The Whole Ed Cata-Blog: history

Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Blue Angel - Der Blaue Engel

	No Classic Film collection would be complete without Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, and this is the only version to have! I've looked for this DVD many times in the past without success, and now I know why. Early film-makers weren't sure that their industry would even survive, much less that it would become the zillion dollar behemoth it is today. They didn't anticipate rereleases, much less 24-hour cable reruns and DVD sales. Incredible as it may seem to aficionados, this is one of the many great films thought be lost, until a copy was unearthed in Berlin recently.
The film is not merely classic (Many critics put it on a par with Citizen Kane), but truly historic. While the perennial favorite Cabaret is about Weimar Germany, The Blue Angel is a complex allegorical tale of Weimar Germany. Based on the novel Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann, the film centers on the relationship between the stuffy professor Emmanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) and cabaret singer Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich).
Jannings is rather obscure today, but he was a big star when the film was shot in 1930, winning the first-ever "Best Actor" Academy Award two years before. Ironically, it was Sternberg's ingénue who stole the show. This first major German "talkie" is generally regarded as Dietrich's debut, although she had in fact worked on stage and in films in supporting roles.
The film made her an international sensation and introduced her signature song "Falling in Love Again". I won't synopsize the plot: "Boy meets girl -- Germany's most disturbing home videos ensue..." Suffice it to say that this film would be difficult to make today -- including as it does themes of female domination, sado-masochism, bondage, humiliation, cuckolding and even some kind of kinky stuff.
Based on some of the Amazon Reviews for this DVD, I fear I need to belabor what should be obvious: This is not a porno flick. No pizza delivery boys or bad jazz bass licks. It's an Art Film. There is a lot of sexuality involved, to be sure but it was shot in 1930 for crying out loud. The production values are not what you would expect today, although German director Wim Wenders did an excellent job with the restoration.
What you will find is a complex story line with some excellent acting and directing. Furthermore, both the German and American versions are included in this release, which were shot concurrently not overdubbed. You can even view the two versions side-by-side. Ausgeseitnicht! And, by the way there is a film version of the newly restored American cut which will have its U.S. premier at the 14th annual Berlin & Beyond festival in San Francisco January 19.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Top Listmania!(TM) Lists: All Categories

Amazon publishes a list of "Top Listmania Lists," but it's not entirely clear how these lists are rated. Ratings don't seem to be based on helpful votes or number of times read -- at least not entirely. I suspect they are rated largely according to their conversion rates -- how likely readers are to actually purchase items from the list. That would certainly make sense from Amazon's point of view, and come to think of it, mine too.

For the most part these lists supply additional information beyond just the automatic pictures, prices, and links to product pages. Whether you find this information credible or not is your call, but apparently others have found it helpful, and that is a big plus!

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