Der blaue Engel (1930) is a landmark in German film history, which brought German film into the international sound and motion picture industry, while launching the career of one of Germany’s most celebrated and controversial actresses.

Based on the novel Professor Unrat (1905) by Heinrich Mann, Der blaue Engel tells the story of a man reduced to nothing through his obsession and jealousy over a woman called Lola Lola, played by the famous German-American actress Marlene Dietrich. In German, Rat means advice. The novel made a play-on-words when the protagonist’s students ridiculed him, turning his last name into Unrat - meaning “garbage.”

Director, Josef von Sternberg called the story “the downfall of an enamoured man.” Professor Immanuel Rath, played by Emil Jannings, falls in love with that which he cautions and councils his students against. Lola Lola is a cabaret dancer with a travelling theatre troupe. Rath’s love for Lola Lola is all-consuming and forces him to leave his job. After spending all of his savings, he goes to work with Lola Lola’s theatre troupe as a clown, but cannot stand sharing her with other men. When he, Lola Lola, and their troupe return for a performance in Rath’s hometown, he is humiliated and Lola Lola leaves him for another man.

Der blaue Engel can be read as an allegory for interwar Germany. It was produced during 1929 before the major shifts in German politics took place, but the timing of its release made it a politically poignant film for many audiences. It embodied modernist democratic urges of the day through its challenges to conventional ideals about sexuality and class. The pomp and pageantry of the film blended with the melancholy of it all represent the clash of the two eras it stood between.

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