9. Der blaue Engel (1930), aka The Blue Angel, marks the entry of German cinema into the sound era as well as the introduction of megastar Marlene Dietrich, whom Austrian-American auteur Josef von Sternberg paired with the already-internationally renowned Emil Jannings. The drunken daddy Wilhelm proclaims that Dietrich is surpassed by Bridget von Hammersmark, but we know better. Sultry and hard-edged, Dietrich is the peerless matron of Weimar cabaret (Orson Welles wishes it was her chili he's getting fat on), and with her as inspiration von Sternberg established his legacy in film aesthetics: the very same sumptuous, evocative photographic techniques that Tarantino employs to lavish attention upon Shosanna and von Hammersmark.
The sausagey Emil Jannings appears in person at the Nazi film premiere as Ufa's top celebrity guest — indeed, bearing the Goebbels-bestowed title Staatsschauspieler (Artist of the State). His fine career was very definitely over subsequent to the fall of his patron Reich, but prior to becoming a fascist Jannings had starred in successful films on both sides of the Pond and had, in fact, received the first ever Academy Award for Best Actor, in 1929.
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