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The Blue Angel cast: Marlene Dietrich, and Emil Jannings director: Josef von Sternberg 94/106 minutes (PG) 1930 Eureka DVD Region 2 retail Also available to buy on video [released 23 September] RATING: 9/10 reviewed by Peter Schilling |
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Emil Jannings plays the upright Professor Rath, captivated by sultry nightclub singer Lola-Lola (Dietrich), and dismissed in disgrace from his teaching position at college after students have made public his dalliance with the sexy Lola down at the disreputable Blue Angel sleaze-pit. Continued infatuation leads to loveless marriage and the pompous prof's complete moral debasement when he is literally and metaphorically reduced to the role of a mentally defective clown.
"Watch out for blondes." Despite some tragicomic moments, this is a genuinely fascinating morality play of sexual anxiety and the decline of a bourgeois man, heightened considerably by the use of some expressionist set designs, and robust, yet mesmerising, performances from both leads.
This special edition DVD (fully restored and digitally re-mastered) features both English dubbed and subtitled versions - the German language cut is longer by 12 minutes.