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The Blue Angel: Special Edition [DVD]

Emil Jannings (Actor), Marlene Dietrich (Actor), Josef von Sternberg (Director) | Rated: Parental Guidance | Format: DVD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Actors: Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti, Hans Albers
  • Directors: Josef von Sternberg
  • Writers: Josef von Sternberg, Carl Zuckmayer, Heinrich Mann, Karl Vollmöller, Robert Liebmann
  • Producers: Erich Pommer
  • Format: PAL
  • Language: English, German
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: PG
  • Studio: Eureka
  • DVD Release Date: 17 Sep 2001
  • Run Time: 200 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B00005NBUL
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 127,889 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

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Reviews

From Amazon.co.uk

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

Product Description

Professor Rath (Emil Jannings) discovers some postcards of night-club singer Lola-Lola (Marlene Dietrich) being passed among his class. He then goes to the club where the singer works in the hope of catching some of his students but instead becomes entranced by the vampish beauty of Lola herself. Josef von Sternberg's adaptation of Heinrich Mann's novel launched Dietrich onto the international scene, and includes her famous rendition of 'Falling in Love Again'. The film was originally shot in two different versions, one German, the other English, and this special edition contains both (the German version being presented with English subtitles).
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Sternberg’s 1929 classic, precursor to “Cabaret” 7 Feb 2006
By pointone TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
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.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointing DVD (not film) Experience 11 May 2012
By Adam
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This review refers specifically to problems with the 'special two disc set' from Eureka! Most reviewers seem to be appraising Sternberg's film, which has been reviewed thousands of times, rather than the product they have (or perhaps haven't) bought from Amazon.co.uk.

I am pleased that the set contains both the German and English versions of the film. However, the quality of the DVD packaging and the product itself is disappointingly amateur.

The blue-coloured insert in the DVD case appears to have been printed on a home printer, and I initially suspected it was a 'pirate' DVD, but now I rather think that's just the quality of the Eureka! outfit. More importantly, the sound quality on this DVD, which purports to be 'Newly remastered from the 35mm negative', is poor. This is not because, as some reviewers have pointed out, the film is so old. Although I don't doubt that the age of the film has everything to do with the static noise throughout, my complaint relates rather to the 'pitch' of the soundtrack. I suspect this has something to do with the speed at which the remastering has been set. Compared to other available versions of the The Blue Angel, everything on this DVD (both the German and English versions) sounds unnaturally high. Resultantly, all of the music is (approximately) a semitone higher than it should be; whilst this is not a great interval in musical terms, it makes the singing in particular sound distorted and unnatural. If you're buying this film for the songs, rather than perhaps the nostalgic value of the piece, then do beware that this particular version distorts the original soundtrack. As a fan of Dietrich's voice, if I were buying this for myself again, I'd definitely look elsewhere.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Marlene, the accidental star 21 Feb 2008
By Mr. C. Napier-Kristiansson
Format:DVD
What is amazing about this film is that it made an accidental star of Marlene Dietrich and resulted in a later, complete reversal of fortunes for the film's originally-intentioned 'real' star, Emile Jannings. Dietrich was 29 when she made this, and it rocketed her to global mega-stardom, making her the first-ever, truely, German Hollywood star.

The Blue Angel showcases the glory of Germany's pre-Nazi, wonderful, Expressionist cinema, laying bare the reality of decadence with glimpses of the lingering poverty, dirt, social inertia, shabbiness, a post World War One legacy. The film strips the life of cabaret performers bare: it was often little more than giving a cursary veneer of acceptable artistry for the all-present seedy, sexual side, which Germany's rich had a voracious appetite for.

The film is a powerful reminder of how the high can fall and ruination can have a beautiful, sweet but deadly allure. The film truly shocked and provoked, was way ahead of its time, and songs like 'Ich bin die fesche Lola' and 'Nimm dich in acht vor blonden Frauen', encapsulate a breathy and naughty sensuality, which is far more shattering than anything we could ever dream of attempting now.

A seminal work and proof that Germany was THE powerhouse of Expressionist masterpieces before the tragic arrival of Nazism. If anything, Dietrich was one of the few who went on to vindicate the reality of the 'good' German.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars Great film, but no booklet...
I bought this used to replace a lent copy (never lend!), and it arrived without the fabulous Masters of Cinema 48 page booklet. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Rufus Yells
5.0 out of 5 stars The Blue Angel(Der Blaue Engel Germany, 1930) Dual Format German &...
I have liked this movies since I got a 16mm copy back in the 1970s in both German language & later English language version. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Kenneth M. Henderson
5.0 out of 5 stars Good girls are good, bad girls are better
Josef von Sternberg is less early, Marlene Dietrich (Lola-Lola) is very early Dietrich, and The Blue Angel the first Dietrich/Sternberg vehicle. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Dr René Codoni
5.0 out of 5 stars Death disguised as love
I have owned and watched several versions of this film. I even have the film script. I would say that the Kino two DVD versions is the best presentation so far. Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by bernie
1.0 out of 5 stars Insufferable
Prof. Rath (Emil Jannings) is a teacher who discovers that his pupils
are visiting "The Blue Angel" cabaret club to see the girls there - and
one girl in particular -... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2009 by Alex da Silva
5.0 out of 5 stars Death disguised as love
I have owned and watched several versions of this film. I even have the film script. I would say that the Kino two DVD versions is the best presentation so far. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2008 by bernie
4.0 out of 5 stars One of the least-seen classics on a great special edition Blu-ray and...
For all the mythmaking about Dietrich, the surprisingly rarely revived The Blue Angel actually rests on Emil Jannings expressive shoulders, offering yet another of his great men... Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2006 by Trevor Willsmer
5.0 out of 5 stars Weimar Germany in its own eyes
This was the first film I bought from pre-National Socialist Germany, and it was a treat. It seems surprisingly contemporary, and you can see what this thing about Dietrich was. Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2004 by MishMich
5.0 out of 5 stars 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... Read more
Published on 22 Feb 2001
5.0 out of 5 stars 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. Read more
Published on 10 Jan 2001
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