The Blue Angel one alternative: death. Notes 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
Marlene Dietrich filmography Armour" (1937) proved an expensive box office failure. In 1939, however, her stardom was revived when she played a cowboy saloon girl in the light-hearted western "Destry Rides Again" opposite James Stewart, singing "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have". While Dietrich arguably never fully regained her former screen glory, she continued performing in movies, including appearances for such distinguished directors as Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and Orson Welles, in successful films that included "A Foreign Affair" (1948), "Stage Fright" (1950), "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957), "Touch of Evil" (1958), and "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1961). Her final