The Blue Angel

Loosely based on Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat, The Blue Angel traces the tragic decline of Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings), a German high school teacher, following his involvement with Lola- Lola (Marlene Dietrich), a cabaret singer. This Von Sternberg classic has been around for some time on video in German with English subtitles, but Silver Mine claims to be first with the less common English language version. During its original theatrical release, the German version was by far the more successful of the two, probably because in English, the thick accents combined with the crude sound recording techniques made parts of the film almost un intelligible. To make matters worse, the Silver Mine tape was struck from a film print with a fair amount of mileage on it. Even so, the English version has a couple of advantages over the subtitled tape released by Kartes and other public domain video sellers. Kartes, et al, apparently acquired their master copy from a source that believes in minimalist translation--there are long gaps where nothing is subtitled during crucial scenes, and suddenly the translator wakes up when someone in a crowd yells "Give me a beer!" Another plus for Silver Mine's version is hearing Dietrich's songs in English ("Falling in Love Again", "Those Charming Alarming Blondes", etc., which are not translated in the Kartes print). On the other hand, a fair amount of material has been dropped in the English language version. The most annoying loss is in the opening scene where, during a fastidious breakfast, Roth discovers his caged songbird has died. This scene establishes both Roth's character and the film's tragic overtones (in addition to foreshadowing a later scene in Lola'a apartment). Also, some of the risqué elements are toned down or missing. The overall sensuality of the film may have been behind the disgruntled author Mann's observation that the film's success "will be found in the naked thighs of Miss Dietrich." On the contrary, after 50 years this remains a powerful study of human nature and obsession, and belongs in most collections. Even with its flaws, the Silver Mine release is worth considering (especially for the musical numbers), but on the whole, the film is better in German. (For the English version, write to: Increase Video, 6914 Canby Ave., Suite 110, Reseda, CA 91335; for the German version, write to: Kartes Video Communications, 7225 Woodland Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46278). (Elliott Swanson )