Back stage
SASA MAJUMA
“Falling in love again… what is a girl to do?”
“The Blue Angel” (1930) is showing on August 7, 2012 at the Gaborone Film Society at 7 pm in the A/V Centre at Maru a Pula School. This is the classic film of ‘the showgirl and the prince’ that has both German and English versions (the two stars were fluent in both languages). The vaudeville and nightclub performer is Lola Frohlich a.k.a Lola Lola (played by a marvelous Marlene Dietrich), while the prince, or the besotted teacher of English literature at the local Gymnasium-somewhere in Germany (maybe Munich) is Professor Immanuel Rath (a fine Emil Jannings).
The Blue Angel was Marlene Dietrich’s (1901-1992) fifteenth film. The next one she made was Morocco and was her first in the USA. It was directed by Josef von Sternberg (his second sound film); her co-star was Gary Cooper.Morocco managed to help her grasp her the only Academy Award nomination she would receive in her career. In her following films which were very successful, she was stereotyped as a prostitute. She made movies for the next thirty years, but only shed her image as a good-time girl in a Western flick, Destry Rides Again (1939), where she plays Frenchy. Returning to Europe, she died in Paris after being a bed-ridden recluse for twelve years. Emil Jannings (1882-1950) was born in Rorschach, Switzerland, of a German mother and an American father. He started acting when he was ten-years-old. His first film was in German in 1914. He had already won Oscars in 1929 for his first films made in the United States: The Way of All Flesh (1927) and The Last Command (1928). He was the first person to win an Academy Award and some say it should have gone to Rin Tin Tin-a dog actor. In those years, he was considered the greatest actor in cinema because he made films that supported National Socialism in Germany during World War II; his last film was in 1945.
Sternberg (1894-1969), an Austrian-American and also bilingual, is credited with introducing America to Marlene Dietrich. He was in love with what could be created through light, shadows, lace and frills to help make cinema more fascinating. He once said, “I care nothing about the story, only how it is photographed and presented.””The Blue Angel” opens with Professor Rath making the discovery that some of his students are in possession of revealing photograph cards of an attractive woman. When the teacher first sets his eyes on her, he is in awe. Even his best student, Angst (Rolf MŸller) owns three cards of Lola striking different poses. Professor Rath confiscates all the cards but he cannot suppress his curiosity. He sneaks off to The Blue Angel to discover for himself what is going on.
Three of his students, Lohmann, Ertzum and Goldstaub (Roland Varno, Carl Balhaus and Robert Klein-Lork) have a nickname for their professor- “Garbage.” They love illustrating his peccadilloes on the blackboard in chalk.Moving in and out is an old clown (Reinhold Bernt). Providing constant commentary is The Magician’s wife, Guste (Rosa Valetti). Always available is the Strongman, Mazeppa (Hans Albers).One day, the professor confronts Kiepert, the impresario and the Magician (Kurt Gerron) with an accusation: “you are corrupting my pupils.” The next night, walking along a distorted alley (shades of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), with prostitutes standing in doorways, the upright instructor returns to The Blue Angel nightclub. Three of his students are there before him, but they quickly hide in a cellar when they see Garbage coming. Above them an amused Lola entertains Professor Rath. He ends up in her dressing room toasting her with champagne-until the police arrive and he is also sent to the cellar to hide. Lola, in her skimpy clothes, short hair, lascivious smile, and prancing eyes, is the ultimate seductress.
Unexpected events and consequences will quickly transform the Professor and Lola’s lives: It is for the viewer to decide whether it is for better or worse, sickness or immortality. The version being shown tonight is in German with English subtitles. An overture of Marlene Dietrich singing, “Falling in love again … what is a girl to do?” in 1963 in Stockholm will open the showing. The German literal translation is closer to, “I’m from head to toe dedicated to love… That is my world and nothing else.”The Blue Angel is one hour and 41 minutes long. It is rated PG. The director is Josef von Sternberg and he wrote the script with Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmšller and Robert Liebmann based on Heinrich Mann’s novel “Professor Unrat.” The cinematographer is GŸnther Rittau. The editor of the German version is S.K. Winston. The music is composed by Franz Waxman. Art direction is by Otto Hunte.Costume design is by Tihamer Varady. It was filmed at the Berliner Union-Film Studio, Tempelhof, Berlin and the Universum-Film-Aktengesellschaft Studios in Berlin. The English subtitles are by Tassilo Schneider.
sasa_majuma@yahoo.co.uk
