Š-DR- DISHONORED (agent X27) de Josef von Sternberg (1931) p4

02/10/2014 16:07 par tellurikwaves

Fiche technique
Titre : Agent X 27
Titre original : Dishonored
Réalisation : Josef von Sternberg
Scénario : Daniel Nathan Rubin et Josef von Sternberg d'après
une histoire de Josef von Sternberg
Production : Paramount Pictures
Photographie : Lee Garmes
Montage : Josef von Sternberg (non crédité)
Musique : Karl Hajos et Herman Hand (non crédités)
Direction artistique : Hans Dreier
Costumes : Travis Banton
Pays d'origine : États-Unis
Genre : Mélodrame
Format : Noir et blanc - Son : Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)
Durée : 91 minutes
Dates de sortie : États-Unis : 5 mars 1931 (première à New York),
4 avril 1931 (sortie nationale)

Š-DR- DISHONORED (agent X27) de Josef von Sternberg (1931) p3

02/10/2014 16:04 par tellurikwaves

Cast
Marlene Dietrich : Marie Kolverer/X 27
Victor McLaglen : Lieutenant Kranau
Lew Cody : Colonel Kovrin
Gustav von Seyffertitz : Le chef des services secrets
Warner Oland : Général von Hindau
Barry Norton : Le jeune lieutenant
Davison Clark : Le président de la Cour Martiale
Wilfred Lucas : Général Dymov
George Irving (non-crédité) : Un contact au café

Š-DR- DISHONORED (agent X27) de Josef von Sternberg (1931) p2

02/10/2014 06:05 par tellurikwaves

An overlooked masterpiece

Author: theorbys from New York City
19 August 1999
 

One up front negative: Victor McLaglen as a dashing, adventurous Russian officer is very badly miscast.

This is a World War I Mata Hari genre film with Marlene Dietrich recruited by the Austrian Secret Service to spy for them against the Russians. Like the other Von Sternberg/Dietrich collaborations this is all about visual texture and Marlene's incredible persona (which is very much due to her equally incredible talent). Both come together perfectly in the amazing masked ball scene full, full, full of confetti, long twisted streamers, costumed revelers, and uncurling paper party-horns that you blow through to make a high pitched little squeal.

In one remarkable scene Marlene is hypnotic just saying, "No." "Yes." "Noooo." and "Maybe." In another her dialog is a hilarious and inimatable series of "Meowwws." I don't remember her singing in this one but she plays the piano with abandon. Nevermind the plot, this is a film you watch because it is a great vehicle for one of film's greatest, if not the greatest, stars and because it is great cinema.
 

11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:

Cinema!

Author: James-Morrell from York
25 November 2004

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***

This is the 3rd of the 7 von Sternberg films to star Marlene Dietrich (here, she plays a spy known as x-27) based on a story written swiftly by the director to capitalise on the success of 'Morocco'.

If von Sternberg didn't 'write' all of his films he certainly 'rewrote' most of them, as 'Dishonored' replays a theme recurrent in many of his films, that of sexual desire as the overriding driving force behind behaviour. That 'Dishonored' is a lot less successful a film than 'Morocco' might be down in part to its leading man Victor McLaglen - unconvincing as the spy that Dietrich falls for – a grinning rictus unable to convey charisma. Gary Cooper was the original choice for the part and, based on this, it's a shame that he refused to work with von Sternberg here. Cooper was certainly a Sternberg actor: his performances tended to be those of brooding but ultimately dignified types, internalising emotion: here, McLaglen doesn't give the impression of having any emotions at all. Coincidentally, it's this very Sterbergian aesthetic (of performers moving stolidly and glumly among highly Expressionist scenery) that is least to the fore in 'Dishonored'; Sternberg struggles to make much of 're-creations' such as the Austrian Secret Service headquarters and a Russian military base, instead depending on elongated dissolves between scenes (some of the double images achieved are Surreal). Likewise, the drawn out delivery of the dialogue, reminiscent of a school nativity play at times, would certainly be intolerable for a modern audience – explaining the non showing of von Sternberg films today. Indeed, Dishonored could quite easily be a silent film (with a piano accompaniment) were it not for the final scene -

SPOILERS * * *

Dietrich's execution at the hands of a firing squad in which the echoing sound of military drums, soldiers' voices and guns, catapult the viewer to a different level than almost everything experienced before. This climactic scene isn't achieved by pyrotechnics alone however, so much as for the fact that the young lieutenant responsible for escorting X-27 to her death is the same soldier who had previously escorted the then new recruit to the office of the Head of the Austrian Secret Service on her first day.

Back then, he had accompanied her along a long marble corridor.

'Quite a walk, isn't it?' he'd remarked. To which she'd replied: 'I don't mind walking.' By the time they had reached the office the soldier confessed: 'I must tell you, I could walk with you forever.' In the final scene, upon entering X-27's cell and requesting that the spy follow him, X-27 asks: 'Are we going to walk together again?' - managing a disdainful laugh on 'together'. Finally, as she faces the firing squad it is the same young soldier who has the responsibility for giving the order to fire. Thus follows a remarkable sequence: A shot of the hesitating lieutenant; shot of the Head of the Secret Service; shot of Dietrich smiling benignly; shot of reflection of guns on the skin of a drum. The lieutenant cracks. 'I will not kill a woman. I will not kill anymore men either. You call this war? I call it butchery. You call this serving your country? You call this patriotism? I call it murder.' This would be unremarkable in itself were it not for the fact that throughout this impassioned speech X-27 is seen retouching her lipstick.

Would does it mean?

For me this final gesture mocks crocodile tears, mocks the sentimentality of the traditional Hollywood ending, mocks the very notion of Hollywood glamour itself. And it mocks those things for the very reason that those things are not real.

The artificiality of Joseph von Sternberg's cinema (this most studio bound of all directors) is actually only a means to an end.

6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

Dietrich the spy, Dietrich the romantic in spite of herself

Author: netwallah from The New Intangible College
13 June 2006

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Marlene Dietrich plays Marie, the widow of a decorated Austrian WW I soldier down on her luck, recruited for the secret service by a dour secret service chief (Gustav von Seyffertitz) to become spy X-27. Her first assignment is to trap a mole for the Russians (Warner Oland, playing the first non-pseudo-oriental role I've seen him in), which she does with ease. Her next adversary is the wily Russian spy Colonel Kranau (Victor McLaglen), and the two of them keep stalemating each other. Ultimately, her gesture acknowledging love though she doesn't say it aloud, she allows him to escape the Austrians who have captured him, and she is tried and executed for treason. In this movie, von Sternberg makes the most of Dietrich's enigmatic bearing—she's not much interested in living, and not much afraid of dying, so she might as well die for her country. No reproach for her country's neglect of the widow of a hero. Von Sternberg also gives plenty of examples of his famous eponymous lighting, making Dietrich look even more alluring, jaded, insouciant, and enigmatic than ever. McLaglen is an odd choice for a romantic hero. Most of his parts emphasize bluff, even cynical good humour or vicious toughness. Here he smiles knowingly and moves with ease in uniform. Perhaps he grins too much, but the balance of his joviality with Dietrich's pallor is intriguing.

7 out of 8 people found the following review useful:

Fascinating film.......so bizarre...

Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN
4 January 2002

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Most will dislike Josef von Sternberg's Dishonored. The plot is often ridiculous, and that's what most people like to comment on. I found it hypnotic. The inconsistencies didn't annoy me so much as entertain me. In a way, this could be called a camp classic. Whatever type of classic it is, though, it is an amazing film. Confer the scene nearer the beginning when Marlene Dietrich walks right up to the camera, within inches of its lense. How about the scene where she plays a Russian peasant girl to infiltrate the Russian army (she's an Austrian spy)? She climbs up on a high ledge and starts meowing at the man whom she is seducing. The final sequence is stunning and audacious.

I'm skipping a few lines in order to give sufficient room to write this

SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who else but Marlene Dietrich would insist that her lipstick were on straight before she was executed by firing squad?

5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:

A giddy joy

Author: oOgiandujaOo from United Kingdom
21 December 2009

It is best to write first about von Sternberg's aesthetic as some have not grasped it so well in my opinion. When I first watched his "The Scarlet Empress" my initial feeling was that it was very silly; as a historical portrait of Catherine the Great of Russia it's ludicrous, in every palace scene these grotesque and implausible Russian Orthodox inspired gargoyles and paraphernalia loom out of the darkness. The palace sets reek of congenital insanity and cobwebbed decay that is decadently overblown. This is not the point though, for what we are seeing is not Tsarist Russia, but childhood dreams of Tsarist Russia. Who as a child if they read of Rasputin or Mata Hari, or Jack the Ripper didn't fully over-egg the pudding in their mind? My favourite dream is of an insomniac Russian court listening to those inestimable gifts of Bach, the Goldberg variations. You will never see my fever dream as I am not Josef von Sternberg, one of the greatest artistic geniuses (I really mean that word) of the Twentieth century.

Dishonored I am told is the least of the Dietrich/Sternberg collaborations, if that is so, then it is the least of the great peaks of the Himalayas in filmic terms. It is almost pure dreamscape. The film is in some respects an elaborate parry and thrust duello between Dietrich's X-27 and Victor McLaglen's Colonel Kranau, an Austrian and a Russian spy during The Great War.

It has been said that McLaglen was miscast in this movie. That for me is palpably false. McLaglen is mainly known for his stock character roles in John Ford movies, usually playing slightly oafish but well-meaning fellows. It may be the case that folks have been unable to disentangle that persona from what they saw in this film. My own personal blind spot is that I can only see Norman Bates when I see an Anthony Perkins movie, which ruins them every time. For me Victor's smile, which is all you see in the masked ball, is perfect for the role, his lifestyle and way with the women positively makes James Bond look like a rank amateur. There is an almost balletic moment in Dietrich's (why not say Dietrich when we are dealing with such an artificial delight?) bedroom where Victor effortlessly catches her hand as she whirls away from him; how can a movie be so controlled yet seemingly effortless? What this film leaves you with, which is the way of life of both Kranau and X-27, is the feeling of being neither afraid of life nor of death. These are two super-people leading exorbitantly fulfilled existences. Frankly I was overcome by this film. The masked ball, with Kranau grinning and hobbling away on his crutches will stay with me until I am dribbling and senile.

It is right and honest and proper to dedicate something you enjoyed doing. So I dedicate this review to Claire B, who is wonderful.

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

Spy vs. Spies

Author: lugonian from Kissimmee, Florida
7 March 2009

DISHONORED (Paramount, 1931), written and directed by Josef Von Sternberg, stars German born Marlene Dietrich in her second Hollywood film, and third under Von Sternberg. Following the enormous success of German made production, THE BLUE ANGEL (Ufa, 1929), and her Hollywood debut, MOROCCO (Paramount,1930), Dietrich was offered the opportunity to not only be the only female in the major lead, but a chance to break away from typically playing cabaret singers to that of a prostitute turned spy during the World War. With spy melodramas being common ground on screen, the best known being Greta Garbo's interpretation of both MGM's THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN (1928) and as MATA HARI (1931), DISHONORED attempts on becoming something different, different in terms of Von Sternberg's directorial style, giving this production more of a European than American impression. Although this method was hardly new by 1931, it still should leave a lasting impression, especially for film students.

Opening title: "1915 - A ring of steel encircles Vienna ... strange figures emerge from the dust of the falling Austrian empire, one of these, listed in the secret files of the war office as X-27 might have been the greatest spy in history ... if X-27 had not been a woman."  The story opens in Vienna on a rainy night where a crowd of people witness a body being carried away into an ambulance. Overhearing a streetwalker (Marlene Dietrich) making a comment, "I am not afraid of life, although I am not afraid of death either," a mysterious man (Gustav Von Seyffertitz) approaches her. Escorting her to her apartment, he offers her a job making some easy money as a spy. After turning him over to the police, the man identifies himself as chief of Secret Service Headquarters, leaving the officer his calling card to give to the girl. Realizing the man's sincerity to his country, and a chance for adventure, the girl arrives at the headquarters where she accepts her new role in spite of possible danger and high risks. Working under the name of X-27, her first assignment is spying on General Von Hindau (Warner Oland), whom she meets at a masked ball, who's suspected of being a traitor passing information to the Russians with a clown being his contact. Her job soon finds her trailing that of Lieutenant Kranau (Victor McLaglen) and Colonel Korvin (Lew Cody) as possible threats to her country. Although she proves herself an exceptional spy, X-27 betrays her trust when she falls in love with one of the enemy spies. 

While DISHONORED is slowly paced in true essence of Von Sternberg's direction, a method that tends to bore contemporary viewers, the visuals, however, are outstanding. Overlooking its spy vs. spies scenario, it's interesting pointing out what Von Sternberg does with the camera, especially extreme close-ups of Dietrich's face superimposed by action occurring someplace else between two other characters as she plays her favorite piece on the piano ("The Anniversary Waltz"), or a superimpose of a cat's eyes to reflect the mood of Dietrich's unafraid character. With Dietrich donning several disguises, her best turns out to be the that of giggling shy Russian peasant girl.

While it's been stated that McLaglen's role was originally intended for Gary Cooper (bad casting), Dietrich's leading man in MOROCCO, Victor McLaglen appears to be an unlikely candidate as a Russian spy, a role that should have gone to either Paramount's own leading man of Fredric March, or a European import in the range of Nils Asther, for example. Barry Norton's one brief bit in the firing squad scene where he makes pleas about disobeying orders leaves a lasting impression long after the movie is over. Von Sternberg would reunite Dietrich with DISHONORED co-stars Von Seyffertitz and Warner Oland, in what's considered to be their finest collaboration, SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932), featuring Clive Brook.

Commonly shown on commercial television up to the 1980s, cable TV presentations of DISHONORED have been exceptionally rare. Notable broadcasts have been on the Movie Channel (1991) and Turner Classic Movies (January 2002) as part of its "Star of the Month" tribute to Marlene Dietrich. This and other Dietrich productions during her Paramount years have been distributed on video cassette. As much as DISHONORED tends to be more Von Sternberg than Dietrich, it is Dietrich who makes the film much better than it actually is. (**1/2)    

5 out of 6 people found the following review useful:

Under-rated von Sternberg

Author: canonaspirin from United States
25 December 2005

Having just viewed this movie for the first time, I must say that from what I've seen written about Dishonored it seems somewhat unappreciated. While perhaps not a masterpiece on the level of other von Sternberg/Dietrich pairings, such as the two greats The Blue Angel and Blonde Venus, like them both it oozes with the unmistakable marks of its director: the stark dialogue, the lavish attention to atmosphere (such as all the wonderful interiors), and a pervading sense of marvelous oddness. Von Sternberg shows us that the real triumph of his cinema is not one of the reality it affords, but one of style, of which Dishonored has enough to spare.

2 out of 2 people found the following review useful:

Marlene as Mysterious Lady

Author: Marcin Kukuczka from Cieszyn, Poland
28 December 2011

A beautiful woman whose mystery provokes and rivets all viewers, a vamp, a spy, a seductress, a temptress, a woman of many faces and many names, desire embodied where just a look suffices to magnetize the strongest men. How predictable and 'kitschy' it may seem; nevertheless, how accurately it recalls a tendency widespread in the heyday of silver screen: make female celebrities as attractive as possible so that viewers can flock to see them in their most weird roles. They will become the dream of 'husbands' and envy of 'wives' And while Greta Garbo, the queen of MGM, appeared to stun many viewers as a spy lighting up the candles in THE MYSTERIOUS LADY, the burning desires really burst out here at Marlene Dietrich as a spy X27 playing the piano (manipulating everything) on the verge of climactic insanity.

DISHONORED, quite often compared to some other films of the time and treated in the inferior position to others, is undeservedly quite an underrated production. And sadly so because the cooperation of Josef Von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich boasts of some really valuable moments here. Set in the early 20th century Austria, the sets seem to stun equally as the music. The whole movie still occurs to be a visually and atmospherically arousing achievement. The use of classical music, which combines the traditional tunes of Johann Strauss's "The Blue Danube" waltz with the unconventional "Waves of the Danube" by Iosif Ivanovici, seems to manifest the core of the storyline: all those contradictory emotions, plans, events provoked by a woman with her black cat.

The woman who is not afraid of life nor death; the woman of many masks who selects within a broad spectrum of roles needed in closely-knit expectations: from a prostitute to a housewife. Consequently, she is a woman who prefers not to give her true name and appears as a mysterious cipher, X27. Besides, she is the woman who hunts for men and ... slowly goes on undressing...not so much driven by the flesh but the duty. There is no need to say more about the character because everything is rewarded by one name - MARLENE DIETRICH. Her marvelous performance is a purifying combination of conventional acting and unconventional ideas, a lovely manifestation of juxtaposing personality. She does a flawless job as a delicious teaser, a sophisticated woman, a masochistic pianist, an extremely funny little housewife but foremost a foxy spy greatly absorbing. Her character stands for a cat no matter if it is a humorous meow or sensual wow. Among her very best roles, many critics recall the finale, the execution when she stays cold mentally and delicious visually (even the lipstick). The moment, though considerably different, is sometimes compared to or rather contrasted with Garbo's walk filled with 'holy bliss' in MATA HARI. Though great is the moment, I prefer another one: seduction of Colonel Kranau (Victor McLaglen) where Marlene embodies desire. "I have a feeling we've met before" appears literal and metaphorical. Moreover, the source inspiration for the the manner the scene is shot, Picasso's "Les Damoiselles D'Avignon," is a worthwhile effect on the screen (Keith Uhlich analyzes it accurately in his 2003 review). And the men?

Warner Oland as General Von Hindau gives a terrific performance in his short but crucial moments for the storyline. Acquainted with X27 at the mask ball (a scene also filled with associations: note the bird and the balloon, for instance), he invites her to his room and there...so much happens, so much is revealed, such a tension grows... Victor Mc Laglen is also captivating as Colonel Kranau who does not merely come to see her for a kiss but... Nevertheless, the man who remains, to me, most memorable is Gustav Von Seyffertitz (also an accurate example for recalling THE MYSTERIOUS LADY).

An interesting film thanks to Marlene and the mysterious lady she portrays. A little bit shocking film like most of Von Sternberg's films but what would it all be if the director were not present, somehow? All in all, no masterpiece but a worth seeing pre-Code production! Highly recommended for silver screen lovers. 7/10

3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:

Magic!

Author: nandoferrer from Portugal
9 December 2009

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

'Dishonoured' comes off to me as perhaps one of my favourite among Von Sternberg/Dietrich's movies together, his style and treatment of black and white shading adding enormously to the film's whole atmosphere and cinematography.It also encompasses the continuous creation of Dietrich's movie 'persona' around this time,the femme fatale who apparently betrays everything but her final, ultimate love, paying the price for it with her own life. The film also shows Dietrich or the director's increasing concern with her own image and the result is so irresistible one can't avoid thinking of it as a masterpiece.Dietrich also transforms herself into something quite different, a plain waitress, almost unrecognizable, showing how through image and acting talent something like that could be achieved in the 30s, once again reminding us how Dietrich was such an incredible actress when it was allowed or wanted. Dietrich's final scenes, after the character's detention and sentencing, are unforgettable as is the cinematography and direction of the movie by Von Sternberg.The scenes leading to the execution scene and the final execution scene itself are unforgettable and leave a lingering effect of sadness and melancholy after the word The End appears on screen. The film's beauty is furthered by the exceptional musical score, and as Dietrich courageously faces the execution platoon arranging herself and retouching her make up the simultaneous surrealism and reality of the scene is a true example of the director and actress's talents and pure magic.

6 out of 10 people found the following review useful:

Von Sternberg reveals as Dietrich evolves

Author: (mc@michaelcarmichael.com) from United Kingdom
12 July 2005

Dishonoured is an under-appreciated masterpiece. Frequently omitted from lists of collaborations between Dietrich and Von Sternberg, the film is absolutely essential to an understanding of the director's artistic technique and the actor's evolution into her status as an icon for every subsequent femme fatale. Von Sternberg applies a rich sequence of layers of style and character that embellish Dietrich's icily stunning allure as an intelligent woman engaged in a deadly quest for more temporal power in the form of top secret military intelligence and empowerment over the men she manipulates. Along the way, his penetrating interpretation of social conventions depicts a chiaroscuro of surrealistic fantasy in contrast with the gritty reality of doom that engulfs his heroine who is ultimately transformed into a martyr to her own - and universal - femininity.

Š-DR- DISHONORED (agent X27) de Josef von Sternberg (1931)

02/10/2014 05:58 par tellurikwaves

Agent X 27 (Dishonored) est un film américain réalisé par Josef von Sternberg, sorti en 1931. Troisième film pour le duo Marlene Dietrich / Josef von Sternberg après l'Ange Bleu et Cœurs brûlés.

Résumé
Vienne, en 1915

Intelligente et belle,Magda, une prostituée,lasse de la vie qui l'a jusqu'à présent déçue,est abordée par un homme qui lui confie avoir besoin"d'une femme qui sache s'y prendre avec les hommes". Il lui propose de devenir espionne. au service d'une puissance européenne. elle lance :"Je n'ai pas peur de la vie,de la mort non plus"

Elle débute, sous la dénomination « X 27 », par un coup de maître, en démasquant un officier supérieur allemand, le colonel von Hindau, qui communique à l'ennemi des renseignements importants. Elle est moins heureuse quand elle s'attaque au lieutenant Kranau que l'on soupçonne a juste titre d'être le principal adjoint du traître.

Š-DR- L'ANGE BLEU de Josef von Sternberg (1930) fin

01/10/2014 05:46 par tellurikwaves

Autour du film

-Ce film est le premier film parlant tourné en Allemagne ; il était donc très attendu. C'est le premier film parlant de Dietrich et le premier où elle chante.

-Ce film marque la rencontre d'un des couples de cinéma les plus célèbres et prolifiques. L'entente et le perfectionnisme artistique sont tels entre eux qu'ils feront six autres films - six chefs-d'œuvre - ensemble, à Hollywood.

-Ce film est le 18e film de Dietrich, qui a donc déjà tourné - des rôles mineurs - au temps du cinéma muet.

-C'est ce film qui fera d'elle une star et lancera sa carrière.

-C'est - paradoxalement - son dernier film allemand, si on exclut Just A Gigolo, film de 1978, de production allemande, mais dont les deux scène où Marlène apparaît furent tournées à Paris

-La vedette du film (à l'époque du tournage), Emil Jannings, vient de recevoir le premier Oscar décerné par l'Academy Awards en 1929. Le film doit au départ mettre en valeur son talent. Le roman d'Heinrich Mann, Professor Unrat (rôle tenu par Jannings), devient à l'écran Der Blaue Engel, du nom du cabaret ou se produit Lola Lola (rôle tenu par Dietrich). Ce glissement sémantique est révélateur des intentions du metteur en scène.

-Emil Jannings venait de tourner, sous la direction de von Sternberg, Crépuscule de gloire (1928), à Hollywood.

-Josef von Sternberg déclara « Dietrich ne détruit pas l’homme, dans L’Ange bleu, il se détruit lui-même. La faute est sienne, c’est lui qui n’aurait pas dû se lancer dans cette aventure. C’est cela le sujet. »

-Lola-Lola, avec ses bas et ses jarretelles, chante, dans une scène inoubliable, Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt, (Je suis de la tête aux pieds, faite pour l'amour). La chanson fut d'ailleurs source de bon nombre de reprises, en anglais sous le titre Falling in love again, par Marlène Dietrich mais également par : Nina Simone, Klaus Nomi ou encore plus récemment en version dance par Starbeat ; en français sous le titre Amoureuse de la tête aux pieds, par Berthe Sylva.

-Heinrich Mann, dont le roman est ici adapté, dit lui-même : « Le film devra son succès aux cuisses dénudées de Mademoiselle Dietrich. »

-Dietrich toucha un cachet de cinq mille dollars pour les deux versions de ce film, et Emils Jannings un cachet de deux cent mille dollars.

-À la fin du tournage de l'Ange Bleu, les studios de la UFA décidèrent de ne pas renouveler le contrat de Marlène Dietrich.

-Le tournage fit parler de lui à Berlin et ailleurs car la Paramount, studio américain de von Sternberg et distributeur de l'Ange Bleu aux États-Unis, proposa à Marlène un contrat à Hollywood par un câble du 29 janvier 1930 ; cette ébauche de contrat prévoit un cachet hebdomadaire de 500 dollars, que l'actrice tourne ou non. Le studio voit de plus dans cette allemande une concurrente de taille face à la suédoise Greta Garbo, star des studios rivaux de la MGM.Par la suite, le contrat que von Sternberg renégocie pour Marlène à Hollywood, lui donne la possibilité exceptionnelle pour l'époque de ne tourner que deux films, avec le metteur en scène de son choix.La Paramount attendit néanmoins que Marlène fasse ses preuves (financièrement parlant) avec son premier film américain, Cœurs brûlés, avant de sortir l'Ange Bleu aux États-Unis. Ainsi, Cœurs brûlés sort le 14 novembre 1930, et l'Ange Bleu, tourné avant, sort seulement le 3 janvier 1931. Entre temps, la nouvelle star tourne Agent X 27 avec son mentor

-Marlène reprendra, au cours de la deuxième guerre mondiale et après, la chanson Falling in love again, lors de ses tours de chants.

-Remake américain : L'Ange bleu, réalisé par Edward Dmytryk, avec Curd Jürgens et May Britt, sorti en 1959.

Š-DR-L'ANGE BLEU de Josef von Sternberg (1930) p11

01/10/2014 05:40 par tellurikwaves

External Reviews

Š-DR-L'ANGE BLEU de Josef von Sternberg (1930) p10

01/10/2014 05:12 par tellurikwaves

Il y a 84 ans, le 1er avril 1930, avait lieu au Global Palast à Berlin la première du film de Josef von Sternberg, Der blaue Engel (L’Ange bleu), scénario de Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller & Robert Liebmann d'après le roman Professor Unrat de Heinrich Mann, une production d'Erich Pommer pour Ufa. Avec Emil Jannings dans le rôle du Professeur Immanuel Rath et Marlene Dietrich dans le rôle de Lola-Lola, et les vedettes de cabaret Hans Albers, Rosa Valetti et Kurt Gerron. Les costumes de Marlene Dietrich sont de Tihamer Varady et Karl-Ludwig Holub. Ce film, tourné dans les studios de l’Ufa à Babelsberg, est le seul film allemand de Josef von Sternberg et le premier film parlant du cinéma allemand.

ICH BIN DIE FESCHE LOLA

Parmi les quatre chansons composées par Friedrich Holländer pour L'Ange bleu et interprétées par Marlene Dietrich : « Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt  »

[Je suis de la tête aux pieds, faite pour l'amour] et l’air qui a fait sa célébrité et l’a consacrée première grande « vamp » du cinéma : « Ich bin die fesche Lola » :

« Ich bin die fesche Lola, der Liebling der Saison!
Ich hab’ ein Pianola zu Haus’ in mein’ Salon
Ich bin die fesche Lola, mich liebt ein jeder Mann […] »

Le soir même de la première du film, Marlene Dietrich part pour les États-Unis, avec Josef von Sternberg, pour le tournage du film Morocco (Cœurs brûlés), dont la première aura lieu le 14 novembre 1930.

« Marlène est notre seule déesse avec Karl Marx. […] Elle apparaît pour nous comme la lune, le lundi de face et splendide, telle qu’au huitième plan de Morocco ; le mardi de trois quarts (la fin de L’Ange bleu) ; le mercredi comme dans Shangai Express, laiteuse évidemment, onirique ; le jeudi pimpante, en porcelaine, comme dans Destry Rides Again; en pute magnifique le vendredi (Force of Evil). Le samedi, repos, et, le dimanche, féerique, très espagnole, titillant nos nerfs comme dans La Femme et le Pantin ».

Dominique Noguez, Dandys de l’an 2000, Editions du Rocher, 2002, page 138.

Š-DR- L'ANGE BLEU p9

01/10/2014 05:07 par tellurikwaves

Š-DR-L'ANGE BLEU de Josef von Sternberg (1930) p8

01/10/2014 05:02 par tellurikwaves

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Š-DR-L'ANGE BLEU de Josef von Sternberg (1930) p7

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Classic Gold

Author: The_unemployed_cynic from Netherlands
22 December 2001
 

First -and only- time I saw Der Blaue Engel, I was a boy of about 13-14 years old. Even though this was over 35 years ago, I still remember how this movie blew me away. I came out of the theater with a new understanding of the world and the human condition.

The story is in essence about love, and what it can make a person do. It is also about what people will do to each other, a theme this movie takes to it's extreme. The acting is supreme, the atmosphere breathtaking, the music score fabulous. Marlene sings one of the great songs in movie history; German cabaret pur sang.

This is a European film in the best sense of the word. It gives the spectator the feeling of being picked up and dropped somewhere in time and place, to witness a dramatic sequence of events in the lives of a small group of people. It starts out jolly enough, but pretty soon you feel that things are going to go terribly wrong. And sure enough, they do.

The young boy that was I, left this movie with a weird mixture of feelings. On the one hand the fear of ever being trapped in such a romantic cul-de-sac, and of losing all human dignity. On the other, a deep longing to experience those bitter emotions. Isn't this the greatest accolade for a tragedy: that it moves you to tears, but at the same time makes you want to experience the sad events that caused those tears?

26 out of 30 people found the following review useful:

A classic of cinema

Author: radlov from Luxembourg
15 November 1999

This movie should merit a place in the upper region of the 250 top movies, somewhere in the neighborhood of "Citizen Kane" and "Twelve Angry Men". Apparently it is not very well known in the USA.

In Germany and in countries where the German language is rather familiar, it is rightly considered as one of the classics of cinema.

Amazing, that Sternberg, only a couple of years after the invention of the "talky" could produce a masterpiece that has seldom been surpassed. It was this movie that launched the carreer of Marlene Dietrich, with her famous song "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt".

I had seen the movie many years ago. When I saw it for the second time about a year ago, I realized that Emile Jennings acting, as the rather silly teacher at the local grammar school who sacrifies his career because of a cabaret girl, was not less impressive than that of Marlene Dietrich. A pity that I did never see another film with this great actor.

32 out of 42 people found the following review useful:
  

28 out of 36 people found the following review useful:

Indelible images

Author: marie_D from California
26 February 2000

I just got through watching The Blue Angel (1930) for the second time in a month. When I was watching the beginning this time, I thought: oh, this isn't as powerful as I remembered. I even thought Jannings was overdoing it a little -- he couldn't be as good as I remembered. And then it absolutely knocked me for a loop all over again.

Bear in mind that I have a tape that cost $3.98. The film looked old and scratchy, the tape quality was bad, and the sound was poor. This is one of the very earliest sound movies and the sound technique was sometimes distracting. After the first 20 minutes, I couldn't have cared less about the technology. The images of this film are burned into my brain. The business at the very beginning with the dead bird and the sugar cube, the caricatures on the blackboards, Lola's reaction to the marriage proposal, the wedding party and, most of all, the entire last half hour of this film -- none of that left me in the three weeks since my first viewing and it lost none of its impact the second time around.

Emil Jannings was just absolutely wonderful. His face in the mirror toward the end is heartbreaking. He doesn't have to say a word. This was Dietrich's debut, and she is great too, but it is Jannings' picture.

Highly recommended. 10/10

20 out of 23 people found the following review useful:

an entertaining, funny/sad classic

Author: MisterWhiplash from United States
28 December 2005

It's almost hard for me to picture what I will tell about The Blue Angel to those I recommend it to. It's a very special movie, and not necessarily for the only reason that some remember the film mostly for. Of course, Marlene Dietrich, in her debut, is stunningly sexy, in clothing in some scenes (and the legs of course) that must've caused some turned eyebrows on its first release. But despite her great charisma, and a certain feminine attitude that was unique for the time, there is really another big factor that makes the Blue Angel work a lot more for me than I thought. Hearing about the film, I got the impression it might be more of a vehicle for Dietrich, the inspiration for what would come in Madeline Kahn's equally memorable turn in Blazing Saddles. What I didn't expect was such a well-rounded, bittersweet kind of story going along, not to mention a sublime, powerful lead performance.

It's really the story of Professor Rath, played without a cue missed (and with some of his own ingenuity) by Emil Jannings. Here is a teacher with high morals, and little tolerance for his College student's impudence. He finds out from a classmate interrogation that some of the kids are sneaking off to 'the Blue Angel', a club with dancers, music, and singing in half-naked costumes. He meets Lola (Dietrich) and against all his better judgment, he falls in head over heels, loses his job, and then...well, it might be best to leave it there. What then ensues is a sort of collision of an enriching structure from director Josef von Sternberg (in that the unexpected occurs at times, if only in the little behaviors and bits of business with the characters), and Janning's acting.

I loved how it sort of went past the barriers that might have stifled other filmmakers at the turn of the start of silent to sound- the musical numbers makes the Blue Angel club seem hypnotic, sensual, and a little crazy. Then the use of the camera, its stillness most times, focusing on the subtleties of the acting, bring forward the remnants of the finely-tuned theatrical acting from the silent era. What Jannings does here is make a character with a total arc, in this sort of downward spiral that soon occurs once he's made his decision in terms of how he feels vs his career. The last twenty minutes or so, when it finally comes back around for the teacher a 180- from respected teacher to, well, you'll see- is rather shocking, and not as light and amusing as during the first forty minutes or so.

But it also shows that Jannings, more often than not, is fearless in his timing and expressions. It's not a completely realistic performance here and there, but it sometimes doesn't need to be. Sternberg sets up such a mood that persists, with little touches (i.e. shots of the statues moving as the clock chimes, expressionistic angles), that give Janning's enough room to do what he does. He helps make the character, who at first seems very expectable and usual (a cranky teacher) into someone we care about. Of course, one doesn't discount Dietrich's presence in the film as enough to seek out the film. She doesn't necessarily give a great acting turn, but in terms of just a great screen presence at times, of providing enough airs to make it clear why Janning's character is falling for her like this. That there are good supporting actors all around them is a plus as well.

It's one of those rare films you might smile one minute and then get a little sad at the next. It's quite a lovely little movie.

23 out of 29 people found the following review useful:

Descent Into Hell

Author: howdymax from Las Cruces, New Mexico
7 January 2002

I think this is more a commentary on the human condition than it is a movie review. von Sternberg presents Professor Rath as pompous, rather inflexible and naive, and then reduces him gradually to a pitiful, self-debasing wretch - much like Tyrone Power's character in "Nightmare Alley". Rath, appears to me, not so much the victim as a drunken jaywalker who wanders out into traffic and is totally shocked when he is hit by a truck. Emil Jannings, without doubt, delivers everything that von Sternberg could have asked for.

I have never been a big Marlene Dietrich fan, but I have to admit that, in this early effort, her utter sexuality and the casual way she dispenses it is hypnotic. Her character is also complex. Between her first encounter with Rath and those final scenes, her attitude toward him changes from amusement and ridicule to concern, pity, and even affection. His return to his home town and his descent into total degradation is painful to watch, yet she chooses this opportunity to humiliate him even further by offering herself to Mazeppa while he watches. I'm baffled.

The corruption and hopelessness of the German cafe circuit is a perfect backdrop for this study of the human condition. When one reaches their absolute nadir - like Rath - there are few choices left. Suicide, violent hostility, or if you are lucky - the determination and will to climb out of the cesspool. Rath was a day late and a reichsmark short. I would like to think that if he had more time he would have made it.

18 out of 22 people found the following review useful:

Humiliation, Degradation, Despair

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York
7 June 2007

Proper and respectable Emil Jannings, a teacher at a boys high school takes quite an interest in their moral well being. Seems there's this naughty establishment called The Blue Angel in his town where women have been known to entertain in various states of undress. Some of his boys have some postcards of one of the dancers and Jannings catches them with it. After confiscating the material, Jannings decides to go down to the Blue Angel and tell them not to be catering to minors.

Of course he takes one look at the subject of those naughty postcards and since it turns out to be Marlene Dietrich, he realizes his own education has been sadly neglected.

He's spotted the kids in the establishment, but they've spotted him as well. From an authoritarian figure, Jannings is now a figure of derision and has no authority in or out of the classroom. He marries Marlene and tours with her company as a clown. A return to his hometown proves to be more than he can bear.

Though Marlene Dietrich became an international sex symbol from this film and got a Hollywood contract as a result, the film is really the story of Jannings, his downfall, his humiliation, his degradation. Their respective career paths were really meeting halfway in this film. She was going to America on the strength of this film, Jannings was returning to Germany where he became a very big star and leader of Adolph Hitler's amen corner in German cinema

In the supporting cast is also Kurt Gerron who is a magician and manager of the troupe of entertainers Marlene and Jannings are part of. His life had the worst tragedy of all, as a Jew he met death in Auschwitz, but not after undergoing a lot of humiliation before. Not unlike what Jannings had in the film, but this was real life.

The Blue Angel is a milestone film for many people and in an indirect way for Adolph Hitler as well since he got his biggest film star from the cast. Still though it's a stunning bit of cinema with performances that still hold up very well today.

18 out of 22 people found the following review useful:

Marlene Dietrich's ticket to Hollywood Stardom!

Author: mdm-11 from United States
12 October 2004

Joseph von Sternberg 'packaged' his muse, Marlene Dietrich to become a world star with "The Blue Angel". The disturbing story of a revue entertainer (Dietrich) and the middle aged professor(Emil Jannings)who falls madly in love with, and later is destroyed by her, based on the novel "Professor Unrat".

Many unforgettable songs by Friedrich Hollander are featured, most noteworthy of course "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss auf Liebe eingestellt" ("Falling in Love Again") and "Ich bin die feche Lola" ("They Call Me Naughty Lola").

There is an English language version available (filmed simultaneously for an intended International release), but I recommend the original German with subtitles. Many effects are lost with the former. I can highly recommend this film, a must for fans of either the stars or the director!*****

20 out of 27 people found the following review useful:

A masterpiece

Author: tategarbo (tategarbo@hotmail.com) from Cheltenham England
19 July 2002

Marlene Dietrich at her best in the German language version of Joseph Von Sternbergs THE BLUE ANGEL, unfortuonatly the English language version was rushed and not made very well so the film never really went down well with 1930s English speaking audiences. The film to me is a dark look at self destruction and degradation. My favourite scene in the film is at the end when Lola Lola is sitting almost triumphantly on a bar stool crooning "falling in love again" whilst her lover, the once great professer slips out into the dark street preparing to walk the long road to death. Although visually the film is no longer superior and Dietrich does not appear to have lost any of her plumpness as she would for her American debut she still appears radiant and her on screen persona would never be quite so strong again, maybe it is because this is the only film that Dietrich would make speaking in her Mother tongue.

9 out of 11 people found the following review useful:

Emotionally moving portrayal of a sensitive man's downfall

Author: Ursula 2.7T from my sofa
5 January 2005

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I guess I wasn't sure what to expect ... all I knew about "Blue Angel" before I saw it tonight was that it had Marlene Dietrich in it and it was supposed to be a classic. That's it! I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the story that this movie told.

To summarize the plot briefly: A stern, straight-laced professor (movingly portrayed by Emil Jannings, an actor I am not familiar with) falls in love with and marries Lola (Marlene Dietrich), a nightclub/cabaret singer. He is briefly happy, but then his life takes a tragic nose-dive into disrespectability and self-loathing.

Although the professor is portrayed as a stern disciplinarian who is feared and hated by his students, we see he actually has a very soft, sweet side underneath his gruff exterior. A particularly well-done, subtle scene at the very beginning of the movie involved the professor at breakfast, whistling for his pet bird. Anticipating the bird's tweeting response, the professor is ready with a lump of sugar in his hand for his beloved bird. When the bird doesn't respond, he walks to the cage and pulls out a stiff, obviously dead bird. The professor just stands there, dumbfounded, while his housekeeper walks over to him, takes the bird corpse from his hand, and tosses it into the fire. The professor walks back to his table and sadly drops the lump of sugar into his coffee. A simple scene, but terribly moving, and terribly telling of the sweet, sensitive soul that lies within this man.

Upon marrying Lola, the professor is shunned by his colleagues and loses his college job. He is reduced to hawking sexy postcards of his wife at her nightclub shows and, even more pathetically, to performing as a clown in her nightclub act.

The end of the movie finds the professor returning to The Blue Angel, the nightclub in his hometown where he first met Lola. He adamantly refuses to go on stage as a clown in front of his former colleagues and students, but the manager and his wife coerce him into it. This scene brought me to tears as the professor stood on stage in clown make-up and costume, while the manager/magician poked fun at him and made him the butt of jokes -- calling him empty-headed, breaking eggs on his forehead, and forcing him to cluck like a chicken, all the while his wife is offstage making out with some handsome stranger who showed up at the show. So sad, and so tragic.

Emil Jannings did an amazingly wonderful job of portraying this multidimensional professor. The movie was in German with English subtitles, so for me it wasn't so much the words that he said, but his facial expressions that conveyed the emotions to me.

The pacing of this movie might feel slow to viewers of modern-day go-go-go movies, but I feel the pace was exactly right for exploring the characters and emotions of both the professor and Lola.

If you have the patience for subtitled, slowly-developing movies, I do highly recommend this one.

My rating: 8/10