Rating: 
Summary: Worst Quality VHS I've Ever Seen
Review: Do not buy the Director's Original Uncut version. I can't believe they even sell it, the quality is so bad - really jerky, staticky, you name it.
Rating: 
Summary: DER BLAUE ENGEL
Review: During the making of this film, Josef von Sternberg went over to give the Erich Pommer production his unique atmospheric treatment and to extract a performance of tragic power from Jannings as a respectable schoolmaster fascinated, then humiliated, and finally ruined by a seductive music hall entertainer. But the star never forgave the director for making the latter's discovery! Marlene Dietrich is the most exciting thing in the film. As the coarse, disdainful temptress, strutting the stage and straddling a chair while singing FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN & BEWARE OF BLONDE WOMEN, Dietrich created an unforgettable image of sultry sensuality, over-shadowing Jannings. Emil Jannings left abruptly after completing his sixth picture in Hollywood; the reason given was his inability (refusal?) to speak English. Clutching the first AA given to an actor (1928), Jannings promptly returned to Berlin without even attending the Academy Award ceremony! In 1930, Janning's greatest international success was THE BLUE ANGEL - which was filmed in perfectly adequate English and German versions. Although adapted from Heinrich Mann's novel PROFESSOR UNRATH, the egocentric Von Sternberg claimed this to be entirely his own work - no matter - it was a sensational hit.
Rating:
Summary: One of Kino's best packages. A must for Marlene Fans!!!!!!!!
Review: I like most the DVDs that Kino makes but I must say that this is their most impressive package. A two disk set, the features are marvelous, including both versions of the film (which look great)! Marlene Dietrich musical performances, scene comparison, informative commentary, and a not to be missed screen test with Marlene. The film alone is great, but the DVD package makes it outstanding. Its about a professor, Emil Jennings, who is perfectly cast, and his downfall after meeting a nightclub dancer named Lola Lola, played with great charisma by Marlene Dietrich. A must, don't hesitate to but the Kino 2-disk set if your a Dietrich fan!
Rating:
Summary: Falling in Love Again, Can't Help It!
Review: I was thrilled to find out that The Blue Angel was to be released on DVD. I own a couple of copies on VHS, and while they're not the best quality, I figured they were the best I could get these days. When the Scarlett Empress was released on DVD, I found out better, and when my copy of The Blue Angel arrived, I was floored. The presentation was top-notch, the graphics well-planned, and the extras themselves worth the price of the whole package. The Dietrich screen-test for the part of Lola-Lola is priceless, but the best are her stage perfomances from the 60's and 70's.
The transfers are well-carried off. Both the german and english versions have their own disc, and have both been cleaned up very well. The sound has been cleaned, as well, but there is still a lot of hiss to put up with. However, the film looks amazing, and the story still enthralls today as it did when it premiered in 1930.
This film made an international star out of a relatively mid-range German film celebrity named Marlene Dietrich, and it's very easy to see how. She takes over scenes completely and effortlessly, even from the academy-award winning actor, Emil Jannings, the film's supposed star. Although he gives a very wrenching performance of an older teacher sliding to his doom which is very riveting, her dominance of the film is complete. I suppose all she needed for stardom to call was the advent of sound in film. For the combination of her alluring beauty and husky, slightly off-key singing, not to mention her legs, which seem almost able to sing themselves, was too much to remain un-noticed for long.
I highly reccommend this 2-disc set, not just to Dietrich fans everywhere, but to all those who enjoy the cinema, for this is a true film classic. The presentation is firmly top-notch.
Rating:
Summary: Very misleading
Review: It is very misleading to advertise DANCING PIRATE as a Rita Hayworth movie. Not only is she not billed, she is not visible, as far as I can see. That's just false advertising.
Rating:
Summary: The "Stepping Stone" for Marlene Dietrich's World Conquest
Review: Joseph von Sternberg 'packaged' his muse, Marlene Dietrich to become a world star with "The Blue Angel". The disturbing story of a revue entertainer (Dietrich) and the middle aged professor(Emil Jannings)who falls madly in love with, and later is destroyed by her, based on the novel "Professor Unrat". Many unforgettable songs by Friedrich Hollander are featured, most noteworthy of course "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt" ("Falling in Love Again") and "Ich bin die feche Lola" ("They Call Me Naughty Lola"). -- There is a dub-version available, but I recommend the original German with subtitles. Many effects are lost with the former. I can highly recommend this film, a must for fans of either the stars or the director!*****
Rating:
Summary: A Cinematic Standard
Review: Marlena Dietrich's singing voice is so sultry that it will make you dream in black and white. My older VHS edition is unrestored, but the sensuality of her voice seaths through the pops and cracks in the soundtrack, and her beauty just gleams through the picture. She is a knock out in this film.
The comedy lover will also enjoy the cat and mouse games that she plays with the school master who gets so hot he wipes his face with her knickers thinking they are his handkerchief. This was fifty years before Chevy Chase used the same gag in "Christmas Vacation."
I am anxiously awaiting the DVD edition with restored sound and picture. If she was hot in the sandpaper edition, she must be drop dead gorgeous with the restored visuals.
Rating:
Summary: If you're looking for Rita Hayworth, look elsewhere
Review: Not only are these movies EXTREMELY bad transfers (you can actually see the wall they're taping from), but I double-dog-dare-you to find Rita Hayworth in "Dancing Pirate". I guarantee you won't. I returned my copy.
Rating:
Summary: Und wenn sie verbrennen, ja dafur, kann ich nichts.
Review: Professor Emanuel Rath, a dignified old high school teacher, catches his students with a shady lady. Godless decadence follows. Imagine the school board's reaction! Kikiriki! This is the second most prominent film to come from Weimar Germany, second only to "All Quiet on the Western Front". This movie is known mostly for its theme song, which has gone on to become a classic in its own right (although the English translation cleaned it up so terribly that it almost sounds reputable).
Rating: 
Summary: Kino's 2-disc DVD version
Review: Relative newcomer Marlene Dietrich's electrifying performance in the 1930 sound film THE BLUE ANGEL overshadows the perhaps even greater performance by Emil Jannings as a sexually-repressed professor. Her screen presence also more than overcomes Josef von Sternberg's rather static direction that was typical of early sound films, elevating this romantic melodrama into its classic status. Kino's region-free DVD contains both the German and the English versions of the film, each on a separate disc. Both versions look very clean for a 71-year-old film, although just a tad less sharp than I would have liked. The English version looks a bit cleaner still. The supplements include a side-by-side comparison of the two versions (with the German version shown on the left), and the English version indeed looks better. The German version is supported by optional, white-on-black-bar English subtitles. The black bars, of course, cover up part of the picture. I would suggest Kino use white, black-bordered lettering for subtitles in the future instead. The German version runs 102 minutes, and has a few scenes that are not shown in the English version due to censorship (such as the moment when Lola rotates her body to reveal her bare back side to her nightclub audience). The English version runs 100 minutes. Although it was supposedly made for English audiences, only Dietrich's role is all English-speaking, while the other actors speak a combination of both languages -- English for important dialogs, German for less important ones. The included audio commentary on the German disc is a mild disappointment. Although historian Werner Sedendorf's analytical comments are excellent, he just does not speak often enough. Long stretches of silence are frequent. Kino should have thought of filling the vacancies with additional comments (either by Sedendorf or someone else), especially when a lot of relevant topics are not adequately covered, such as the legendary collaborations between Dietrich and von Sternberg, the details about the censorship practiced on the English version, the period of German Expressionism that inspired directors like von Sternberg, etc. The DVD does include a generous amount of extra material. There is a wonderful biography section that includes photos and credits of about 30 cast and crew members. There are about 150 photos, some of which are then-and-now comparisons of some of the props and costumes in the movie. There are text screens of the film's production history. The best extras, unquestionnably, are the 4 film clips of Dietrich's screen test and concert performances. There is a memorable clip of the 1930 screen test of Dietrich singing "You are the Cream in my Coffee." There are 2 clips of televised concerts from the 60s and 70s showing Dietrich performing two of the songs in the movie (English renditions of "Falling in Love Again" and "Lola Lola"). There is another TV footage of her singing "You are the Cream in my Coffee" after reminiscing about her 1930 screen test.
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