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“The Blue Angel” was made by Sternberg at the personal and urgent request of Emil Jannings, the distinguished German actor, whom he had directed in Hollywood in “The Last Command” (1928). Sternberg was a young American director who, in four years and nine silent films, had advanced himself from obscurity to the distinction of being one the most aggressive directors in American films. Although there had been some friction between him and Jannings while they were making “The Last Command”, the famous actor apparently trusted the director enough to seek his help when he went back to Berlin and got ready to make his plunge into the talkies.

For this initial venture, which was to be done in German (with an English version shot simultaneously), Jannings chose a novel, “Professor Unrat”, by Heinrich Mann. It was a story of a renowned school teacher who lost his position and social standing when he married a demimonde singer and thereafter disgraced himself. In the book, Professor Raat is a 57-year-old reclusive, widowed school teacher who is estranged from his son because of the son's scandalous trysts with women. Even though everyone around is either a former student of his or a descendant thereof, Raat is not held in high regard by his students. He takes the nickname ‘Unrat’ (literally meaning ‘garbage’) to be a personal affront, and treats every school-day as a battle against his foes, the students, and uses impossible assignments as his means of achieving victory.