Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Emil Jannings | ... | Professor Immanuel Rath | |
Marlene Dietrich | ... | Lola Lola | |
Kurt Gerron | ... | Kiepert, the Magician | |
Rosa Valetti | ... | Guste, His Wife | |
Hans Albers | ... | Mazeppa, the Strong Man | |
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Reinhold Bernt | ... | Der Clown / The Clown |
Károly Huszár | ... | Proprietor of The Blue Angel (as Karl Huszar-Puffy) | |
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Die Weintraub Syncopators | ... | Group Cast Performers (as The Weintraub Syncopators) |
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Eduard von Winterstein | ... | Schuldirektor / The Director of School (as Eduard V. Winterstein) |
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Hans Roth | ... | Hausmeister / The Caretaker of the Secondary School |
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Rolf Müller | ... | Gymnasiast Angst / Pupil |
Roland Varno | ... | Gymnasiast Lohmann / Pupil (as Rolant Varno) | |
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Carl Balhaus | ... | Gymnasiast Ertzum / Pupil (as Karl Balhaus) |
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Robert Klein-Lörk | ... | Gymnasiast Goldstaub / Pupil |
Wilhelm Diegelmann | ... | Kapitän / Captain |
Germany 1924. Middle aged Dr. Immanuel Rath is a stuffy literature professor at a boys' school. Most of his students don't much like him, often ridiculing him by sending him unflattering anonymous notes and drawings. Dr. Rath learns that many of his boys often frequent a cabaret called the Blue Angel, which he believes is corrupting their impressionable young minds. He heads to the Blue Angel himself to catch the boys in the act, shame them into not going again, but also to ask the headlining performer, anglophone Lola Lola, to cease and desist performing her show. Over several visits, Rath is able to catch the boys, but he himself starts to fall for Lola, and she seemingly with him. His infatuation with her threatens his teaching career. Their relationship ends up not being what either envisioned, the question being how they will both deal with their disintegrating relationship and the reasons behind that disintegration. Written by Huggo
Firstly, this version is almost the exact same as the German version, but of course in English. That means it is still wonderful, but with all of the "Unrath" puns removed.
The only reason to just stick with the German is because most of the language in this film is either still German, or hard to understand due to th actors' thick accents, Marlene, surprisingly, is perfectly accent less despite not knowing any English. Since the DVD release does not have subtitles, or even closed captions, it is hard to follow the film without either knowing German, or rewinding to understand what Jannings and everyone else is saying.
Fans of the German version should still just check it out as a historical novelty and to hear Marlene (accent less) and see how similar and/or different the film is.