bild

The Blue Angel is a 1930 German tragicomedic film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. It is based on Heinrich Mann's novel Professor Unrat and set in Weimar Germany. The Blue Angel presents the tragic transformation of a man from a respectable professor to a cabaret clown, and his descent into madness. The film is considered to be the first major German sound film, and brought Dietrich international fame. (KEYSTONE/World History Archive)