A remarkable performance from Emil Jannings.
The Blue Angel (1930)
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Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 30
Rotten:2
Average Rating: 8.3/10
Consensus: Marlene Dietrich steals more than one show in this backstage tragedy about a lowly professor besotted with a cruel and enigmatic singer.
Runtime: 2 hrs
Genre: Foreign Films
Synopsis: This Josef Von Sternberg film, based on Heinrich Mann's novel PROFESSOR UNRAT, made Marlene Dietrich a star and began a tumultuous relationship between star and director that spanned Sternberg's most creative period. The film stars... This Josef Von Sternberg film, based on Heinrich Mann's novel PROFESSOR UNRAT, made Marlene Dietrich a star and began a tumultuous relationship between star and director that spanned Sternberg's most creative period. The film stars Emil Jannings as Dr. Immanuel Rath, a provincial prep school teacher who becomes incensed when he learns his boys have become infatuated with Lola Lola (Dietrich), a cabaret singer. Heading to the Blue Angel, a nightclub, to catch his pupils, Rath instead becomes bewitched by the sensuous Lola himself, beginning an obsession that drives him to the depths of despair. Visionary, haunting, and emotionally unrelenting, THE BLUE ANGEL stands as Sternberg's crowning achievement. Filmed in both German and English simultaneously, this is the German version, which is considered superior to its English language counterpart. [More]
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti, Hans Albers
Director: Josef Von Sternberg
Director: Josef Von Sternberg
Screenwriter: Robert Lieberman, Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmoller
Composer: Karl Vollmoller
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Reviews for The Blue Angel
Director Von Sternberg does whatever is necessary to emphasize the moral decline of not only Jannings but also the community around him.
The first film collaboration between Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich, this reeks with decay and sexuality.
If The Blue Angel is familiar material, it is also the sort of hing that Jannings does better than anyone else.
On top of the drawing power of Jannings comes the discovery of a new magnet, Marlene Dietrich.
A seminal work in world cinema, it's best known as the movie that catapulted Dietrich to int'l stardom, but it remains one of the most powerful and disturbing studies of amour fou (literally) and sado-masochism, with a haunting turn by Emile Jannings
Not only is Mr. Jannings's and Miss Dietrich's acting excellent, but they are supported by an unusually competent cast.
Exceptionally high drama for its day, this tragic, tragic tale can tend to drag, but it's one of the best examples of well-realized filmmaking from the first half of the 20th century.
Though the film is hopelessly dated by today's standards, it does contain two powerful performances.
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