuanced performance as the

leader of the rag tag cabaret troop is heartbreaking when you know that

the perished ina gas chamber only a few years later.) Director Josef Von

Sternberg leads the proceedings through staid classrooms, down twisting

expressionist streets, to the tawdry inside of "The Blue Angel", and

finally, through the labyrinth of Rath's life leading inexorably to his

downfall. Symbolism, from a dead canary to the noose like collars

clowns wear, abound. And oh the songs by Freidrich Hollander! (Kander

and Ebb must have watched this film many times before writing CABARET as

so many parts of that production...including the gift of a

pineapple..are seen here.)

I have seen this film again and again and every time it is fresh as it

was the first time, and, I would suppose, as it was in 1929. What a

great, great film!!!