Rating: NR
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 06/05/2001
Sound: 5.1/2
Run Time: 91 Minutes
Distributor/Studio: Kino
F.W. Murnau's German silent classic
The Last Laugh (
Der Letze Mann) stars
Emil Jannings as the doorman of a posh Berlin hotel. Fiercely proud of his job,
Jannings comports himself like a general in his resplendent costume, and is treated like royalty by his friends and neighbors. The hotel's insensitive new manager, noting that
Jannings seems winded after carrying several heavy pieces of luggage for a patron, decides that the old man is no longer up to his job. The manager demotes
Jannings to men's washroom attendant, and the effect is disastrous on the man's prestige and self-esteem. Logically, the film should end on a note of tragedy, but
Murnau (either because he was ordered to by the producers or because he just felt like it) adds a near-surrealistic coda, wherein
Jannings, having suddenly inherited a fortune, returns to the hotel in triumph.
The Last Laugh was a bold experiment for its time: a film told entirely visually, with no subtitles save for the semi-satirical explanation of the climax. In a sense,
Karl Freund's camera is as much a "character" as anyone else, commenting upon Jannings' rise and fall via then-revolutionary camera angles, jarring movements and grotesque lens distortions. Many historians credit
The Last Laugh as the vanguard of the "German invasion" of Hollywood during the mid- to late-1920s.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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