This film made an international star of Marlene Dietrich, possibly second only to Garbo as the screen’s most enigmatic beauty.  The image of her singing in a sleazy, smoky nightclub would be indelibly associated with her for the rest of her career, as would the song, ‘Falling in Love Again’.  Halliwell comments:

‘In a way The Blue Angel was her finest hour, and certainly she could never escape the image it created for her of a sex goddess.’

Josef von Sternberg had worked in Hollywood for a few years before Emil Jannings invited him to Germany to direct The Blue Angel.  After the success of the film, Dietrich travelled back with him to Hollywood where she was signed up by Paramount.  Von Sternberg would direct her first American film, Morocco, and a further five of her pictures, including Shanghai Express and The Scarlet Empress.

The director, much parodied for his riding boots and autocratic nature, was in no doubt who was responsible for Dietrich’s success, saying, ‘I am a teacher who took a beautiful woman, instructed her, presented her carefully, edited her charms, disguised her imperfections and led her to crystallise a pictorial aphrodisiac.’  Halliwell gave him this dedication in the Filmgoer’s Companion:

‘For being the kind of director who, if he didn’t exist, publicists would have to invent.’

Year: 1930