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DER BLAUE ENGEL/THE BLUE ANGEL – Friedrich Hollaender
GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Original Review by Craig Lysy
Following the success of The Jazz Singer in 1927, Hollywood, by 1929, was rapidly dominating global cinema with its new synchronized sound technology. Germany’s leading film studio, Universum Film AG (UFA), sought to create a massive, high-profile project to demonstrate that German cinema could compete internationally. To that end, Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) was chosen. The studio also sought to capitalize on the career achievements of iconic silent movie actor Emil Jannings, who in 1928 had become the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Actor in Hollywood. However, with the arrival of sound, his thick German accent made him unsuitable for American talking pictures, and it was hoped that The Blue Angel would provide Jannings with a prestigious film through which he could demonstrate a successful transition to German talkies. Erich Pommer was placed in charge of production and, at Jannings’ request, secured Hollywood director Josef von Sternberg on loan from Paramount Pictures. Carl Zuckmayer and Karl Vollmöller led a team that adapted Heinrich Mann’s 1905 novel, Professor Unrat (Professor Filth). While the novel was a sharp, satirical attack on the bourgeois hypocrisy and rigid authoritarianism of Imperial Germany, Sternberg heavily altered the story. He shifted the focus away from political satire to create a more intimate psychological tragedy about romantic obsession and personal degradation. Jannings starred as Professor Immanuel Rath, joined by Marlene Dietrich as Lola and Kurt Gerron as Kiepert. Read more…
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