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Amazon.co.uk Review
For director Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich it all began with The Blue Angel, one of the masterpieces of Germany's Weimar cinema. This landmark film thrust the sultry and unrestrained Dietrich on an unsuspecting international film audience. She plays the prototypical role of Lola, the singer who tempts repressed professor Emil Jannings (the king of expressionist actors) into complete submission night after night at the Blue Angel night-club. The film perfectly captures the masochism and degradation of the Weimar Republic, just before the rise of Adolf Hitler. And yet the moral confusion exhibited by Jannings is really due to his own torment. Dietrich is merely an instrument of his innermost desires, standing on stage in top hat, stockings and bare thighs singing "Falling in Love Again". --Bill Desowitz, Amazon.com
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)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful
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.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
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. I watched both the English and German versions I find the story depressing but the telling of it and the acting fascinating.
A real added plus is the commentary by German Film Historian Werner Sedendorf. He brought up information directly relating to the film at the time it was relevant. Then he left some berating room so you could absorb and experience the information. To many commentaries turn into soap-box discussions or rill in slow times with useful information that however is irrelevant to the film at the time. The film has so much hidden death and lost culture that after the commentary you will have to watch it again.
The English version is not really entirely English. Enough English is presented that the German in-between is clear enough to follow the story. However the German version is spoken clear without mumbling and lacks any slang that would force the casual follower to rush for a dictionary.
The basic story is as Federico Garcia Lorca describes in his play, "The butterfly's Evil Spell", death in disguise of love. Prof. Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings), a person afraid of life, starts out to save his students, who want to embrace life, from a fate worse than death. In the process he meats an entertainer, Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich). She inadvertently is the instrument of the Professors downfall from grace.
The magic of the film is more in the telling of the story through acting, sound, and symbolism than the story its self.
The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company 1918-1945
Blue Angel, The (Class. Film Scripts S)
A real added plus is the commentary by German Film Historian Werner Sedendorf. He brought up information directly relating to the film at the time it was relevant. Then he left some berating room so you could absorb and experience the information. To many commentaries turn into soap-box discussions or rill in slow times with useful information that however is irrelevant to the film at the time. The film has so much hidden death and lost culture that after the commentary you will have to watch it again.
The English version is not really entirely English. Enough English is presented that the German in-between is clear enough to follow the story. However the German version is spoken clear without mumbling and lacks any slang that would force the casual follower to rush for a dictionary.
The basic story is as Federico Garcia Lorca describes in his play, "The butterfly's Evil Spell", death in disguise of love. Prof. Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings), a person afraid of life, starts out to save his students, who want to embrace life, from a fate worse than death. In the process he meats an entertainer, Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich). She inadvertently is the instrument of the Professors downfall from grace.
The magic of the film is more in the telling of the story through acting, sound, and symbolism than the story its self.
The Ufa Story: A History of Germany's Greatest Film Company 1918-1945
Blue Angel, The (Class. Film Scripts S)
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Disappointing DVD (not film) Experience
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... Read more
Published 17 days ago by Adam
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 10 months ago by Dr René Codoni
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 24 months ago by bernie
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
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
Marlene, the accidental star
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... Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2008 by Mr. C. Napier-Kristiansson
One of the least-seen classics on a great special edition DV
For all the mythmaking about Dietrich, the film actually rests on Emil Jannings expressive shoulders, offering yet another of his great men laid low, in this case by the love of a... Read more
Published on 22 Mar 2006 by Trevor Willsmer
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
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
Men cluster to her like moths to the flame.
Never ever go down to the edge of town is advice that professor Unrat should have taken. But he does, on the pretext of taking in hand his chargelings,and there he is seduced by... Read more
Published on 6 Nov 2000
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