The Blue Angel The Blue Angel The Blue Angel () is a 1930 German tragicomedic film directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich and Kurt Gerron. Written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann – with uncredited contributions by Sternberg – it is based on Heinrich Mann's 1905 novel "Professor Unrat" ("Professor Garbage") and set in Weimar Germany. "The Blue Angel" presents the tragic transformation of a respectable professor to a cabaret clown and his descent into madness. The film is the first feature-length German full-talkie and brought Dietrich international fame. In addition, it introduced her signature song,
Marlene Dietrich discography 7). All the other tracks remain unissued, with the partial exception of "Lili Marleen". With its massive success on the war front, specifically on the German language OSS MO radio station "Soldatensender", where it became the station's theme song, the song was re-recorded in English and released, with the spelling "Lili Marlene", as a 10" single by Decca in 1945. Though other recordings of the song in German were performed by Dietrich, the original OSS recording of the track is presumed unissued. Many of Dietrich's performances of songs in her films have been included in compilations of her music: Marlene