Last Laugh, The
Last Laugh, The
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Synopsis

One of the major works of German silent cinema, Murnau's classic drama depicts the fall of the respected, aging doorman (Emil Jannings) of a posh Berlin hotel, who is cruelly stripped of his position and reduced to a bathroom attendant. The film was groundbreaking for its expressive, mobile camera work, which imparts information visually, without subtitles. "The camera on a trolley glides, rises, zooms, or weaves where the story takes it. The camera takes part in the action and becomes a character in the drama" (Marcel Carne). Includes a musical score by Timothy Brock, performed by the Olympia F.W. Murnau---Germany---1924---91 mins.

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   | Lewis#4

This brilliant film, directed by F. W. Murnau from a screenplay by Carl Mayer and photographed spectacularly by Karl Freund, is one of the masterpieces of German silent film. It gives us the poignant story of an unnamed character, played by Emil Jannings, who is proud to serve the Hotel Atlanta as its officious, capable porter. He is proud also of his doorman's cloak, a kind of uniform with shiny buttons and braids, which he wears home to his working-class neighborhood, his garb earning admiring glances from his neighbors. (We are reminded that in Weimar Germany uniforms continued to symbolize authority and command respect.) Our protagonist's fortunes drastically change when the hotel management determines that he has become too old for the porter position and shifts him to the men's washroom where he proffers towels and brushes coats. When his neighbors discover his reduced circumstances, their respect turns to derision. The film's incongruous happy ending--certainly in the 1920s German film-goers could use a happy ending-- feels a bit tacked-on and reminds us that, as Siegfried Kracauer notes, "In 1924 Hollywood had begun to exert its influence on the German screen." (Perhaps this is why "Der Letzte Mann" was called "The Last Laugh" in its American screenings.) A striking feature of this film is its lack of intertitles. The story is told exclusively through images, and only toward the end, as a completely superfluous setup for the lighthearted coda, does a bit of narration intrude. Freund's cinematography in the film is brilliantly inventive. What he and Murnau manage to do with the bulky camera of their time is jaw-dropping (but always in service to the story). This is a very human (and humane) story and an extraordinary bit of cinema.

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