kerrydragon That many of the cast never made it out of the Holocoust,because they were Jewish.

Emil Bakkum Der blaue Engel is the story about a totally dysfunctional marriage. When I saw the film for the first time, many years ago, I found it a depressing and nasty sight. For professor Rath, the spindle in the plot, is attached to love in the same way as an addict to hard drugs. He may not be the brightest person in the room, but at first he is a well respected member of his small community, and reasonably happy. But at the end, a few years later, he is just a wreck, and probably dead. My love for you, it came and went, so your feet are now in wet cement. I found it hard to believe that passion could completely destroy a sound character. It looked like a melodrama - which I detest. Nevertheless, Der blaue Engel deserves a second chance. For recently I saw the film again, and this time the narrative impressed me. The events are quite symbolic. In the first scene Rath whistles for his parakeet, but it has died. Rath is socially less clever than his pupils, with the exception of one, who is therefore nagged by his comrades. It is a tough school, they have their own coroner (joking). Rath is myopic and can not control his pupils. Later Rath meets the singer Lola, when he tries to withdraw his pupils from her bad influence. Lola makes cluck-cluck sounds, and Rat crows, indicating that there is an immediate and intuitive understanding. Naturally they marry. But Rath can not find his place in this troupe of performers. He ends as an unsound clown, who is only funny when eggs are smashed on his scull. It is understandable that Rat is soon a broken man. With a last effort he stumbles back to his school, and collapses into his old chair. His hand seize the writing desk, with such a strength, that the passing janitor is unable to remove Rath. Is he dead? Has he joined his parakeet? So, on second thoughts, Der blaue Engel has funny and comic elements. Rath is a born loser, with a resemblance with Laurel and Hardy, or Chaplin. If you are able to abstract from the melodrama, then Der blaue Engel is definitely recommendable. Don't forget to leave comments. I love it.

blanche-2 "The Blue Angel" from 1930 made a star out of Marlene Dietrich and has a great performance by Emil Jannings. It's a very dark tale of obsession leading to degradation.The film is based on a novel by Heinrich Mann directed by Josef von Sternberg. It concerns a professor (Jannings) who goes to a club, The Blue Angel, where he learns his students go, and meets the hypnotic Lola (Dietrich). He falls in love with her, marries her, and starts down a road that leads to hell.This is a movie about images -- a dead bird, the magnificent Lola, Jannings as a clown, his descent into madness, his image in a mirror, and the final shot of him, utterly destroyed, at his old professor desk.This is German filmmaking at its best. Von Sternberg and Dietrich would head for America; Jannings, a Nazi collaborator, would stay put. Later Dietrich called him a "ham." He does give a big performance, but somehow, it isn't over the top. On a side note - Jannings was the winner of the first Academy Award, but in reality, he placed second. The winner? Rin Tin Tin. The Academy believed it wouldn't put them in a good light to give the award to a dog, so they denied Rin his award and gave it to Jannings instead. It's said he used to carry it with him.

arfdawg-1 The Blue Angel is essentially about a cuckolded relationship and how it leads to one man's ruin.This movie put Dietrich on the map and was filmed simultaneously in both German and English. But there isn't a lot of dialog. Sound was still new and it's made almost as a silent movie would be made. It only runs 60 minutes.One of the funny things in this movie is that the students all look like they are 30 years old. Nothing has changed in nearly 100 years!Very well filmed and even tho it is clearly set a long time ago, the movie doesn't feel overly dated, although the story itself is. I guess that's the sign of a classic. I cannot say it's a great movie. But the cinematography and direction make it really compelling to watch. Within the movie, you can also realize why Sternberg had such problems in Hollywood. The pacing is rather slow and the 60 minutes feels much longer.The 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, The Blue Angel, to visit a dancer, Lola Lola, he comes there to confront them. But he is attracted to Lola. The next night he comes again--and does not sleep at home. This causes trouble at work and his life takes a downward spiral.