Another touchstone in Weimar Cinema, The Blue Angel (1930) is Josef Von Sternberg's best-known film. It made an icon of Marlene Dietrich, who soon decamped to Hollywood and international fame. It's a straightforward drama enlivened by stylish direction and its legendary star.Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) is a stuffy teacher who disapproves of his students frequenting the local nightclub. Then he meets singer Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich). Rath falls for Lola, eloping with and later marrying her. But the Professor finds himself unable to control the singer. Worse, influenced by Lola's manager (Kurt Gerron) Rath loses his job and falls into dissolution.
Based on Heinrich Mann's novel, The Blue Angel is a cautionary melodrama. Rath's seduced by showbiz, degenerating from mild-mannered bourgeois to debauched wastrel. Lola's a typical if somewhat unwitting femme fatale, driving men to despair by her footloose, sensual "nature." By film's end Rath's a literal clown, humiliating himself before former friends and students. It's a standard honeypot plot to make feminists howl, yet retains undeniable potency.
Yet Sternberg's direction is a major appeal. Sternberg's trademark smoky rooms, grayscale cinematography and shady characters provide a proto noir edge; Lola's sexuality seems an unlikely beacon in these tawdry settings. Blue Angel marked Sternberg's first sound picture yet he adjusts faultlessly, without the silent staginess of many contemporaries. He even arranges clever aural gags, contrasting Lola's ballads with Mozart playing on a town clock.
Marlene Dietrich's smoky sensuality dominates the film, alternately tough and vulnerable, always alluring. Lola should be hateful yet Dietrich invests her with passion and sensitivity. Her songs Falling in Love Again and Just A Regular Man became standards, often covered or parodied but never bettered. Dietrich toiled in silent movie bit parts and this sound effort certainly benefits from her husky voice. She completely overshadows mannered costar Emil Jannings, whose Professor proves more pitiful than tragic.
After relocating to America, von Sternberg reteamed with Dietrich on Morocco and Blonde Venus (among others), lesser variants on a theme. The Blue Angel remains their best collaboration; despite the hackneyed story, Marlene Dietrich's unique appeal will certainly never fade.
