The Blue Angel

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This article is about the 1930 film. For the 1959 remake, see The Blue Angel (1959 film). For other uses, see Blue Angel (disambiguation).
The Blue Angel
Derblaueengel.jpg
film poster
Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Produced by Erich Pommer
Written by Heinrich Mann
(also novel)
Carl Zuckmayer
Karl Vollmöller
Robert Liebmann
Josef von Sternberg
Starring Emil Jannings
Marlene Dietrich
Kurt Gerron
Music by Friedrich Hollaender (music)
Robert Liebmann (lyrics)
Franz Waxman (orchestrations)
Cinematography Günther Rittau
Editing by Walter Klee
Sam Winston
Distributed by UFA
Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)
  • 1 April 1930 (1930-04-01) (Germany)
  • 5 December 1930 (1930-12-05) (US premiere)
[1]
Running time 99 minutes
Country Weimar Republic
Language German/English
Box office $77,982 (2001 re-release)[1]

The Blue Angel (German: Der blaue Engel) is a 1930 film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann – with uncredited contributions by von Sternberg. It is based on Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat ("Professor Garbage", 1905), and set in Weimar Germany. The Blue Angel presents the tragic transformation of a man from a respectable professor to a cabaret clown, and his descent into madness. The film is considered to be the first major German sound film, and brought Dietrich international fame.[2] In addition, it introduced her signature song, Friedrich Hollaender and Robert Liebmann's "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)".

The film was shot simultaneously in German and English language versions, although the latter version was thought lost for many years.

Contents

Plot [edit]

Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) is an esteemed educator at the local Gymnasium – a college preparatory high school – in Weimar Germany. After he punishes several of his students for circulating photographs of the beautiful Lola-Lola (Marlene Dietrich), the headliner for the local cabaret, "The Blue Angel". Hoping to catch the boys at the club, Rath goes there later that evening and meets Lola herself.

Consumed with desire for Lola, Rath returns to the night club the following evening, to return a pair of panties that were smuggled into his coat by one of his students, and stays the night with her. The next morning, reeling from his night of passion, Rath arrives late to school to find his classroom in chaos and the principal furious with his behavior.

Rath subsequently resigns from his position at the academy to marry Lola, but their happiness is short-lived, as they soon fritter away the teacher's meager savings and Rath is forced to take a position as a clown in Lola's cabaret troupe to pay the bills. His growing insecurities about Lola's profession as a "shared woman" eventually consume him with lust and jealousy. The troupe returns to his hometown and The Blue Angel, where he is ridiculed and berated by the patrons, the very people he himself used to deride. As Rath performs his last act, he witnesses his wife embrace and kiss the strongman Mazeppa, her new love interest, and is enraged to the point of insanity. He attempts to strangle Lola, but is beaten down by the other members of the troupe and locked in a straitjacket.

Later that night, Rath is freed, and makes his way towards his old classroom. Rejected, humiliated, and destitute, he dies in remorse, clenching the desk at which he once taught.

Cast [edit]

Cast notes

  • After being held at the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and forced to direct a propaganda movie depicting the state of affairs there, Gerron was deported to Auschwitz and murdered by gas chamber on October 18, 1944.

Music [edit]

Production [edit]

Von Sternberg called the story "the downfall of an enamored man",[4] and calls Rath "...a figure of self-satisfied dignity brought low."[5] Some critics saw the film as an allegory for pre-war Germany, but von Sternberg was very clear that he did not intend to make a political stand: "The year was 1929, Germany was undivided, although the real Germany, its schools and other places pictured in the film were not German and reality failed to interest me".[6][7]

Emil Jannings had asked Sternberg to direct him in his first sound picture, although Sternberg and Jannings had clashed on the set of their previous collaboration The Last Command (1928), and von Sternberg had vowed never to work with the actor again. The following year, however, he and Jannings reconciled and, at the invitation of Erich Pommer, head of UFA, they began to collaborate on a film about Rasputin. Sternberg was less than intrigued by this prospect, however, and as an alternative he suggested the idea of an adaptation of the Heinrich Mann story Professor Unrat, a 1905 satire about the hypocrisy of the German middle-class. Sternberg restructured the story to fit his tastes; simplifying moral themes and emphasizing the anguish of the teacher. As a result the second half of the book was not used at all, and the film's ending is entirely new.[8][9]

Because the German and English versions of the film were shot simultaneously, the actors were required to do every scene twice. This was not unusual in the early sound film era, given the technical difficulty of dubbing, and the studio's desire to be able to sell the film in multiple international markets.[9]

The Blue Angel is best known for introducing Marlene Dietrich to worldwide attention, although other performers were initially considered for the role, including Trude Hesterberg (a friend of Heinrich Mann), Brigitte Helm and Lucie Mannheim. Kathe Haack had already been signed to play the part before von Sternberg met Dietrich and transferred the part to her.[9] Dietrich's portrayal of an uninhibited woman not only established her stardom, but also established a modern embodiment of a vixen. Lola-Lola's lusty songs, written by Friedrich Hollaender (music) and Robert Liebmann (lyrics), slither their way into Rath's heart, entrapping him and sealing his fate. The story's melancholic simplicity adds to the beauty of von Sternberg's most remembered work, in both Germany and America. Dietrich's radiant sensuality might be blamed for the censorship the film faced in Pasadena, California.[10] C.V. Cowan, censor for Pasadena, found many scenes offensive and chose to cut them, though Jason Joy, the nation's censor, did not. Reaction to the censor's seal for the re-cut film was not good, and the theater removed the censorship statement.[10]

During filming, although he was still the nominal star of the film, Jannings could see the growing closeness between von Sternberg and Dietrich, and the care the director took in presenting her, and the actor became jealous, threatening to strangle the actress and misbehaving on the set. The Blue Angel was to be his last great cinematic moment; it was also one of UFA's last great films, as many of the studio's major talents left Germany for Hollywood, including von Sternberg and Dietrich, who were met on the dock in New York City by von Sternberg's wife, who served legal papers on Dietrich for "alienation of affection". Von Sternberg and his wife divorced shortly after.[9]

Subsequent history [edit]

The Blue Angel was banned in Nazi Germany in 1933, as were all the works of Heinrich Mann and Carl Zuckmayer.

The German version is much better known. The English language version was considered a lost film for many years until a print was discovered in a German film archive and restored. The restored English version had its U.S. premiere at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on 19 January 2009 as part of the "Berlin and Beyond" film festival.[11][12]

Parodies and adaptations [edit]

See also [edit]

References [edit]

Notes

  1. ^ a b The Blue Angel (1930) at the Internet Movie Database
  2. ^ Bordwell, David; Kristin Thompson (2003) [1994]. "The Introduction of Sound". Film History: An Introduction (2nd Edition ed.). New York City: McGraw-Hill. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-07-115141-2. 
  3. ^ "Music" on TCM.com
  4. ^ von Sternberg, p.11
  5. ^ Wakeman, p.1045
  6. ^ Wakeman, p.1046
  7. ^ von Sternberg, p.13
  8. ^ von Sternberg, pp.9-11
  9. ^ a b c d Steffen, James. "The Blue Angel" at TCM.com
  10. ^ a b Black, p.50
  11. ^ "14th Annual Berlin & Beyond Film Festival" on Flavorpill.com
  12. ^ "A Tale Of Two Cities: Berlin & Noir" (January 22, 2009)
  13. ^ Simonson, Robert. Scottsboro Librettist David Thompson Working on New Musicals With Stew, Scott Ellis. Playbill, April 1, 2010.

Bibliography

External links [edit]

Films directed by Josef von Sternberg
Silent films
Sound films
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