The Blue Angel

1930 · 108 min · DE · NR · 7.3 (385 votes)

Dir. Josef von Sternberg · Starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti, Hans Albers, Reinhold Bernt · Music Friedrich Hollaender

“You Too, Will Be Aroused By Her Intoxicating Beauty! "This Woman Makes a Man of Dignity a Slave to Love!"”

Drama

Prim professor Immanuel Rath finds some of his students ogling racy photos of cabaret performer Lola Lola and visits a local club, The Blue Angel, in an attempt to catch them there. Seeing Lola perform, the teacher is filled with lust, eventually resigning his position at the school to marry the young woman. However, his marriage to a coquette -- whose job is to entice men -- proves to be more difficult than Rath imagined.

VIBE

A descent into obsessive desire, this film is a haunting, expressionistic dive into the destructive power of infatuation. Its stark visuals and tragic arc create a palpable sense of dread and inevitable ruin.

melancholictragicintensehauntingslow-burnGerman Expressionismpre-codeblack and whitetheatricalobsessionloss of innocencesocial decaydesire

▶ Stream on Kino Film Collection, Artiflix

based on novel or booksexual obsessionprofessorfemme fataleunrequited lovedescent into madnessdownfallblack and whitetraveling circusseductresspre-codecuckoldexpressionismcabaret performerdownward spiralmoral corruptionself-destructive behavior