Angel (1937).

Review #2008: Angel.

Cast: 

Marlene Dietrich (Maria, Lady Barker / "Angel"), Herbert Marshall (Sir Frederick Barker), Melvyn Douglas (Anthony 'Tony' Halton), Edward Everett Horton (Graham), Ernest Cossart (Chris Wilton), Laura Hope Crews (the Grand Duchess Anna Dmitrievna), Herbert Mundin (Mr. Greenwood), and Dennie Moore (Emma MacGillicuddy Wilton) Produced and Directed by Ernst Lubitsch (#1026 - The Shop Around the Corner, #1358 - To Be or Not to Be, #1881 - The Love Parade)

Review: 

Ernst Lubitsch actually once was a production manager for Paramount Pictures, you know. Yes, when it comes to mainstream prominent names of directors running a studio, there really is just one name to consider, and Lubitsch didn't even last that long in the position. In fact, he did not last long after at Paramount after 1936, with this being his penultimate film there. Since 1928, he had made most (not all) of his features there, which went from The Patriot to Bluebeard's Eighth Wife. But not all directors can stay in one place, even if they do provide a touch of interest. Angel is also important in the discussion of Dietrich, because it was her last film with Paramount under contract, with her next feature not being until Destry Rides Again in 1939. The film was based on a play called Angyal by Melchoir Lengyel. Guy Bolton and Russell Medcraft wrote the film while Samson Raphaelson and Frederick Lonsdale wrote the screenplay. It was the only time she starred in a Lubitsch film, and she was paired with Marshall, who had starred in Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise (1932), one of a handful of films he would do as a leading man (which included a good deal of romances). 

The touch that Lubitsch provides to making a quality light drama is to keep one's interest firmly upon these sophisticated people and the mishaps that makes romance one to amuse with rather than be afraid of it. It runs at a careful pace of 91 minutes that shows the dynamic that comes together in a love triangle that is seemingly more than two people and one's workload. It is the movie that shows just how much sense one is not going to make when it comes to the nature of men and women, with the latter being particularly apparent. Dietrich plays things with the solemn dignity required in a role that has her cherished in different ways when paired with Marshall or Douglas, which makes sense when you see the dynamics of marriage being contrasted with a night of odd adventure. She is vulnerable even in her grace that seems different her time spent with Josef von Sternberg when it comes to cherishment. Marshall (who appears last among the triangle, intentionally presented as such when it comes to a man presented as a "League of Nations" man) does pretty well as the middleman of romance, a gentleman that clearly has affection for his wife, but it is evident to see how much of his affection for his wife runs in tandem with his affection of his work, which works to the levels needed when it comes to the inevitable climax. Douglas fills the key piece of the triangle as the obsessive man struck between his connection with an old friend and the connection that he believes he has with someone that seems apt to be called "Angel". Simply put, it is charming to see one have a helpless obsession when it comes to what we know is coming with the inevitable confrontation over just what is going to happen with the choice of a woman. There is some comic relief when it comes to Horton and Crews, since one cannot have romance without onlookers present to see from afar that are just living in their element, which is probably best stated in a scene where a few butlers are taking back plates of food meant to be ate for a meal between the love triangle only to find that two of them did not eat a bite. By the time one has gotten to the end of the film in its lovely presentation of the inevitable of irrational decisions made in the name of passions, you have found that your time has been spent quite well, one where the director and the cast are working hand-in-hand in making sophisticated entertainment. It should make a good time for those who are interested in Lubitsch or Dietrich, that much is clear.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

The Blue Angel.

Review #2001: The Blue Angel.

Cast: 

Emil Jannings (Professor Immanuel Rath), Marlene Dietrich (Lola Lola), Kurt Gerron (Kiepert, the magician), Rosa Valetti (Guste, the magician's wife), Hans Albers (Mazeppa, the strongman), Reinhold Bernt (The clown), Eduard von Winterstein (The director of school), Hans Roth (The caretaker of the secondary school), Rolf Müller (Pupil Angst), Roland Varno (Pupil Lohmann), and Carl Balhaus (Pupil Ertzum) Directed by Josef von Sternberg (#1325 - Underworld, #1337 - Shanghai Express, #1837 - Thunderbolt)

Review: 

So, how does one follow up their first sound film with a further quality one? Josef von Sternberg, fresh from the success of Thunderbolt (1929), was summoned by Universum Film A.G (usually referred to as UFA) for a project that would see Emil Jannings in his first sound production. He had been born in Switzerland to American and German parents, but he was raised in Germany. He eventually gained success in both Germany and America, and he was the first actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Jannings collaborated with Sternberg previously with The Last Command (1928). However, it would be more of a boon for the little-known actress cast against Jannings that proved more important. Berlin native Marlene Dietrich had made her first appearance on film in 1923 to go alongside stage work in musicals and revues. She auditioned for the role along with several others (such as Lucie Mannheim) and proceeded to win the audition and then basically steal the show from Jannings with this film, the first of seven she would do with Sternberg, whose infatuation with her led to divorce from his wife. Jannings had returned to Germany after 1929 saw his thick accent go out of vogue with the sound era; while he continued to do films for years, this is probably his last memorable one before the Nazi era. In later years, labeled an "artist of the state", he starred in several moves intended to promote the cause of Nazi Germany (ironically, Dietrich was a key activist against Nazism and later called Jannings a "ham"). Jannings tried to defend his decisions by saying that “Open resistance would have meant a concentration camp” (incidentally, his co-star in Gerron and his director in Sternberg were both Jewish, and Gerron was murdered in a concentration camp when the Nazis occupied the Netherlands). The Blue Angel was the tenth film directed by Sternberg, and it is loosely based off the 1905 novel Professor Unrat, oder Das Ende eines Tyrannen (in German, "Unrat" means garbage) by Heinrich Mann, with the movie diverting in the second half of the book (which mainly means the movie is more downbeat); Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmoller, Robert Liebmann, and Sternberg. The novel has been adapted multiple times, one of them being a 1959 adaptation for 20th Century Fox by Edward Dmytryk that saw Sternberg sue because he claimed to have the remake rights. An Indian movie was made with V. Shantaram's Pinjara (1972) and then again with Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Lola (1981).

There exist two versions of the movie, hewing to the tradition that happened with certain films of the time that saw actors doing the same movie in multiple languages (the easiest example being the 1931 Dracula, but that one had different directors and cast). You could check out the English version (only just discovered years ago) if you really need to see German-born actors like the main trio say lines they already say in German in English that is shorter than the 108-minute runtime of this film. Regardless, what you have here is a wonderous descent into madness in obsessive desire. It really is a point of irony that Jannings was eclipsed by Dietrich when it comes to mainstream attention, because he really does pull off an interesting performance when it comes to the art of watching a man crumble right before your eyes. It isn't a pry for sympathy or just time spent watching for the great fall, finding a careful balance of man against the enigmatic qualities of the woman that finds him bound and basically gagged. And then of course there is Dietrich, practically brimming like a flame bright enough to attract all the moths. Her cabaret act (one signified by her singing of "Falling in Love Again" [Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt]) is certainly one to help introduce a great presence to the screen in ideal quality when it comes to pointing out the hypocrisies that come with the loss of power for the illusion of love. One loses themselves in the pursuit of what they think is love, and she plays the kind of person you would see yourself losing your head (and more) for. She transfixes you by simply being there as an object of great presence and timing. Gerron makes for a useful showman in huckster confidence that could only be done by someone with worthy interesting in humor without overselling it. The film builds and builds itself to the culmination of all that ever can be and all that could ever be when it comes to taking grand steps to the path of supposed happiness and seeing what happens when the step comes with a great price, where trading power for desire sees everything turn to dust. The scenes of a man once at the helm of a desk with great power now reduced to languishing to being the second in a romantic partnership is communicated with worthy pictorial power by Sternberg. He captures the essence of obsession with a pretty good experience that one should consider watching for themselves to see what the fuss is all about with the movie that started it all with Dietrich and Sternberg.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.

Shanghai Express.

Review #1337: Shanghai Express.

Cast: 
Clive Brook (Captain Donald "Doc" Harvey), Marlene Dietrich (Shanghai Lily / Madeline), Anna May Wong (Hui Fei), Warner Oland (Henry Chang), Lawrence Grant (Reverend Carmichael), Eugene Pallette (Sam Salt), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Eric Baum), Louise Closser Hale (Mrs. Haggerty), and Emile Chautard (Major Lenard) Directed by Josef von Sternberg (#1325 - Underworld)

Review: 
One needs a little adventure in their life. Of course they also might need a good partner to go along with it to make it really come alive. Naturally, one could think of Marlene Dietrich when asking for a description of someone glamorous and exotic enough for said adventure. Born in Berlin, she had studied the violin and briefly worked in a pit orchestra for a cinema and their silent films before becoming a chorus girl and eventually finding small parts for film and theater, with her first appearance on film being The Little Napoleon (1923). However, it was in 1930 that she received her breakthrough opportunity with the UFA production of The Blue Angel (1930), directed by Josef von Sternberg. He is a director who admitted that he regarded actors as "marionettes, as pieces of color in my canvas...I watch a motion picture as a surgeon watches an operation." That film proved to be a success, and the two would go on to work together at Paramount Pictures for six films in the following five years, with this being the fourth overall collaboration between the two. One can only appreciate the magic occurring on and off camera, with this being a journey with many stops worth checking out in terms of style and charisma, where even the dialogue seems like it is being spoken like a train. As one would expect, there is a vibrant group of characters to view with this adventure, where no one is exactly who they seem at first, much like how one can find themselves revealing things about themselves to strangers if on a trip long enough, and this film fits the bill of satisfaction at 80 minutes. Brook and Dietrich provide a one-two punch of workable chemistry, where one is absorbed in their passion, which works itself quite well with Dietrich when it comes to the camera and focusing on her absorbing qualities, captured neatly by cinematographer Lee Garmes alongside guidance from von Sternberg, who clearly knows what he wants in capturing a star in the midst of shining. Wong proves as resilient in her time on screen, as one could expect from a veteran star that had found success in both Hollywood and Europe despite the prevailing typecasting of the time. Oland, a Swedish born actor whose famous/infamous portrayal of the Chinese-American Charlie Chan remains a topic of discussion decades after his death, does a fine job in making for a compelling adversary, a scoundrel that we at first see with empathy before taking control. Grant provides some sort of moral edge alongside the motley crew of Palllette and the rest to make for an engaging sit-through, where one is entranced to see what goes on like a dream. Simply put, it is a charmer when it needs to be. Onscreen credits refer to this film being adapted from a Harry Hervey work referred to as both "Sky Over China" and "China Pass", although it apparently was never published. In any case, the script from Jules Furthman and Hervey served as the basis for two remakes in Night Plane from Chungking (1942) and Peking Express (1951). It shouldn't prove surprising that this was the hit of its year, even exceeding the star-studded Grand Hotel, which this film was compared to "on wheels". In any case, this is a fair charmer of entertainment, filled with romance and adventure with a wonderful Dietrich performance in a ride from von Sternberg that you never really want to see end.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.