Nimm Dich in Acht vor Blonde Frauen

"Nimm dich in Acht vor blonde Frauen", those charming alarming blonde women, warns Marlene Dietrich in the 1930's film, Der Blaue Engel ( The Blue Angel) directed by Josef von Steinberg, also starring Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. This classic tragic film, shot simultaneously in both German and English, revolves around the downfall of the respected professor at a local Gymnasium, Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) due to his lust, desire and jealousy for the local cabaret star, Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich). Upon discovering that his students have been spending their nights at the local cabaret (The Blue Angel), swooning over Lola Lola, Rath ventures to The Blue Angel hoping to catch his students. Instead of catching his students he meets the seductive and uninhibited Lola Lola. Upon venturing back the next night to met her once more, he falls in love with her and forfeits his position at the college to be with and marry the beautiful Lola. The professor quickly and tragically transforms into a cabaret clown as his sanity dissolves due to his lust and jealousy over Lola's profession as a "shared woman" ( like my last post, I will not attempt to include more plot because you can easily watch this movie for yourself on Netflix.) The movie progresses slowly, charming the audience with Marlene Dietrichs breakout songs such as: Ich bin von Kopf bus Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt (Falling in Love Again), Ich bin die fesche Lola ( They Call Me Naughty Lola), and Nimm dich in Acht vor blonde Frauen (Those Charming Alarming Blonde Women).
          

The movie was originally based on Heinrich Mann's 1905 novel, Professor Unrat (Professor Garbage) and is set in Weimar, Germany. Being filmed in both German and English, the movie gained international fame, and led Dietrich into international stardom. On set Janning's grew jealous of Steinberg and Dietrich's growing closeness and frequently acted out, threatening Dietrich. Janning's was a Swiss born German actor who was the first actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in the "lost film" The Way of All Flesh. He moved his career to Hollywood and attempted acting in sound films, but, amongst other things, his accent was too difficult to understand. He later acted in several Nazi propaganda films. He eventually retired in Austria and became a citizen in 1947.  After completing Der Blaue Engel Marlene Dietrich gained international fame and received a contract with Paramount Pictures. She became one of the highest paying actresses of the era. She became a US citizen in 1939 and was a prominent entertainer throughout WWII. Kurt Gerron, who stars as the cabaret manager was a German Jewish actor and film director, who first served in WWI after being called out of medical school to serve. Der Blaue Engel was one of his breakthrough roles. Gerron eventually fled Nazi Germany with his wife and family and fled to Paris, and then to Amsterdam and was offered to relocate to Hollywood, but refused. Once the Netherlands were occupied Gerron was sent to a few different concentration camps, and eventually boarded the final transit to Auschwitz where he soon met his death.

In this one film we are introduced to (because, lets face it, many of us didn't know about these actors before), at a bare minimum, three different actors who experienced different transatlantic and intercontinental ventures for different reasons, Germans moving to and from the US as well as other countries for jobs (Hollywood) and safety (WWII). All of these seasoned actors played a large role in crafting the cinema and stage scene of the 1920's, 30's and 40's. If you want to watch a movie with tragedy, historical intrigue and breakthrough actors of their time, you should defiantly consider watching Der Blaue Engel.

Bis später!
Dorothy 

*Oh and I would recommend watching this movie with a nice bubbly glass of champagne.... that appeared to be the drink of the movie, and if you want to get into a little "sing-along" version of the film, it could instigate a little German language practice, yay!