Marlene Dietrich’s Temperamental Screen Test for The Blue Angel (1929)

In 1929, Josef von Stern­berg began assem­bling the cast for the first major Ger­man sound film — Der blaue Engel, oth­er­wise known as The Blue Angel. A clas­sic of Weimar cin­e­ma, the 1930 film fea­tured Mar­lene Diet­rich play­ing Lola-Lola, a seduc­tive singer in the local cabaret. Lola-Lola was, it has been said, a “lib­er­at­ed woman of the world who chose her men, earned her own liv­ing and viewed sex as a chal­lenge.” The per­sona cap­ti­vat­ed audi­ences, and it made Diet­rich an inter­na­tion­al star.

Above, you can watch Diet­rich’s screen test for the film. Inhab­it­ing the role, she gives the poor piano play­er an ear­ful (essen­tial­ly say­ing, “How the hell can I sing through this garbage with you play­ing like that?”). Then she works her way through “Why Cry at Part­ing?” and climbs on that piano, cig­a­rette no longer in hand, and puts on a show…

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  • Bobby ROSZENBERG says:

    Koeni­gin / Queen, MARLENE DIETRICH,
    “Always had it going on!
    LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!!!!!”
    HER SENSIBILITIES WERE REAL, BUT SHE HAD MORAL CHARACTER,
    LEAVING THE HOMELAND SHE CHERISHED WITH ALL HER HEART!
    THE GERMANY THAT WAS WEINMAR DEUTSCHLAND / PRE-1933 GERMANY!
    BERLIN, PRE-1933, WAS CHOCK FULL OF ARTISTS LIKE: KURT WEIL (GERMAN JEW,) the com­pos­er, famous for: the orig­i­nal ver­sion of: “MACK THE KNIFE!” before, BOBBY DARIN, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, or ELLA FITZGERALD, récord­ed it, HIS WIFE: LŐTTE LENJA, was the first JENNY, in DIE DREI GROSCHEN OPER’ & BÉRTÖLT BRECHT; it’s writer!
    SEE MARLENE DIETRICH, in the long YŐUTÚBE VERSION of: (SUNG IN GERMAN:) “SAG MIR WO DIE BLUMEN SIND!” (WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE,) the orig­i­nal SUNG BY:
    PETER, PAUL, & MÁRY, in her FIRST APPEARANCE EVER POST-1933 DEUTSCHLAND / GERMANY in DÜSSELDORF for UNICEF!
    Mind you, her pres­ence alone is mézmer­iz­ing, as you feel her auro­ra.
    She explains the lyrics of the song in:
    GERMAN, FRENCH, & ENGLISH, TÓ THESE STOIC GERMANS! NÉED LESS TO SAY, IT WAS MOVING!
    ANOTHER SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE BETTER THAN: DER BLAUE ENGEL /
    THE BLUE ANGEL, HER ÉNTIRE AUDIENCE, I THINK WAS THE PROFESSOR IN THE MOVIE, ALTHOUGH IT MAY NOT HAVE BEEN THOUGHT OF THAT WAY.
    OBVIOUSLY, THE AUDIENCE WASN’T APPRECIATIVE EITHER, AS THEY GAVE HER A WILTED MINUTĘ BUNCH OF ROSES, BUT HÓWEVER, SHE MADE A POINT TO SOME OF nazis that man­aged to live after killing mil­lions, upon mil­lions of ALL SOLDIERS & PEOPLE.
    FRAU DIETRICH, HANDLED & MANIPULATED THE AUDIENCE, ONLY AS A PERSON THAT’S SUPERIOR IN HER PROFESSION WOULD, & THAT SHE DID!
    IT’S A MUST SEE OF 8 MINUTES, TO HOW PHENOMENAL A CULTURED LADY IS! THIS IS WHAT MY MATERNAL GRANDMOTHER MEANT BY THE CULTURAL ELITĘ!
    KOENIGIN MARLENE DIETRICH, OBVIOUSLY, EXEMPLIFIES THESE TRAITS!
    THE GÓRGEOUS DOWAGER EMPRESS,
    MARLENE DIETRICH!
    KUESSEN, MARLENE!
    “SIĘ SIND NICHT TOT!” / YŐU’RE NOT DEAD!” YŐUR MEMORY THROUGH YŐUTÚBE LINGERS ON!
    BOBBY ROSZENBERG

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