The Blue Angel · reception & legacy

How The Blue Angel has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A sensation on release — it made Marlene Dietrich an overnight international star — and it never really fell out of favour: it's since hardened into the cornerstone of Weimar-era cinema and the founding text of the Dietrich myth.

What's debated

Fans still argue over whose film it really is — Emil Jannings, then the bigger star, giving the towering performance, or Dietrich effortlessly stealing it — plus the perennial German-vs-English-version debate (shot simultaneously; cinephiles insist on the German).

Its footprint

Dietrich's Lola Lola in top hat and stockings astride a chair is one of the most referenced images in all of cinema, imitated by everyone from Madonna to countless cabaret acts, and 'Falling in Love Again' became Dietrich's signature song for the rest of her life.

Where it stands

An unshakeable 'you must have seen this' of early sound cinema — the entry point to both Weimar film and the seven-film Sternberg–Dietrich collaboration it kicked off.