1930: The Blue Angel (aka Der blaue Engel) (94th)

What else happened this year? A lot of stuff that would have raminfications later, it seems. However, on the 18th of April, the BBC reported that there was 'no news' for the day and played some music instead.

What is the plot - in one sentence? A stuffy professor falls in love with a… burlesque singer.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? His life goes on a spiral, and he tries to kill her when she cheats on him with a strong man. Disheveled and heartbroken, he ends up breaking into his old university and ‘dying’ on his desk.

What is the meaning of the title? The Blue Angel is the inn where the ‘burlesque’ performances happen. This appears to mean that a half dozen very stocky women drink beer while Marlene Dietrich sings songs in revealing yet unalluring clothes.

Here are a couple of the 'sexy dancers' in the Blue Angel. The professor is on the left, his clean clothes and confident manner mean that he is yet to be married.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? No real violence, it’s more of a morality play. Something which was cool was that we see a bear at one stage being led onto screen, I definitely wasn’t expecting that.

Any thoughts? This is quite a racy one, but mainly in suggestive ways. A lot of romance and love is merely implied, but I can imagine it causing some scandal back in the day.

They’re in a noisy nightclub for large parts of the movie, but whenever the flimsy looking door is closed, all of the sound from outside ceases. I wish I had that technology in my place.

The professor and the singer fall in love for no reason whatsoever, he’s far older than her, and it seems like she’s marrying him for his money, but he loses his job because o fthe scandal… which implies he’s taking up with a prostitute or something like that, especially as he sells her saucy photos on the side.

Anyway, they fall in love for no reason, and the deal is sealed when she sings ‘Falling in love again’ – where she boasts about having men ruined by her love, that just spurs him on. I’d heard this song in English, but it’s much nicer in German.

Would you recommend this? Kinda – it takes far too long to get going, and the end is a bit rushed. We spend time showing they are falling out of love, but most of it is implied through the passing of time. It’s funny that they go fro married, to her kissing a strongman as soon as she meets him, in the space of about 15 minutes.

Final thoughts? This is a bit of an interesting one, Marlene Dietrich is a very pretty woman, put into some very unfashionable outfits. The professor’s plight is the real story here, but he seemingly falls for a woman and loves her, it seems a bit harsh to punish him like this, and his students seem like real assholes.

A few zingers here and there, too, so it’s not all terrible, and defnitely interesting.Speaking of interesting, the others in this feature are all to be found here!