VIDEO: Movie Review: "The Blue Angel" (1930) - Marlene Dietrich

As I was saying, it's hot in this corner of the forest. Too hot to go outside -- I'm neither a mad dog nor an Englishman -- so this afternoon I plopped myself down in front of the idiot's lantern, firing up the old remote to see what's on. Well, actually, I wasn't trying to see what was on so much as what else was on. Hey, I'm a man. [Credit to Jerry Seinfeld, please. Ed.]

I was pleased and ah-mazed to find the English version of  The Blue Angel (Der blaue Engel), a 1930 German psycho-drama in the guise of a musical comedy, directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings and Kurt Gerron. 

The screenplay was written by Carl Zuckmayer, Karl Vollmöller and Robert Liebmann, with uncredited contributions by Herr von Sternberg. It is based on Heinrich Mann's 1905 novel Professor Unrat (Professor Filth) and set in an unspecified northern German port city.

The Blue Angel presents the tragic transformation of a respectable professor into a cabaret clown and his descent into madness. Here's the trailer.

 

The film, now considered a classic of German cinema, was the first feature-length German sound film. It brought Marlene Dietrich international fame, and also introduced her signature song, "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)". 

The film was shot simultaneously in German- and English-language versions. Though the English version was once thought to be lost, a print was discovered in a German film archive, restored and screened at San Francisco's Berlin and Beyond film festival in 2009. That's the one I watched, but if you understand German, that version is considered to be "obviously superior" -- longer and not marred by actors struggling with English pronunciation.

And now... spoiler alert... here's a synopsis of the plot. Immanuel Rath (Jannings) is a professor at a Gymnasium (high school for brighter students) in Weimar Germany. The boys disrespect and play pranks on him. Rath punishes several of his students for circulating photographs of the beautiful Lola Lola, the headliner at the local cabaret called The Blue Angel. 

Rath goes to the club, hoping to catch the boys. While chasing after his naughty students, he finds Lola backstage and becomes infatuated with her. When he returns to the cabaret the following evening to return a pair of panties that was smuggled into his coat by one of his students, he winds up defending her from an aggressive patron. Lola is charmed by his chivalry, and serenades him from the stage. 

The next morning, Rath wakes up in Lola's bed. After having breakfast with Lola, Rath arrives late to school. Knowing of his visits to the Blue Angel, his pupils are openly mocking and contemptuous of him. Their misbehaviour attracts a school official who, after dismissing the students, makes it clear to Rath that marrying a woman like Lola would end his career. 

In spite of the warning, Rath resigns his position at the school and marries Lola. Their happiness is short-lived, however, as Rath becomes humiliatingly dependent on Lola. Over time, he sinks lower and lower, first selling dirty postcards, and then becoming a clown in Lola's troupe to pay the bills. 

His growing insecurities about Lola's profession as a "shared woman" eventually consume him with lust and jealousy as Lola and the rest of the troupe lose respect for him. 

Five years after Rath's resignation from the school, the troupe returns to The Blue Angel, where everyone attends to watch the former professor play a clown. On stage, Rath is humiliated by the magician Kiepert, who breaks eggs on Rath's head, and by seeing Lola embrace and kiss the strongman Mazeppa. Rath is enraged to the point of insanity. 

He attempts to strangle Lola, but Mazeppa and others subdue him and lock him in a straitjacket. Later that night, Rath is released and he revisits his old classroom. Rejected, humiliated and destitute, he dies clutching the desk at which he once taught.

Some comedy, eh! But Germans have never been known for their sense of humour.

Now a word from the chair... by which I mean the item of furniture on which la Dietrich is posed on one of the most famous stills from the film. We see in the topmost photo, her classic cabaret pose. Her reclining position with one leg elevated was selected after a dozen other attitudes were tested and discarded.

In the photo under the video, we see her straddling the chair "...imperiously, magisterially, fully the measurer of men in the audience..." The pose was considered erotic at the time, and many readers will find it so today. It can't be denied that Marlene Dietrich has gorgeous gams -- a matched set! -- and the poses with the chair show them to their best advantage. 

Other directors and actresses have noticed, and it will be obvious from the remaining photos that her cabarat performance in The Blue Angel informed the excellent turns by Liza Minnelli, as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972) and Madeline Kahn as Lili (yes, "Lili") Von Shtupp in Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974), the last being the only movie which was actually a comedy.

Three great cabaret scenes by three great actresses [I'm not sure we can allow that word. Why not "actors"? Ed.] who can also sing and dance. Which is best? Which one has the best legs? You be the judge!

The dog days of summer

Walt admits to falling into near-terminal lassitude during the "dog days of summer" -- the hot and humid days of summer. This phrase can be traced back thousands of years to the days of the Roman Empire. It refers to the dates from 3 July through 11 August -- 20 days before and 20 days after the star Sirius rises and falls in conjunction with the sun.

At this time, when it's an effort to punch out more than a couple of paragraphs on the keyboard, we here at WWW are very grateful for Patriot Post, a reliable source for stuff with which to fill this space.

Note from Agent 3: Look at the map carefully. See how the circle exclused part of the Aleutians, all of Newfoundland, and the southern part of Florida in which is located Mar-a-Lago. What can it all mean?

Crackdown on illegal immigrants worries and angers Muslims

Doesn't look like LA, does it. Well, it's not. It's Gurugram, an upscale suburb just outside Delhi, India. But, come to think of it, there are similarities with the City of the Angels. Gleaming SUVs, futuristic skyscrapers and neat apartments stand in stark contrast to nearby homeless encampments and feces-strewn streets.

Unlike the slums of LA, those of Gurugram are inhabited by people who aren't living off food stamps and the proceeds of dealing drugs, but working! They are migrant workers -- mostly domestic helpers, garbage-pickers and daily-wage workers. Last month, the Indian version of ICE rounded up hundreds of them, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims from India's West Bengal state.

The mass arrests are part of a "verification" drive targeting illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The suspects were detained and kept at "holding centres" (not to be confused with "concentration camps") where they were asked to provide documents to prove their citizenship. 

Many allege they were beaten and mistreated by police during the process. Ather Ali Sheikh told the BBC, "I had my voter and national ID cards, but they told me they were fake. I spent six days not knowing my fate before I was finally released." How very misfortunate for him!

Hundreds of migrant workers have fled overnight, abandoning jobs, homes and, in some cases, even families in their haste to escape. "I still don't understand why they suddenly came after me," Mr Sheikh said. Behind him, his wife hurriedly packed their belongings - torn clothes, old utensils and school books - into flimsy boxes. "Was it because of my language, my religion or because I am poor? Why weren't the rich Bengali residents held up?" 

Police in Gurugram deny targeting any particular community. "Neither religion nor class has anything to do with the drive," spokesthingy Sandeep Kumar told the Beeb. He added that out of the 250 people picked up, only 10 have been identified as illegal migrants and will actually be deported. "Everyone else was released. No one was mistreated at the centres. We have been completely fair and objective." 

Crackdowns on alleged illegal immigrants from Muslim-majority Bangladesh are not new in India. The countries are divided by a porous 2500-mile-long border, which, ever since the partition of India, has seen waves of movement of people on both sides. But these efforts seem to have intensified under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Deportations are also under way in Delhi, where some 700 people were picked up and flown out to border states in the last six months. This has had a chilling impact on the marginalised community. In Gurugram, a sense of shock prevailed over their dust-blanketed colonies. "For years, we have cleaned and collected their garbage. Now we are being treated like it ourselves," said Rauna Bibi, a domestic worker.

The police say the detentions in Gurugram were made on the basis of strong preliminary evidence. You'll notice that the lady in the photo isn't so poor that she can't afford a phone with which to take a selfie. But the phone may have been her undoing. "We checked their phones," said the same police flak-catcher, "and found suspicious contacts from Bangladesh. Some of them also failed to answer questions about their ancestry during interrogation."

Suhas Chakma, a non-Muslim human rights worker, denies that the crackdown is motivated by Islamophobia. "The arrest of the Muslims appears to be more as they constitute about 95% of Bangladesh's population," he explained. But, he added, for a country that has seen an influx of refugees for decades, India does need a wider refugee law to address many of these complex issues.

"A wider refugee law." Right. Like that of... where??? Let it not be said that Prime Minister Modi is looking to President Trump for inspiration -- although he probably is. Let us instead wonder how much longer the prime ministers of Britain and Canada can get away with not taking similar measures before what's left of their countries' white  populace rise up in arms.

Meme of the week (so far)

Sydney Sweeney? What about her? My jeans are the greatest!

VIDEO: What's wrong with the Sydney Sweeney ad?

Walt was not far enough away from civilization (?) to avoid the controversy over this ad for American Eagle jeans. "Some people" (you know who I mean) are criticizing the ad for being "provocative", "divisive" and even... wait for it... "racist"! Well, let's have a look.

 

I'd say 1000s of real women are running down to their local clothing emporium, even as we speak, to buy a pair or three. And hundreds of thousands of real men are buying a pair (or three) for their significant others. 

Why not? Well, the wokesters at The Body Optimist will tell you why this ad offends them, in an article headed: "It's even racist!": Sydney Sweeney criticized for an ad deemed provocative", by Léa Michel (note the pretentious spelling of the name) posted today. No need to follow the link. Walt is going to turn on the bullshit meter and analyze the whole steaming load. The woke BS is in pink and my comments are in brackets.  

Now American Eagle's latest campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney has set social media ablaze. With the slogan "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans," the brand aimed for "a stylish homage to denim classics." Except the message wasn't received the same way by everyone. Accused of reviving sexist stereotypes and even flirting with racist codes, the ad campaign has sparked a lively debate about the boundaries between marketing provocation, gendered representation, and latent cultural racism. [Who "sparked" the debate? I didn't hear anyone complaining.]

In the most talked-about clip of recent days, Sydney Sweeney, who rose to fame in the series "Euphoria" and "The White Lotus," repairs a vintage car—a Mustang GT350—wearing a fitted tank top and skinny jeans from the brand. [The video above is not the offending clip. This is the hot one!]  

The whole thing is a mix of modernized pin-up aesthetics and a tribute to the codes of male auto mechanics. [See, for the wokesters, nothing offensive is ever said directly. You have to know the "code" to get the sexist, racist, yada yada message.] She is then seen wiping her hands on her jeans before getting into the vehicle. The slogan, in turn, refers to the cut of the jeans and, according to the brand, the "confidence each person can have when wearing them." 

What could have been a slightly retro and sexy campaign quickly drew the ire of several internet users. Some people saw it as an "anti-woke" or even supremacist message. Others denounced the staging as reducing a woman to her appearance, in a pose that flirts with the most persistent clichés of 1990s marketing. [Some people saw it like that? Were they looking through pink- or mauve-coloured glasses?]

A gendered and racial reading of the message The phrase "superb jeans" has been accused of playing on a double meaning: jeans (pants) and genes (genetics). A potentially problematic pun, according to critics, who point out that in English, the pronunciation is identical (jeans / genes). 

[Wait. It gets worse.] On the X network (formerly Twitter), some voices saw in this choice an allusion to the supposed "purity" of the actress's origins - young, white, blonde, thin - often elevated to a Western aesthetic fantasy. [You bet! I've been trying for years to construct a real fantasy out of a fake reality.]

Criticism also focuses on the actress's posture, her sexualization, and the fact that the campaign once again exploits a hyper-standardized image of femininity: a slim body, a soft gaze, suggested but controlled sexuality, all in a setting that recalls the appropriation of a so-called masculine universe (mechanics) to divert it for aesthetic purposes. An approach deemed dated by some commentators, who denounce a vision still largely dominated by the male gaze. [That's a lot. Pass me the barf bag.]

Faced with the controversy, American Eagle quickly took to its Instagram account to speak out. Refusing to apologize [Good on `em!], the brand insists that the slogan refers only to jeans, the ones worn by the actress, and in no way to anything else. It writes: "The slogan 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' is and always will be about jeans. Her jeans. Her story." 

She [sic] also says she wants to "continue to celebrate the way each person wears their AE jeans with confidence, in their own way," emphasizing a desire for inclusivity. [Oops, got some weasel words in there, at the last minute.] The brand therefore seems to be taking ownership of its approach, focusing on a visually strong editorial line, even if it means shaking things up. [Shaking what things up? Do they mean the woke narrative that anything that appeals to men and their "toxic masculinit" is baaddd?]

Notably, the White House itself intervened. Steven Cheung, the presidential communications director, posted a message on X declaring: "Cancel culture has no limits. Liberal ideology is twisted, stupid, and blocked, which is a big reason why Americans voted the way they did in 2024." [Right on, Steven!]

This unexpected support, in particularly virulent language, reinforced the idea that this campaign is now being co-opted in an ultra-polarized political climate, both in the United States and elsewhere. [Co-opted by whom? Steven Cheung is a Chinese-American. Is he working for the white supremacists? LOL]

The fact that American Eagle's stock jumped nearly 10% [Forget the jeans. Buy the stock.] after the campaign aired is no coincidence: commercial provocation still pays off, especially in a context of growing rejection of political correctness in certain circles. [Are you in the same circle as Walt?!]

[Last words to the woke.] Ultimately, this campaign highlights a growing tension in contemporary society: how can we speak to the greatest number of people, in an era saturated with images, without offending? Should we please or disturb in order to sell? And at what cost? 

The Sydney Sweeney case also illustrates the tension between female injunctions to emancipation and those that continue to sell a standardized, desirable, and performative femininity. By choosing a renowned pop icon with an image that was both glamorous and accessible, American Eagle knew it wasn't speaking into a vacuum. However, the reception shows how diverse, sometimes contradictory, and deeply politicized contemporary interpretations are. [Last word to Walt: If these ads are divisive, it's only because "certain people" want them to be so, as the culture wars continue.]

Where's Walt-o?

Walt and Agent 78 are following the Talbot Trail, and will not return until the 6th instant... but we will return!