The most iconic image from this film, to me atleast, would defintitely be The Clown who walks around randomly and sadly through out. I personally think he was a reflection of what Rath was to become if he surround himself with that crowd but I'd like to know did anyone get different interpretations on the role of The Clown?
RIP Paul Newman 1925-2008. Words can't express how much you will be missed.
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The clown was like the opera "Pagliachi" where the clown is cuckolded by his wife both on the stage and in real life. A very pathetic character and one heck of a drama. In that one though, he kills her.
shareI feel the need to confess that I have watched this movie numerous times over the last 30 or more years, and never really gave much thought to the clown who wanders through looking sad. That is until last week when my 12 year old daughter watched it with me (she was on punishment and couldn't watch her own shows) and kept asking what was up with the clown, and commented toward the end that he must have gone through the same thing as the professor. I felt like a lightening bolt had struck me, and was amazed that my kid saw something I had missed.
shareDuring the song "Falling in Love Again" (#Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuss...# etc), the clown can be seen just below the raised platform at the side of the stage, and looking up at where the Professor is sitting. Perhaps he is taking a last look at the life he used to lead before he met Lola?
And yes, I agree that the clown is a fore-warning. We- as viewers- don't know anything about him, but his silence could represent his downfall and loss of authority and respectability.
Here's an intriguing bit I never noticed before:
http://www.oocities.org/hollywood/5555/dietrich.html
During Rath's first night at The Blue Angel, a disturbing, slack-faced clown wanders aimlessly about, pushed here and there by various people as they move through the back rooms of the club. In spatial terms, Rath and the clown begin very far from one another, standing almost at opposite sides of the screen, but as the scenes progress, they move closer and closer together, until Rath finally pushes the clown aside himself. After that night, the clown mysteriously disappears altogether, but we see his costume and make-up much later, worn by the utterly decrepit Rath. Expelled from his original profession, almost penniless, and worn down both physically and mentally by a loveless five-year marriage to Lola, Rath finally becomes the parti-colored buffoon, a figure that represents not only the soulless, carnival atmosphere of the nightclub, but also a fragment of his own psyche, the dark and masochistic part of himself that is drawn inexorably to ridicule and destruction.
Perhaps he is taking a last look at the life he used to lead before he met Lola?
http://www.neokitsch.com/2011/02/dissecting-the-blue-angel/
Dissecting ‘The Blue Angel’
An interesting look at Rath's character.
Blue Angel's subtle scenes with the cabaret clown really do seem to hold their place of importance in regard to Rath's transition from metaphoric clown to literal clown. We see Rath go full circle, his salvation from being clownish being the very thing that turns him into a clown.
I personally think he was a reflection of what Rath was to become if he surround himself with that crowd but I'd like to know did anyone get different interpretations on the role of The Clown?
I always felt the clown was symbolic inasmuch as someone who had previously followed the same path as the professor and ended up being... a clown. Superb foreshadowing and I totally agree with all of the above posters and appreciate their insight.
shareUltimately I saw this movie, as well as the clown, as a warning for what can happen to a person. The professor, once respected and important in his community, lost his way and was easily manipulated into becoming something he wasn't; the exact opposite of what he was.
In the end he is a joke, the laughing stock of the community both the one he once a part of and the one to which he now belongs. The clown is usually the figure who makes people brings joy and laughter but in his case it symbolizes his complete downfall. There is no joy in his life.
He finally understands what a sucker he's been. The source of what he thought brought him joy, Lola Lola, has turned her sights on someone else. She sees her being what she's always been. The only laughter is what is directed at him.
The movie and the actor do an excellent job of portraying this sad figure of a man. He starts off a clown to his students for his overly proper and strict ways. In attempting to save them from debauchery and ruin, he, himself, falls into the pit. He soon becomes both literally and figuratively the clown to everyone.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]