Dalbert Pringle OK. I'm just guessing here - But judging by The Blue Angel's decidedly wacky, off-kilter storyline, I'm pretty convinced that this German import from 1930 was supposed to be director Josef Von Sternberg's idea (as lame as it was) of a Hollywood-style "Screwball" comedy.I mean, being a "Screwball" comedy is the only thing that explains so much about this film's nonsensical idiocy. 'Cause I could never, ever take the utter inanity that went on in The Blue Angel's story at all seriously.If this film was intended as a dead-serious drama, it sure came across as being downright laughable to me. And I'd say that anybody who does take this film with a straight face is setting themselves up for a major disappointment, if you ask me.At first I actually thought I was in for a real cinematic treat with The Blue Angel - But, alas, even the sluttified, 29-year-old Marlene Dietrich with her plump butt and chubby legs lost their overall appeal even before I realized what was happening.... And, what would I say about Dietrich's singing!!??.... Oh, man, I don't even wanna get started on that! In many ways, The Blue Angel reminded me, more than anything else, of a poorly-choreographed, live-action cartoon. And actor Emil Jannings (the future Nazi-lover) was absolutely despicable in this film as the lecherous, old fart, Professor Rath.

tnrcooper Seems like director Von Sternberg had an axe to grind with men or the middle class. Emil Janning's Professor is staid and repressed but seems like a decent person and I don't know why he must be seen to lose it so much, if, as the director said, this was not a political allegory. That is either disingenuous or the Professor is not the stable person he seems the first 2/3 of the film. The only other explanation is that Von Sternberg sees Lola (the amazing Marlene Dietrich) as a very destructive person. I found this an overly melodramatic film which makes a cartoonish depiction of a middle-class German. The acting is fantastic from Dietrich and Jannings but I found this a baffling film. I had expected that the Professor would fall in love and they would have a more stable relationship, but their relationship falls apart when the Professor is completely irrational at the attention his wife is getting. While this isn't unreasonable, that he becomes SO unhinged seems really unlikely. I don't understand why his seemingly sweet wife and also someone who seemed deeply in love with him turns away from him so quickly. If Von Sternberg wanted to make that storyline, they should have made the Professor a bit more unlikable. This was really a disappointing film. I hoped for a more nuanced, thoughtful depiction of a man learning to see the beauty in things he had previously looked down on. Von Sternberg makes the Professor a baffling character through which there is no throughline from his character before and after marrying Lola.

John T. Ryan WE CAN WELL recall viewing this film for the very first time on a PBS Friday evening show. This was circa 1971 and we needed to go to such Public Television stations as our own WTTW, Channel 11 in Chicago in order to see many films which weren't shown on commercial TV Statiobs.WELL, HOW THINGS have changed. Just this passed Monday (2 days ago), Turner Classic Movies ran THE BLUE ANGEL in prime-time. It had been about 40 years (yes, count 'em, folks!) since our initial contact with Herr Josef Von Sternberg's dark, tragic drama. We had seen it once or twice during that period, but had never given it my undivided attention.ALTHOUGH IT IS a German language film, there was at least one of these showings was in a recently rediscovered English language version. We also remember a showing which was in German; but featured Miss Dietrich's performance of "Falling In Lov Again" in English.VIEWING A FILM SUCH as this very talky drama, while at the same time being compelled to read Subtutles, in order to follow the story can really prove to be a pain right where one sits. Yet, it does seem to become easier as the story progresses; as we become engrossed with the scenario unfolding, the dark yet starkly penetrating images, moody and highly atmospheric songs & music and the virtuoso acting performances.THE STORY MAY seem somewhat complex; yet it is probably the very universal themes and connection with the lives and needs of all people that make this such a powerful and compelling of a story with such a long life as an all time favourite.IN SHORT, WE have a story of loneliness, the need to love and be loved, the falling from grace of a highly regarded and most straight laced of a member of academia. From perhaps a most distinguished position and and outstanding of a reputation as a Professor of Literature at the unnamed university, the professor (Mr. Emil Jannings) falls in love with a common, vulgar cabaret singer and exponent of sex, Lola Lola (Miss Marlena Dietrich).THE STORY COVERS a period of over five years, in which the middle aged, clearly un-handsome man discovers that he has fallen to such a degree of degradation as to not only being a minor entertainer; but also participating in selling his own wife. During appearances following Lola's doing her song, professor Roth's duties included peddling some rather pornographic type of postcards to the bawdy male patrons of the show.WE MUST CONFESS that even being a grown man, married with two children, there was an awful lot of obvious seedy goings on that I missed on previous viewings. Certainly, there were no examples of explicit on screen sex (such as have become so commonplace); and yet, with all of the occurrences we surely are forced to ask a few questions.IN ADDITION TO the setting of a night club with rather risqué programming, what is it that all of these college boys find so fascinating? Why do the young men hide from the Professor in secret rooms that are below the floors? What is the purpose of these rooms? Why does the proprietor worry about the presence of a police officer; for, isn't this a legal and licensed establishment? Do you think that there is sex for sale here? We do.THE AMAZING FEAT that is accomplished here is making such an interesting story out of such a sordid and low life segment of society.WE GIVE THIS five stars as our rating.

dlee2012 The Blue Angel features a simple but effective narrative, showing the fall of a man into degradation and squalor. As such, it echoes the themes in early Weimar cinema such as Pandora's Box. The narrative is, indeed, so simple, that this early "talkie" could just as easily have been a silent film. Only rarely is the new sound technology explored to good effect, such as when songs can be heard when the doors from Lola's room to the stage are periodically opened and closed by characters. There is also, of course, the use of song, with Dietrich's voice showcased to good affect.Emil Jannings portrays the stereotype of an academic perfectly: arrogant, insular and with some minor eccentricities, he is unable to cope with life in the "real world" and this leads to his fall from grace. Initially, we in the audience, like his students, see him as a clown, a laughable, pompous yet bumbling figure. His ultimate fate is to be exposed to the whole town as a fool when, stripped of his power, he literally becomes a clown before seeking to return to the insularity of his old post.However, the Professor is not the only loathsome character in this film. The attitude of the students is as despicable as that of their tutor: with their arrogant and bullying behaviour, whilst they are his nemesis, they are also his mirror. They are growing into his image and, with his growing captivation with Lola, he is growing into theirs.Lola is an equally unlikable character and perhaps, once again, reflects concern amongst conservatives in Weimar society about the growing power of women. She is far smarter than the "learned" professor in terms of her ability to understand and manipulate people. Going out on the stage each night is the opposite to his insular world yet it his "act" of appearing respectable in society that this actress is able to quickly pull apart, exposing the shallow man inside.The bird motif used throughout the film is strikingly effective. At the start, the bird who can no longer sing is callously discarded by the housekeeper, just as the worn-out, useless Professor will be discarded, first by the school and then by society. The doomed bird motif is also prefigured by the birds near the clock as the procession of ghoulish statues marches past with each hour. Finally, the Professor himself is humiliated during the clown and magician routine, forced to have doves fly out from under his top hat and to crow like a rooster.Ultimately, this is a brilliant film and, like much late Weimar cinema, reflects themes of moral decline and degradation. This time, however, the character is deeply unlikable from the outset and his humiliation is really an increasing expose to the world of his pre-existing inner nature. He does not grow or transform as a character; rather, as his power is stripped, his true nature is revealed. The learned academic is the biggest fool of all. Stripped of his position and prestige, the academic is nothing more than a clown.