Der blaue Engel (1930)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Heinrich Mann (novel)
Carl Zuckmayer (writer) ...

Release Date:

3 January 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical

Plot:

Immanuel Rath, an old bachelor, is a professor at the town's university. When he discovers that some of his pupils often go into a speakeasy...

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Police | Dead Bird | Cuckold | Lust

Cast

Emil Jannings	...	Prof. Immanuel Rath
Marlene Dietrich	...	Lola Lola
Kurt Gerron	...	Kiepert (the magician)
Rosa Valetti	...	Guste (the magician's wife)
Hans Albers	...	Mazeppa (the strongman)
Reinhold Bernt	...	The clown
Eduard von Winterstein	...	The director of school (as Eduard V. Winterstein)
Hans Roth	...	The caretaker of the secondary school
Rolf Müller	...	Pupil Angst
Roland Varno	...	Pupil Lohmann (as Rolant Varno)
Carl Balhaus	...	Pupil Ertzum (as Karl Balhaus)
Robert Klein-Lörk	...	Pupil Goldstaub
Charles Puffy	...	Innkeeper (as Karl Huszar-Puffy)
Wilhelm Diegelmann	...	Captain
Gerhard Bienert	...	Policeman

Also Known As:

Professor Unrat (Germany) (working title)
The Blue Angel (USA)

Runtime:

124 min | USA:107 min (TCM print) | UK:106 min | 108 min (cut)

Country:

Germany

Language:

German | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (video rating) | UK:U | Finland:K-16 (1952) | Finland:K-8 (1993) | Norway:16 | Germany:12 (re-rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:(Banned) (1930) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Universum Film (UFA)

Trivia:

This was Emil Jannings' final English-language film (it was released in both German and English versions - see Alternate Versions).

Quotes:

[to stuffy Professor Immanuel Rath, who is dressed in a clown suit]
Lola Lola: Your boys should see you now.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Go West Young Man (1936)

Soundtrack:

Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen wünscht Papageno sich

Humiliation, Degradation, Despair

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.