Der Blaue Engel

Der Blaue Engel (The Blue Angel) is a German film directed by Josef von Steinberg. The film’s dramatic structure is based on the two main characters are: Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jennings) and Lola-Lola (Marlene Dietrich). It is a film about the slow deterioration and demise of a man (Prof. Rath) who falls in love with an entertainer (Lola-Lola) from a lower class than he.

In the beginning of the film we learn that the Professor is disrespected by his class. This is demonstrated in a scene where one student (with the aid of the others draws a fat man on the Professor’s notebook with the word, garbage. The Professor has good intentions trying to straighten his students out and therefore gain their respect. He never does either though he attempts. He goes to The Blue Angel (a dive-bar where his students go) to try to catch them and stop them from going again. In the midst of trying to set his students straight he becomes entranced with the entertainer, Lola-Lola.

Professor Rath falls in love with Lola because she supplies his emotional needs by complementing him and giving him attention. For example, there is a scene in her dressing room at her makeup table where she tells him he is a good looking man. Lola, of course, is a pro and she knows how to work things so she receives something in return for her efforts.

Professor Rath decides he wants to marry her. He defends her reputation to the school’s president and in the process gets fired. He proposes to her. She laughs at first then accepts. Lola’s laughter is the sign of worse things to come.

Rath becomes her slave. He sells her picture cards. Then he is turned into the clown. He is featured when their show goes to his hometown. This humiliates him. On the poster of Lola is also a sign stating Professor Immanuel Rath’s personal appearance. Lola manages to strip him of all his dignity while he volunteers his services to her. He is reduced to the silent, sad, clown that haunts so many of the film’s frames. We are led to believe that he too is one of Lola’s victims.

Lola takes up with Mazeppa (the strongman). Rath sees them kissing and runs after Lola. He tries to strangle her. He is captured and put into a straightjacket. He is then used as a prop in Mazeppa’s act.

Lola performs Falling in Love Again. The song mimics the narcissist tramp that she is. Lola has no conscience. She continues only to think of herself, not caring over the fate of her husband, Professor Rath.

The Professor runs away form the show, while it’s in his hometown. he goes back to the school where he once taught and enters his old classroom. He embraces the desk that was once his and dies there with his arms enfolded around his desk.

Der Blaue Engel is a disturbing film. It is an overwhelmingly sad story. It is a story about how a person’s emotions can lead them astray. It also demonstrates how one way or another a person’s emotional needs as well as their physical ones must be met. It is a story of masochism and loss.