it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is a play on words that you will only be able to understand if you understand the German language. "Der blaue Engel" or "The Blue Angel" is a German black-and-white film from over 85 years ago that is considered one of the early sound classics. This was written and directed 3 years before the Nazis' rise to power by filmmaker Josef von Sternberg, briefly before he directed "Morocco", the movie that brought him and lead actress Marlene Dietrich also their first/only Oscar nominations. Emil Janning, however, was already an Academy Award winner when "The Blue Angel" was made. And looking at this film, it is not difficult to believe that he was one of the finest actors of this era. Of course, his character is not as epic and memorable as Dietrich's, but in my opinion he gives the better performance. Lola Lola profits a lot from how perfect Dietrich is for the part and also from how she is written. Today she is considered among the most significant femmes fatales in film history. Poor professor.There exist quite a few versions of this film, but the one I saw runs for 107 minutes roughly and thus is neither among the shortest nor the longest existing. Apart from the famous lead duo, this film also includes a supporting performance by Hans Albers, who later became a star in his own right. I must say there are not that many early films that I liked or even loved, but this one here made for a good watch mostly for Jannings' great portrayal. It is interesting to see how skeptical Dietrich was about her probably most iconic performance when she was considerably older and also how skeptical she was about herself for accepting to play the character, even if it was her big breakthrough role. And finally there is also Kurt Gerron playing a magician in here, an actor and filmmaker who faced a tragic fate a decade later and his film "Theresienstadt" tells us a unique story about his later years.But back to this film here. People who don't mind old black-and-white films with subtitles (unless they are German of course) will have a good time watching this one here, of course they could also go for the English-language version, even if that one is probably more difficult to get a hand on. Some really memorable scenes in this under-2-hour film and I recommend checking it out. It also reminded me of a "real" version of Bob Fosse's "Cabaret" and I would not be too surprised if Minnelli's character was inspired by Dietrich's and both male protagonists are teachers. Can't be a coincidence, even if this one here takes place before the Nazi years. I cannot say I enjoyed "Der blaue Engel" as much as "Cabaret", but this is only because I really love the latter and there's no denying "Der blaue Engel" has a couple truly memorable music sequences too from start to finish. However, it starts as a comedy, but becomes pretty dramatic and dark the longer it runs. I recommend checking it out. Thumbs up.

I can't say much about this film, having just seen it for the first time, but while I was impressed with Von Sternberg's direction, as usual, I felt that this film lacked substance and drive. The story is too predictable; maybe at its time, it had some novelty. I hoped that the road would twist in some unpredictable direction, but it simply loped along to its predictably depressing conclusion.Jannings and Dietrich are wonderfully cast and carry off their roles with perfection. Less convincing is Kurt Gerron's magician -- he seems like he would belong more as a bar-tender than as an impresario. The touches of humor are odd.... I found myself uncertain at times whether it was a comedy or a drama. Certainly, the film makes Jannings' imperious school professor a subject of so much ridicule that his fall from grace comes more as a relief than a tragedy.One would hope to find minor characters with some flash to add some interest to a simple story, but only Hans Albers' strongman can really make much of an impression next to Jannings and Dietrich.It's a pleasing film to watch, I enjoyed much of the atmosphere and so forth, but it didn't make much of a lasting impression on me I'm afraid.

They released this film filmed in two versions, they acted all the scenes in both German and English, but when I decided to watch this film from the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, I was going to watch the original German language version. Basically Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) is the esteemed college preparatory high school educator who has punished many of his male students for spreading around the image of beautiful stage performer Lola Lola (Destry Rides Again's Marlene Dietrich). He hopes to catch the school boys in the cabaret club The Blue Angel, where she is the headlining act, and after her for himself he grows slowly passionate for her, and with a pair of panties snatched by a student he has a good reason to return there the following night. Having had a night of desire and such, Rath returns to class next day, with the Principal (Eduard Von Winterstein) furious to see the students running riot, and he is aware of the teacher's behaviour recently as well. He decides it is best to retire from the school, and with his newfound freedom he can marry Lola, but they cannot stay happy for long as their money problems grow, and to earn he is forced to become a stage clown in the cabaret troupe. Rath is often filled with jealousy and lust for his wife and her profession, she leaves herself open as a "shared woman", and he is being ridiculed for his past while performing as a clown. He performs his last act at The Blue Angel, and he is shocked to see Lola kissing her new love interest strongman Mazeppa (Hans Albers), and his rage turns into insanity, where he starts strangles his wife and is forced into a straitjacket. In the end, having been released from prison, Rath is not able to resolve his position as a school teacher, and he has obviously lost wife Lola, so he dies from extreme self pity clutching the school desks that once sat his loyal students. Also starring Kurt Gerron as Kiepert the Magician, Rosa Valetti as Guste the Magician's Wife, Reinhold Bernt as The Clown, Hans Roth as Beadle the Caretaker of the Secondary School, Rolf Müller as Pupil Angst and Robert Klein-Lörk as Pupil Goldstaub. Jannings - in his first talking picture - gives a mixed but equally interesting performance as the teacher turned performer with a troubled passion, and Dietrich is wonderful in her iconic top hat and black stockings as the seductive stage performer with a cruel streak, it is a film with some memorable sequences and moments that stand out, especially of course the cabaret stuff, making it a most watchable drama. Very good!

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.