Das Blau des Engels. Eine Autobiographie by Sternberg, Josef von

by Josef Von Sternberg

Includes photo stills from the movie.

437 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Victoria & David Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Film actors, as all students of film history know, are nothing more than glorified marionettes. But unlike a real puppetmaster, the director of a film does not manipulte strings on expressionless puppets. For him the dolls are extraordinary personalities who are prone to move every muscle of face and figure to demonstrate every awkward emotion ... What to reveal and what to conceal is the function of the director." Josef von Sternberg (from the introduction).
The movie that was the first major sound film in Germany. That introduced Marlene Dietrich. That had the tradional plot of upright man falling for a bad girl and being destroyed. That was part silent movie with sound and part German expressionism. That had the flavor of the Weimar republic like the later 'I Am a Camera' or 'Cabaret'.
But thanks to Mel Brooks, I had the hardest time getting into the proper mood to appreciate it.
I kept hearing (and seeing) Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Shtupp in the great parody 'I'm tired'.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Blue Angle (classic film script series)

This is one of about 42 Screenplays in a series. The book is full of monochrome stills in clusters. The dialog and motion are in script form. There is an introduction by Josef Von Sternberg. The movie stands on its own; however, many times the movie uses camera zooms and facial expressions to imply more to the story than just the dialog. You have to be very astute to get their inferences. In the film script book, there is no doubt as it is in black and white with titles. The English and German versions of the film were made separately (not dubbed)

[Richard Bolson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is probably the closest I will ever come to finding an available English translation of Heinrich Mann's Professor Unrath, but it is still an interesting screenplay of the first German talkie that made Marlene Dietrich a star, the overwrought introduction by von Sternberg notwithstanding (who knew he was still alive in 1968?).