Der letzte Mann
Directed by:
Friedrich Wilhelm MurnauScreenplay:
Carl MayerCinematography:
Karl FreundCast:
Emil Jannings, Harald Madsen, Carl Schenstrøm, O.E. Hasse, Hans Unterkircher, Maly Delschaft, Emmy Wyda, Neumann-SchülerPlots(1)
The film depicts the tale of an elderly hotel doorman (played by the inimitable Emil Jannings) whose superiors have come to deem his station as transitory as the revolving doors through which he has ushered guests in and out, day upon day, decade after decade. Reduced to polishing tiles beneath a sink in the gents' lavatory and towelling the hands of Berlin's most-vulgar barons, the doorman soon uncovers the ironical underside of old-world hospitality. And then one day his fate suddenly changes... Der letzte Mann (also known as The Last Laugh, although its original title translates to "The Last Man") inaugurated a new era of mobile camera expression whose handheld aesthetic and sheer plastic fervour predated the various "New Wave" movements of the 1960s and beyond. (Eureka Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (2)
The perfection of The Last Laugh's legacy is marred only by a minor detail - the existence of a remake from the 1950s that took the story somewhere completely different. Whereas in this version, it's a joy to spend time with every frame of the film.
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This camera likes Emil Jannings. And why not. He is one of the most interesting actors of his time. However, the camera also likes change. It does not focus on one scene for long, but there are quite frequent cuts that incredibly enliven the film. In addition, intertitles are essentially missing here. This is definitely one of the more interesting films of the silent era. It was also shot by Murnau. Expressionism is quite evident in some places.
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