The Blue Angel - The Challenge of Silent Conveyance - Movie Review Example

? The Blue Angel The Blue Angel is a German movie produced in 1930. It was directed by Josef Von Sternberg and written by Karl Volllmoller, Carl Zuckmayer, and Robert Liebmann. Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings along with Kurt Gerron starred in the film. The producer shot the film in English and German simultaneously in nineteen thirty three. The film starts with squeaks of chicken and geese loitering in a street at a shopping center. A female cleaning a window pane in a shop that contains a photo of Marlene Dietrich referred to as Lola in the movie comes next. The woman imitates Lola’s shape on the poster by posing in a similar way. The main character is Emil Jannings who is referred to as Professor Rath in the film but commonly abbreviated as Prof. Rath. The audience first encounters him through a shot at the door that bears his common abbreviation. Professor Rath is preparing the lesson for a class presentation. The pupils quickly run to class in a Helter skelter after the bell rings. The professor appears to concentrate on preparing for a lesson while the caretaker who is in charge of the house reminds him of his breakfast. She then goes about her daily chores of cleaning the house. After taking his breakfast, the Professor leaves and begins to call his pet. Surprisingly, the bird does not respond and this forces him to check on it only to find that it is dead. These events bring a situation that is a little confusing because while the death of the bird appears to sadden the Professor, the housekeeper picks the bird and discards it into an open boiler. When doing this, she only mentions that the bird stopped singing sometimes back. This means that she was aware that the bird was dead but was not interested in checking its condition. The Professor, however, ignores her and continues taking his breakfast. The film moves to the next level by introducing the Professor’s class. The class consists mainly of boys who gather in a group staring at a postcard as they let one of them to clean the chalkboard. One of the boys in the group sweeps the postcard to make it behave in a certain manner whose meaning will be identified later. It is only later in the movie that the particular way that the pupil wanted comes out. Another boy behaves in a typical way that a naughty pupil would by turning the desk. He picks the professor’s lecture guide and changes it to read ‘Professor Garbage’. This appears to be very simple because in German, the boy only needs to add the prefix ‘un’ to the Professor’s sir name. The boy proceeds to draw a funny picture of Professor Rath and only stops after the pencil breaks. These things happen in class because the Professor has not arrived. It is at this moment that he appears to be resuming classes. The pealing of a big clock that looks like a cuckoo follows this scene. The film treats the audience to an ironical situation where the clock together with a bird perched on it moves from end to end round the clock as it clicks. The events capturing the attention of the audience break immediately one of the pupils screams at others to be on the lookout and watch for the old man. This is in reference to the Professor. The pupils quickly take their respective seats as Professor Rath instructs them to sit down and have their notebooks ready for the lesson. When the Professor blows his nose after using his handkerchief after taking his seat, he discovers that pupils have defaced his notebook. After carrying out a thorough search of the culprit from amongst his pupils, he identifies Angst, the most naughty of all his pupils. The Professor does not take into consideration that Angst may not have committed the offense but instructs him to rub the added prefix. Coincidentally, Angst is an apt character in a play by Rolf Muller, an original script where the author of Blue Angel picked his theme. The Professor begins his lesson by discussing an excerpt from Hamlet, the third Act in the first scene. This line is a famous soliloquy by Shakespeare. The Professor interrupts the pupil he has picked to recite some of the memorized excerpts from Hamlet because of the pupil’s poor pronunciation of English words. This shows that the Professor is not organized. The German accent seems to affect the student because he has problems in pronouncing ‘the’ as he says za. The Professor puts the pencil in the pupil’s mouth to make him get the right pronunciation. After frustration, the Professor asks the pupils to give an account of Julius Caesar’s, ‘if Mark Anthony could not give his eulogy,’ in one of William Shakespeare’s works that had characters that got tragedies in their lives. Lola’s postcard confuses the Professor to think that the pupil with the card is cheating. He takes the photo, puts it on the table, and issues a stern warning to the rest of the pupils that those who cheat will face dire consequences. However, it is only then that the audience realize that the photo attracted the pupil because Lola was dressed in a cloth that could reveal undergarments if blown by the wind (Black, 1994, p. 33). At this time, the Professor discovers the truth and it does not amuse the troublesome boys in class. At this point, Angst implicates them and they make up their mind to retaliate. The plot to revenge against Angst entails the pupils lying in wait for Angst after class; they trip him causing him to fall and hit the door that forces it to open in the process. When Angst’s books fall, the Professor discovers that he has Lola’s photo and this does not amuse the Professor. He summons Angst in his office to discuss issues regarding the photos. During the cross examination by the Professor, Angst does not want to let the Professor know that he owns the photo. He decides to introduce a new dimension in the story by telling the Professor that other pupils do not like him because he does not go with them to the Blue Angel every night to see the girls. This excites the Professor who gets interested in the story. Angst’s new revelations excite the Professor and he interrogates him further for more details. At this point, it important to note that The Blue Angel movie features live show entertainment of women singing on stage with less body movements. This is the same point that Lola appears on stage acting on stage, this being her maiden appearance. This episode entails the Professor entering the bar while Lola continues singing on stage. An aura where students in the backstage are attempting to lure Lola immediately comes in as the next scene. In addition to flirting with students, she does more. Thanks to the allure by the pupils, Lola takes to the stage and starts to sing about her long-term desires for a real loving man. She ends her song by asserting that she would find the loving man the same night (Black, 1994, p. 51). At this point, the Professor enters the auditorium to the amazement of students who run to hide at the backstage in fear. Lola’s spotlight on the Professor’s back interrupts his spirited efforts to find pupils from the crowd. The Professor manages for the first time to see Lola perform when she appears to sing for him. Although the singing catches his attention, its cut short after the Professor begins to chase one of his pupils after identifying him from the audience. The Professor lurches on an awkwardly looking image in the process of chasing the pupil. The Professor is not amused with the clown. Audience attention is briefly taken away from the Professor’s sad moments to a plump woman who performs using her eyes. She dances to a tune from the Middle East. Consequently, Lola unexpectedly finds a man in her and following quick glances and greetings between the two, she demands to know what the he is doing in his room. Following on the same, Lola undresses and changes into another costume as she prepares for the next performance. The conversation between Lola and the stranger coupled with her preparations for performance seemingly annoys the Professor who responds by closing the entrance cum exit to the stage. The crowd calls the Professor a barrier in response to his behaviour and it works because he paves the way for people to use. Though bizarre, it is not clear as to why Lola goes upstairs to drop the panties to the Professor and quickly returns appropriately dressed and ready for the performance that the crowd is waiting. The scene that follows introduces a new character in the film, Karl Gerron, the loud magician referred to in the film as Magician Kiepert. Magician Kiepert yells at other women performers while at the same time she is too protective of Lola. It is only until he realises the presence of Professor Rath that he reduces his advances towards Lola. To hide his initial advances, Kiepert attempts to prove his presence by explaining to the Professor the details of his job and attempts to move closer to him. The Magician asks Lola to move to stage and perform as he adorns his face by putting on a fake moustache (Black, 1994, p. 71). However, Magician Kiepert’s attempts to please the Professor do not stop him from accusing him for entertaining his students without permission, in the process identifies another student, and chases him out of the auditorium. The film introduces the audience to the most random scene in the entire performance. The Act begins when a noise awakes Angst who was sleeping but before he comprehends what is in the surrounding, shadows of boys approach and attack and slaps him. Audience can easily decode that the attack follows Angst’s revelation to the teacher on the Blue Angel issues. It is an act of retaliation from the other boys. Confusion in the scene continues when Professor Rath who appears to retire to his bed cannot get Lola off his mind. It is worse when he realises that Lola’s undergarments are mysteriously in his jacket. The Professor appears in the film wearing his coat and leaves his house to take back Lola’s undergarments. His arrival causes pupils to run and hide in the cellar. Lola and the Professor eventually exchange the garments and this saddens Lola because the Professor is absent and will not watch her once more. At this point, Lola starts seducing the Professor by displaying a playful grin. Surprisingly, pupils are watching all the unfolding from the cellar. The audience should note that students ran and hid in the cellar when the Professor arrived. This is when acting begins in the scene for the first time. Lola starts performing her enticing game. Lola combs the Professor’s hair and inquires from him whether he considers her beautiful. The twist in the film continues, as Magician Kiepert demands that Lola dines with a strange sailor said to be very rich. However, the Professor watches as the sailor mistreats Lola. This does not last as the Professor decides to chase away the sailor furiously after an exchange of harsh words between them. It is intriguing to see the Magician sneak the Professor into the cellar immediately the sailor returns with police officers in pursuit of him. It is funny to see the Professor pull his pupils from the cellar where both the students and him were hiding though for different reasons and at times. To resolve the impasse between the sailor and the Professor, the cops return to the station with the sailor because they consider the Professor innocent since he is sober therefore credible than the drunk sailor. As stated earlier, this is the most amusing scene and at this moment, the Professor threatens to take disciplinary action against pupils but only manages to chase them round. Ironically, police officers considered Professor Rath innocent because he was sober however; he now sips a few bottles of beer to relieve tension. Lola sings to the Professor after he becomes excessively drunk and this brings joy to her as she begins to sing of she is grateful to fall in love again. The audience needs to remember at this point that when Lola sung at the start, she longed to for a real man but promised herself that she would get him the same night. The similarity between Lola’s current song, the sad clown, and Shakespeare’s comes out well. Both songs are indicators of things that lie in store for the actor. True to Lola’s prophesy, the Professor wakes up the next morning in her bed. It seems that Lola has an agendum to trap the Professor into her love nest because she brings out her singing bird to his delight. The breakfast prepared by Lola seems as her final plot to land the final grip on Professor’s love. The sound of the school bell stimulates the Professor to quickly dash to class. His lateness gives a pupil an opportunity to continue with his queer behaviour of drawing the Professor’s antics of the previous night without leaving out the part that shows that he is in cherub love with Lola. His effort to control the class by punishing pupils does not succeed. The school head, introduced in the movie for the first time later, realises that the Professor’s conduct can no longer earn him respect among the pupils. He decides that either it is time the Professor quits or he sacks him. Finally, Professor Rath falls into Lola’s love cycle and decides to propose to her. He collects his belongings from the classroom and heads straight to Lola’s apartment. His demeanour reveals a desperate man with no hope. He proposes to marry and keep her for life. Lola is amused as this shows a sigh of relief. The reception following their wedding amid wedding music and in company of the entire acting crew flourishes the scene. The crowd breaks into laughter after the Magician decorates the Professor’s nose. This stimulates Lola who clucks like a hen while the Professor crows like a cock. It comes to the attention of the audience that Lola sold postcards as an alternative source of income. When they fall from her briefcase during initial days in their marriage, the Professor vows that Lola will do such business anymore because there is money. However, Lola takes a precaution and decides to keep them for emergency cases. Lola is right and in the next show, the Professor appears selling the postcards. Loss of the job transforms the Professor from high ranks in the society to a common person. He becomes the talk of the town, this humiliates him, and just before he breaks down, he runs back to Lola. He helps Lola to prepare for the next show taking her curler to burn a page on a calendar. It indicates the transition of time. News from the Magician that the next show is at the Blue Angel in the Professor’s hometown excites him a bit. The transformation from a Professor to a clown will make him the biggest centre of attraction. On arrival, a clash of interest ensues where Mazeppa, the strongman shows open interests in Lola though she remains faithful to husband and brushes Mazeppa’s advances away. Meanwhile, the Magician prepares the Professor for mother of all performances at least to the Professor. It is painful to see the Magician humiliate the former Professor turned the confused clown by breaking eggs into his face while the old man watches his wife flirting with Mazeppa at the backstage. The clown loses his head crowing with every instruction from the Magician. The Professor chases the Lola with the desire to kill her while consistently crowing. Mazeppa leads a team of young men who prevent him from doing something bad. They wrap him in a straitjacket. This follows through the film and in the end, the Magician attempts to think along with the Professor after he calms down. The Magician takes the responsibility of addressing the situation and as he leaves, the Professor sneaks out after dressing against the cold. He runs through his old school encountering other funny incidents. The Professor collapses following these incidences and efforts to help him fail. A big shining spotlight awakens him as the bell rings from the background. Bibliography Black, Gregory, 1994, Hollywood censored: Morality codes, Catholics, and the movies, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. Read More