The Blue Angel

Rating:
Summary: Maybe not a masterpiece . . .
Review: This, no doubt, is the way to go if you're looking to buy The Blue Angel. The two-disc set has both the original film - with English subtitles - and the remake of the film for English audiences. There's a signifigant difference between the two in time, and they are two seperate films. Dubbing was apparently not an option in 1930. Who knew? Do yourself a favor and stay away from the $7.99ish version.

That having been said, the subtitled version is the way to go. I've never actually seen this release, so I can't comment on how well done they are, or how the transfer is . . . however, they can't possibly be worse than the version I have seen, which subtitled less than 75% of the dialogue and had no concept of aspect ratio. Even with these drawbacks, The Blue Angel was one of the most poetic bits of allegoria I've yet seen from UFA.

Emil Jannings you'll remember from Murnau's Last Laugh, five years this film's senior. In that film Jannings plays a porter reduced to the humilation of a washroom attendant. In The Blue Angel his position is that of a gynasium professor turned clown. He is perfect in both roles, bearing the comic tragedy of a great man brought low: as most of Germany did under the constructs of Versailles.

Marlene Dietrich? You might not remember her from anything else, but you'll never forget her after this. Dressed in underwear that your grandmother would call overly conservative and weird stage costumes that hide more than they suggest, Dietrich at first appears awkward and graceless, as she appears in the eyes of old Professor Rath, who is also meeting her for the first time. But as we grow closer, her charms become apparent, and the viewer just might find himself wondering why Hollywood ever fell in love with the Twiggy stereotype. Most people know the name Marlene Dietrich, if they don't have a clue who she is. The same probably shouldn't be said of von Sternberg.

That's sad, because this film has lots and lots of merit. It lacks the filmic skills of Lang. It lacks Murnau's ability with image. Against Dreyer it stands no real chance. That is, it has nothing really historical to add to film as art (except perhaps scandal, and its dark place in our heart). But it has an interesting, timeless story line, a suggestive metaphor, and the signature UFA allegorical style. After all this time it can still be enjoyed easily.

And, when the camera pans back on Professor Rath at the end, at midnight - mimicking an earlier shot which I would dearly love to tell you about, but which would ruin so much - ah . . . it hits like a sledgehammer. Absolutely beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Maybe not a masterpiece . . .
Review: This, no doubt, is the way to go if you're looking to buy The Blue Angel. The two-disc set has both the original film - with English subtitles - and the remake of the film for English audiences. There's a signifigant difference between the two in time, and they are two seperate films. Dubbing was apparently not an option in 1930. Who knew? Do yourself a favor and stay away from the $7.99ish version.

That having been said, the subtitled version is the way to go. I've never actually seen this release, so I can't comment on how well done they are, or how the transfer is . . . however, they can't possibly be worse than the version I have seen, which subtitled less than 75% of the dialogue and had no concept of aspect ratio. Even with these drawbacks, The Blue Angel was one of the most poetic bits of allegoria I've yet seen from UFA.

Emil Jannings you'll remember from Murnau's Last Laugh, five years this film's senior. In that film Jannings plays a porter reduced to the humilation of a washroom attendant. In The Blue Angel his position is that of a gynasium professor turned clown. He is perfect in both roles, bearing the comic tragedy of a great man brought low: as most of Germany did under the constructs of Versailles.

Marlene Dietrich? You might not remember her from anything else, but you'll never forget her after this. Dressed in underwear that your grandmother would call overly conservative and weird stage costumes that hide more than they suggest, Dietrich at first appears awkward and graceless, as she appears in the eyes of old Professor Rath, who is also meeting her for the first time. But as we grow closer, her charms become apparent, and the viewer just might find himself wondering why Hollywood ever fell in love with the Twiggy stereotype. Most people know the name Marlene Dietrich, if they don't have a clue who she is. The same probably shouldn't be said of von Sternberg.

That's sad, because this film has lots and lots of merit. It lacks the filmic skills of Lang. It lacks Murnau's ability with image. Against Dreyer it stands no real chance. That is, it has nothing really historical to add to film as art (except perhaps scandal, and its dark place in our heart). But it has an interesting, timeless story line, a suggestive metaphor, and the signature UFA allegorical style. After all this time it can still be enjoyed easily.

And, when the camera pans back on Professor Rath at the end, at midnight - mimicking an earlier shot which I would dearly love to tell you about, but which would ruin so much - ah . . . it hits like a sledgehammer. Absolutely beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Whatever Lola-Lola Wants
Review: Weimar Berlin decadance taken to the nth degree. This was the first and best collaborative effort of Dietrich and Von Sternberg. The surprisingly zoftig Dietrich, not yet the gaunt, androgynous Hollywood product she would become, gives a steamy tour-de-force "mala femina" performance as a slatternly cabaret tramp with a heart blacker than a raven's navel.

Emil Jannings's dowdy professor is her panting fat old lover/victim. The film is a bizarre singing, dancing journey into sado-masochism among many other dark expressionist themes. Watch the catlike Dietrich increasingly toy with the herr professor's dignity and sanity while the tension builds to a soaring crescendo and comes crashing down on both of them.

This film is a stark--despite the suggestively amusing musical numbers--psychological study in cruelty and madness. Absolutely fascinating.