Film Classic

THE BLUE ANGEL

DER BLAUE ENGEL

Directed by Josef von Sternberg

MONDAY JANUARY 19 6:30PM CASTRO

Introduction by Stefan Drössler Director of Film Museum Munich

THE BLUE ANGEL is considered to be the first major German sound film, and just as Hollywood was “speaking German” (see HOLLYWOOD SPEAKS GERMAN, p.8), UFA, its German counterpart, was “speaking English”. Tonight’s feature is a rare screening of the English version of Josef von Sternberg’s classic that put Marlene Dietrich on the world stage. She sings, charms, and seduces while Emil Jannings struggles with English. She reminds him: “Speak to me in my language,” and he tries, which not only adds to the humor but also to the tragic moments of the film.
Jannings plays Dr. Immanuel Rath, a provincial boarding school teacher who becomes obsessed with cabaret singer Lola Lola (Dietrich), who ultimately drives him into madness and ruin. Visionary, haunting, and emotionally unrelenting, THE BLUE ANGEL stands as Sternberg’s crowning achievement.

The Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley will screen the original German version of DER BLAUE ENGEL on February 1 at 2pm as part of the Joseph von Sternberg retrospective.

PURCHASE TICKET

Country
Germany
Year
1930
Run Time
35mm, 101 min., b/w,
English and German
Cast
Emil Jannings
Marlene Dietrich
Kurt Gerron
Rosa Valetti
Hans Albers
Reinhold Bernt
Camera
Günther Rittau
Hans Schneeberger
Screenwriter
Carl Zuckmayer
Karl Vollmoeller
Robert Liebmann
(based on the novel “Professor Unrat” by Heinrich Mann)
Printsource
Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung
Email
info@murnau-stiftung.de
Director

Joseph von Sternberg
was born in 1894 in Vienna. His family emigrated to Queens, NY in 1901 and he settled in Hollywood in 1924. Both his film career and his personal life were transformed with the making of THE BLUE ANGEL (1930) and Dietrich’s subsequent move to Hollywood. He continued to make films into the 1950’s. He died in Hollywood in 1969.