Blue Angel

Pros: Classic story, direction, photography. Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich
Cons: Old, poor sound quality

One of the earliest "talkie" films, Director Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel introduced American audiences to German femme fatale Marlene Dietrich. Actually, the film was released right after Dietrich’s Hollywood debut in Morocco, also...

Pros: Brilliant performance by Emil Jannings; the sultry performance that made Marlene Dietrich an international star
Cons: Mediocre narrative; little character development

The names Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich became forever linked by the collaboration of the two over a span of seven films, beginning with the present one. Those films turned out to be the pinnacle of Sternberg's career and launched Dietrich as ...

Pros: story, direction, script, cinematography, cast
Cons: sound quality, heavy German accents

"Der Blaue Engel" is a German film better known by its English translation title, "The Blue Angel". Two versions were filmed simultaneously, with the same cast, one in English and one in German. The version discussed here is in...