Emil Jannings

Acting

Emil Jannings

Born July 22, 1884 · Rorschach, Switzerland

Died January 2, 1950 · aged 65

Emil Jannings (1884–1950) was a German actor, the first to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. Between 1926 and 1929, he worked in Hollywood. Upon returning to Germany, he sympathized with the Nazi regime and was one of the advisors to Universum Film-Aktiengesellschaft (UFA), the film studios controlled by Goebbels as a propaganda weapon. With the end of World War II and Germany's defeat, his ca…

Known For

The Blue AngelThe Blue Angel · 1930
The Blue Angel
7.31930
MovieDrama
Prim professor Immanuel Rath finds some of his students ogling racy photos of cabaret performer Lola Lola and visits a local club, The Blue Angel, in an attempt to catch them there. Seeing Lola perform, the teacher is filled with lust, eventually resigning his position at the school to marry the young woman. However, his marriage to a coquette -- whose job is to entice men -- proves to be more difficult than Rath imagined.
FaustFaust · 1926
Faust
7.91926
MovieFantasyDrama
God and Satan wager on the soul of a learned and prayerful alchemist as part of their eternal war over Earth.
The Last LaughThe Last Laugh · 1924
The Last Laugh
7.81924
MovieDrama
An aging doorman, after being fired from his prestigious job at a luxurious hotel, is forced to face the scorn of his friends, neighbours and society.
The Merry JailThe Merry Jail · 1917
The Merry Jail
6.41917
MovieComedy
A neglected wife disguises herself in order to lure her wastrel husband into a compromising position.
Quo Vadis?Quo Vadis? · 1924
Quo Vadis?
6.31924
MovieDramaHistory
"The Roman Banquet, the golden glories, the unrivaled luxuries, the wine, the dance, the song, the beautiful women, the sumptuous splendors that taxed a barbaric world for a night of feasting and revel-- Re-created for your entertainment in the most colossal drama produced", reads an ad in the Daily Argus of New York. Unione Cinematografica Italiana's lavish production of the oft-told tale stars Emil Jannings as Nero.
The PatriotThe Patriot · 1928
The Patriot
5.81928
MovieDramaHistory
In 18th-Century Russia, the Czar, Paul, is surrounded by murderous plots and trusts only Count Pahlen. Pahlen wishes to protect his friend, the mad king, but because of the horror of the king's acts, he feels that he must remove him from the throne.
TraumulusTraumulus · 1936
Traumulus
6.51936
MovieDrama
This film is a fascinating showcase for Emil Janning's theatrical play. He's a gentle school teacher who believes in his boys and is easily fooled about all things, while the other town officials want him dismissed. Curiously it's very hard to see what the film is exactly aiming for. Disaster strikes and the lax prof proves to be too far removed of the real problems of the world, on the other hand his enemies are shown in the most unsympathetic, satirical way denouncing the militaristic, bourgeois ideology of the Kaiserreich.
DantonDanton · 1921
Danton
6.51921
MovieHistoryDrama
At the height of Reign of Terror Maximilien Robespierre orchestrates the trial and execution of several of his fellow leading French revolutionaries including Georges Danton.

Filmography

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BetrayalBetrayal · 1929
Betrayal
9.01929
MovieDrama
André Frey, a bohemian artist, woos and wins a rustic Swiss maid, promising to return to her after a visit to the city. The girl, Vroni, finds herself pregnant and is forced by her father to marry Poldi Moser, the mayor of the small Swiss town. Moser and Vroni are happy together, and two sons are born to them. André returns to the village periodically and finally asks Vroni to go away with him. She refuses, and he writes her an angry note. That evening, Vroni and André are involved in a toboggan accident; Vroni is killed outright, and André is fatally injured. Moser finds André's note and goes to him, demanding of the dying man to know which of the boys is in fact André's child. Thinking to protect his own son, André informs Moser that Moser's own son is his (André's) son. Moser swears vengeance on the child but relents when he realizes that he loves both boys equally.

Poldi Moser

The SovereignThe Sovereign · 1937
The Sovereign
5.71937
MovieDrama
Der Herrscher (The Sovereign) was based on Before Sunset, a play by Gerhart Hauptmann. The great Emil Jannings stars as Mathias Clausen, a self-made businessman who is forced to do a great deal of soul-searching when his wife unexpectedly dies. Determining to start life anew, he falls in love with his secretary Inken (Marianne Hoppe) and impulsively takes a vacation to Italy. Clausen's selfish grown children, not wishing to share their father's affections -- nor his money -- with his new wife-to-be, go to court demanding that Clausen be declared mentally incompetent. Upon finding this out, Clausen flies into a rage, leaving the audience to wonder whether or not he really as gone off his trolley. Der Herrscher was directed by Veit Harlan, more famous (or notorious) for his viciously anti-Semitic Jud Suess (1940).

Matthias Clausen