The Blue Angel

Steeped in German Expressionism, this early talkie relies on the best tools of the silent cinema to set the tone & evoke emotion. Dietrich is wonderfully natural in her native tongue--better than I've ever seen her in English--and Jannings delivers a sensitive, nuanced performance as the tragic English teacher.

The original title of the film is Der blaue Engel.

I struggled with this more than I would have liked, primarily because the movie doesn't understand that Dietrich's Lola is far more interesting a character than Jannings' Professor Rath. Yet we plod along for what seems like ages, seeing the enmity he inspires in his students and his bumbling through scenes at the titular club. I don't find myself compelled by Jannings as a performer, neither here nor in his silent film work like The Last Laugh. His performances exist in a space of perpetual stupefaction that comes off as one-note and boring. (Also he turned out to be a Nazi.) Dietrich, on the other hand, performs circles around him and seems to possess a self-assuredness that make me excited to seek out more of her work.