CCA, February 17, 7pm
The camera cuts to her stocking-and-gartered legs and, across the running time, almost always catches her unselfconsciously dressing or undressing.
This is Lola Lola, the seductive spider within the visual web of the Blue Angel nightclub, and it's the role that launched the career of screen legend Marlene Dietrich. Lola Lola isn't a definitive femme fatale: she seems genuinely touched by the mix of lust and old-fashioned dignity that ultimately destroys her most ardent admirer, professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings). That said, she's too much of a survivor to be overly concerned about the moral hypocrisy of his social class. The Blue Angel marks the point when Germany got to grips with the sound era after reaching artistic peaks with silent cinema (visual metaphors and shadow-on-the-wall sequences linger here). It also kicks off the GFF's weekend of Weimar-themed events, offering burlesque acts and a chance to surpass Dietrich at the 'cabaroke' in the bar after the screening.
