"The Blue Angel," Marlene Dietrich's first film, shows her at her leggy best. In this old film, revived at the Kenmore theater, she plays "Lola Lola," a singer in a small cabaret. This is exactly what she was before Director Josef van Sternberg "discovered" her. The film in its original 1929 version was silent, but a German sound track and English subtitles have been added.

The plot concerns Herr Professor Emanuel Rath, a teacher in the local high school, who finds that Lola Lola is distracting his students. He goes to the "Blue Angel" cabaret to catch the truants, but instead falls in love with Lola Lola. He marries her and joins the troupe of actors. Soon he is reduced to playing stooge for the magician. In one horrifying scene he is made to crow like a rooster on the stage while he watches his wife flirt with the strong man in the wings. He finally goes mad and, after an attempt to kill Lola Lola, he dies in his old classroom while onstage Lola Lola sings "from head to too I am designed for love."

Although the plot is at times melodramatic, the acting, especially that of Emil Jannings as the professor, is excellent. He carefully portrays the disintegration of a cultured mind in the cabaret atmosphere. The acting is aided by photography remarkably advanced for its time in the use of camera angles and unusual lighting.

But these elements are all secondary to Marlene Dietrich. It is her performance that gives the film its character and that marks it as extraordinary. In this film as in no other is the spirit of Dietrich crystallized. She is the epitome of the hard beiled cabaret queen. There is a constant implication of sex which would still be felt even if she had all her clothes on.