That many of the cast never made it out of the Holocoust,because they were Jewish.

"The Blue Angel" from 1930 made a star out of Marlene Dietrich and has a great performance by Emil Jannings. It's a very dark tale of obsession leading to degradation.The film is based on a novel by Heinrich Mann directed by Josef von Sternberg. It concerns a professor (Jannings) who goes to a club, The Blue Angel, where he learns his students go, and meets the hypnotic Lola (Dietrich). He falls in love with her, marries her, and starts down a road that leads to hell.This is a movie about images -- a dead bird, the magnificent Lola, Jannings as a clown, his descent into madness, his image in a mirror, and the final shot of him, utterly destroyed, at his old professor desk.This is German filmmaking at its best. Von Sternberg and Dietrich would head for America; Jannings, a Nazi collaborator, would stay put. Later Dietrich called him a "ham." He does give a big performance, but somehow, it isn't over the top. On a side note - Jannings was the winner of the first Academy Award, but in reality, he placed second. The winner? Rin Tin Tin. The Academy believed it wouldn't put them in a good light to give the award to a dog, so they denied Rin his award and gave it to Jannings instead. It's said he used to carry it with him.

Von Sternberg's film is a wonderfully constructed piece of succulent and mellifluous tragicomedy. The fluently moving camera offers a beautiful sense of place, and especially the crooked pebble-stoned streets and leaning houses are the unforgettable epitomes of this film in my memory.Just as with Vigo's "L'Atalante" (1934), much of the film's power depends on us, as the audience, being able to fall in love with the lead actress. It certainly helps that the director did, and for once some knowledge of production enhances the experience: Umrat/Jennings as the jealous and passionate star, Dietrich as the object of desire not only of the boys but of the camera. I also really like the use of stairs, which clearly separate the differing worlds. I could definitely see this influencing "Zéro de conduite" (1933) and "Hets" (1944). The slow movement of the camera in the empty classroom after the crucial confrontation reveals one of the most touching visual moments I can think of (this is repeated later in an equally heart-breaking scene).I remember I was very young when I saw this for the first time. It made a lasting impression then, and I count it as one of the three films that ultimately made me fall in love with films to the extent that my thirst will never be quenched.

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.