The Blue Angel (1930)

An elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Heinrich Mann (novel), Carl Zuckmayer

Stars:

Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron

Cast

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
Reinhold Bernt	...	Der Clown / The Clown
Károly Huszár	...	Proprietor of The Blue Angel (as Karl Huszar-Puffy)
Die Weintraub Syncopators	...	Group Cast Performers (as The Weintraub Syncopators)
Eduard von Winterstein	...	Schuldirektor / The Director of School (as Eduard V. Winterstein)
Hans Roth	...	Hausmeister / The Caretaker of the Secondary School
Rolf Müller	...	Gymnasiast Angst / Pupil
Roland Varno	...	Gymnasiast Lohmann / Pupil (as Rolant Varno)
Carl Balhaus	...	Gymnasiast Ertzum / Pupil (as Karl Balhaus)
Robert Klein-Lörk	...	Gymnasiast Goldstaub / Pupil
Wilhelm Diegelmann	...	Kapitän / Captain

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

professor | nightclub singer | nightclub | female corrupts male | reference to william shakespeare | 

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Taglines:

Täglich nur noch bis Donnerstag auf tausendfachen Wunsch! Zum letzten Male! (Feiburger Zeitung, ((Freiburg, Baden-Wûrttemburg)) 11 Februar 1931)

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Marlene Dietrich's screen test for this film survives. In it, she pretends to upbraid her pianist, played by Friedrich Hollaender, the film's composer. She then sings the chorus of "You're the Cream In My Coffee" a number of times, in English, after which she climbs on the piano, hitches up her skirt (to show her legs) and sings, in German, a torch song called "Why Cry" by Peter Kreuder, a well-known song-writer who supervised the film's orchestral arrangements. As the test ends, Dietrich breaks character and apologizes to Hollaender.

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Goofs

When the professor tries to cool the curling iron on the calendar, he tears down the date of November 27 and November 28. In the close up, all of a sudden, the date of Novemer 24 appears, which would not be possible.

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Quotes

[singing]
Lola Lola: Falling in love again, never wanted to. What's a girl to do? I can't help it. What choice do I have? That's the way I'm made. Love is all I know, I can't help it. Men swarm around me like moths 'round a flame. And if their wings are singed, surely I can't be blamed.

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Alternate Versions

Simultaneously shot in two versions (English and German) with the same cast; the German (with English subtitles) version is more popular because of the heavy German accents of the cast in the English language version. English lyrics for the songs were written by Sam Lerner.

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Connections

Referenced in Rozprávky z Hollywoodu (1992)

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Soundtracks

Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt
(uncredited)
Written by Friedrich Hollaender
Performed by Marlene Dietrich

User Reviews

Classic Gold

First -and only- time I saw Der Blaue Engel, I was a boy of about 13-14 years old. Even though this was over 35 years ago, I still remember how this movie blew me away. I came out of the theater with a new understanding of the world and the human condition.

The story is in essence about love, and what it can make a person do. It is also about what people will do to each other, a theme this movie takes to it's extreme. The acting is supreme, the atmosphere breathtaking, the music score fabulous. Marlene sings one of the great songs in movie history; German cabaret pur sang.

This is a European film in the best sense of the word. It gives the spectator the feeling of being picked up and dropped somewhere in time and place, to witness a dramatic sequence of events in the lives of a small group of people. It starts out jolly enough, but pretty soon you feel that things are going to go terribly wrong. And sure enough, they do.

The young boy that was I, left this movie with a weird mixture of feelings. On the one hand the fear of ever being trapped in such a romantic cul-de-sac, and of losing all human dignity. On the other, a deep longing to experience those bitter emotions. Isn't this the greatest accolade for a tragedy: that it moves you to tears, but at the same time makes you want to experience the sad events that caused those tears?

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German English French

Release Date:

5 December 1930 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Blue Angel

Filming Locations:

Marlene-Dietrich-Halle, Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,410

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universum Film (UFA), UFA Tonfilm, Universum Film (UFA)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 107 min (TCM print) 108 min (German) 94 min (English)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Klangfilm) Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1