IMDb plot summary: An elderly professor's ordered life spins dangerously out of control when he falls for a nightclub singer.
Directed by Josef von Sternberg. Starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, and Kurt Gerron.
The Blue Angel is about a strict professor and the nightclub singer his students have become enamored with. He goes down to meet her after scolding his students about the attention he pays to her, but he ends up falling in love himself. This is rather a fascinating little tragedy that doesn't take at all the path I expected it to. It's such an interesting twist to see the stern professor not only fall in love with the woman he's been warning his students about, but for that to be his downfall ultimately as well. And while it definitely paints the woman, played by Marlene Dietrich, as the primary cause of his demise, it does a surprisingly good job of humanizing her as well. She seldom seem malicious, just unhappy, and used to finding her own happiness where she can take it. I also really liked how the film used Dietrich's musical numbers to paint the story's emotional tone, from risque to sweet to ominous. Overall definitely a good watch from director Josef von Sternberg.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Blue Angel > Fahrenheit 451
The Blue Angel > The Game
The Blue Angel < The Goodbye Girl (1977)
The Blue Angel < The Pawnbroker
The Blue Angel < The Secret of Santa Vittoria
The Blue Angel > Rounders
The Blue Angel < Detroit
The Blue Angel < This Boy's Life
The Blue Angel > Mr. Brooks
The Blue Angel > The Man in the Iron Mask
The Blue Angel < Mixed Nuts
Final spot: #830 out of 3585, or 77%.
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