The Blue Angel
| The Blue Angel | |
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film poster
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| Directed by | Josef von Sternberg |
| Produced by | Erich Pommer |
| Written by |
Carl Zuckmayer Karl Vollmöller Robert Liebmann Josef von Sternberg |
| Based on |
Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann |
| Starring |
Emil Jannings Marlene Dietrich Kurt Gerron |
| Music by |
Friedrich Hollaender Robert Liebmann (lyrics) Franz Waxman (orchestrations) |
| Cinematography | Günther Rittau |
| Edited by | Walter Klee Sam Winston |
| Distributed by |
UFA Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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99 minutes |
| Country | Germany (Weimar Republic) |
| Language | German English |
| Box office | $77,982 (2001 re-release) |
The Blue Angel (German: Der blaue Engel) is a 1930 German tragicomedic film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann – with uncredited contributions by Sternberg – it is based on Heinrich Mann's 1905 novel Professor Unrat (Professor Garbage) and set in Weimar Germany. The Blue Angel presents the tragic transformation of a respectable professor to a cabaret clown and his descent into madness. The film is the first feature-length German full-talkie and brought Dietrich international fame. In addition, it introduced her signature song, Friedrich Hollaender and Robert Liebmann's "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)". It is considered to be a classic of German cinema.
The film was shot simultaneously in German- and English-language versions, although the latter version was thought lost for many years. The German version is considered to be "obviously superior"; it is longer and not marred by actors struggling with their English pronunciation.
Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) is an esteemed educator at the local Gymnasium (a college preparatory high school) in Weimar Germany. The character is crafted to embody the essence of the provincial Weimar German lower middle classes; the "Petite bourgeois", whose politico-economic, and moral ideology is wholly a performance imitated from their interpretation of; and their subservience to; the mores of the haute bourgeoisie, which they the petite bourgeoisie seek to identify themselves with; and who, in bourgeois morality, they strive to imitate.
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