Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14625 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-09-23
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English, German
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 200 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Two things make it impossible to consign Josef von Sternberg's seedily atmospheric 1930 masterpiece The Blue Angel to the archives of museum land: it was the first film to put Marlene Dietrich in front of an international audience; and it features a towering performance from Emil Jannings as the professor whose fall from grace is precipitated by his obsession with Dietrich's archly vampish showgirl Lola-Lola. On both counts The Blue Angel remains a potent, vibrant work which still has moments of real relevance. Dietrich's performance is indeed hypnotic: von Sternberg lights her face and exposed flesh--shoulders and thighs--in a way that clearly indicates the erotic charge she generates among the men in the Blue Angel night club, and in Jennings in particular. Before our eyes his repressed, puritanical self-will disintegrates and his fate is sealed. The pivotal moment is, of course, when Dietrich teases her audience with "Falling in Love Again", her stockinged and suspendered legs astride a beer barrel, a top hat rakishly on her head. It would become the signature tune of her cabaret act in later years but here she delivers it with a far less studied, throwaway cheeriness; how, indeed, can it be her fault if men cluster around her like moths around a flame? This is the raw material on which an icon was built, but there is much else to fascinate in the film itself: you can still smell the pungent grim reality of a trouper's life on the road; and the professor's pathetic efforts to control his class of unruly boys still resonates today... this is an essential piece of film history.

On the DVD: The Blue Angel is presented in its German and English-language versions, both restored and digitally remastered. As far as the sound quality is concerned this is of limited benefit since there is a great deal of distortion on both versions. But thanks to the picture restoration we can see how von Sternberg treats Dietrich: her face becomes a radiant, mocking pool of light always in contrast with the dark, grainy characters around her. The English version (in truth, only the Dietrich/Jannings scenes were shot in each language) is slightly pruned, missing a key scene in which the professor's repressed sensitivity is established at the very beginning. So despite some erratic sub-titling, the German version remains definitive. And it also reveals the worldliness of the original lyrics to Friedrich Hollander's classic songs: "I Was Made for Love from Head to Toe" suggests a rather more robust attitude than the vague whimsy of "Falling in Love Again." A final thought: releasing films of this importance on DVD surely creates an opportunity to put them in context by including documentary and factual resources, but this release has no extras of any kind. At the very least it cries out for an authoritative commentary. --Piers Ford

DVD Description
This Special 2 Disc Set Includes:

Both English and German versions of the film
Audio Commentary (German Version only)
Marlene Dietrich's "Blue Angel" Screen Test
Dietrich Interview Footage
Original Trailer
Dietrich Concert Footage
Photo Gallery
Filmmaker/Cast Bios
Production History

Germany 1930 Black and White
Full Frame 1.19:1
Dolby Digital 2.0
106 Mins (German Version with English Subtitles)
94 Mins (English Version)

Synopsis
This Josef Von Sternberg film, based on Heinrich Mann's novel PROFESSOR UNRAT, made Marlene Dietrich a celebrity and began a tumultuous relationship between star and director that spanned Sternberg's most creative period. The film features 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, the German version is generally considered superior to its English language counterpart.

Customer Reviews

Sternberg’s 1929 classic, precursor to “Cabaret”
This film is fascinating for many reasons but certain adjustments are necessary, first it was one of the first “talkies” and that accounts for the constricted sound quality, the limited but acceptable quality of the film, and directing style in transition from silent to talkie.

Blue Angel was filmed twice concurrently, once in English and once in German, this review applies to the German (considered the best version) with sub titles.

However with minimal adjustment for social morals of the late twenties and the film is thoroughly engrossing. Emil Jannings as the tentative Professor Rath teaching at a boy’s prep school, pathetically guarding his authority as a teacher is a beautifully acted portrait of a man descending into degradation and despair.

Lola as acted by Marlene Dietrich in her first and most unforgettable talking role is to my mind a wilful and thoughtless young woman. There is more of Sally Bowles (Cabaret) than manipulative dominatrix.

Marlene Dietrich’s screen test is fascinating as she sings “You are the cream in my coffee” sounding very like the adorable Annette Hanshawe who was at the height of her fame in 1929 (check out the CDs).

Also the songs filmed in 1972 show the astonishing beauty of the actress at the age of 71, almost more striking than her more plump appearance in 1929.

Don‘t be put off by the 1929 date, this film is timeless.

A chilling study of obsession and degradation
This film shot Marlene Dietrich to fame, but did little for the career of Emil Jannings. True, Dietrich's performance is scintillating, but it is Janning's portrayal of a man obsessed that completes this masterpiece. The pacing of the film is perfect. There is not a moment, during the Professor's slow decline into utter humiliation and degradation, that the characters are less than convincing. In my opinion, the moment of pathos at the end of the film, when the broken Professor seeks the small comfort of his old classroom, is still just as shocking as some of the more visceral images of recent films. Absolutely brilliant. A must buy.

Emil Jannings' acting is superb and Marlene is intoxicating.
The first time I saw The Blue Angel was around 1970 in Los Angeles. It and "The Threepenny Opera" were for a long time my favorite films. Unfortunately the sound on the Blue Angel film is terrible, but remember that this film was produced only three years after the first "talkie". In any case it's good that there are English subtitles.

The film is about Prof. Emmanuel Rath, the high school teacher who falls in love with Lola Lola, the local night club singer. (I understand that someone thought the name Lola was sexy, so the name Lola Lola had to be twice as sexy.) He loses his job, and his self-esteem. Emil Jannings portrayal of Dr. Rath is superb. I suppose I should despise Lola Lola, but in Marlene Dietrich's portrayal, she is not only beautiful, but also rather sympathetic. In fact you can't help but fall in love with Marlene Dietrich in the course of the film. When she sits there on stage and sings for Emil Jannings up in the balcony, it's clear that neither he nor we have a chance against this enchanting woman. The song is the famous "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt". The film is of course more than just this scene, but I'm afraid I'm going to wear out the tape at this spot, and my wife has started to complain as well, wondering if I'm not going to get tired of the film. My reply is "Never!"