Watch The Last Laugh For Free

Just what I expected

hyped garbage

Absolutely Fantastic

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Emil Jannings is the doorman of the elegant Atlantic Hotel. He is proud of his uniform and function, and respected by his community. When he reaches the old age, he has difficulties to carry trucks and suitcases. The hotel manager decides to change his function to washroom attendant. This apparently simple action is enough to destroy him as a human being. He loses his self-respect and when his neighbor finds that he is janitor of the hotel, he loses the respect of his neighbors and friends. "Der letzte Mann", a.k.a. "The Last Laugh", is another masterpiece directed by F.W. Murnau. It is an authentic study of the vanity and cruelty of mankind. The gossip and lack of respect to the elders is also shown in this fantastic film. The performance of the great Emil Janning is top-notch and the plot is based on his character and corporal expressions. The talent of Murnau is impressive, since he changes the heartbreaking narrative and turns into a comedy, with the doorman receiving the inheritance of an America millionaire and becoming "the last laugh" of the title of the movie. My vote is ten.Title (Brazil): "A Última Gargalhada" ("The Last Laugh")

"Der letzte Mann" or "The Last Man" is a German movie from over 90 years ago and it was directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau/Plumpe, one of the country's most known directors from that era, probably you could replace "country" by "world". The lead actor is Emil Jannings, five years before his Oscar win and as so many other times, he plays a character who is considerably older than he was at that time. Aging makeup was already a thing back then. The film is silent (if you hear a soundtrack, it was added later)and in black-and-white. Jannings plays a doorman at a hotel, who is down on his look for most of the film. Or is he really? This is mostly a drama and runs for 90 minutes in the restored version I watched. Still, it's tough for me to take it serious as such with Jannings' over-the-top face expressions basically from start to finish. Then again, this was a common problem back then. People tried to make up for the lack of sound by these comically expressions that just did never leave a good impact for me. Also this film may have needed more intertitles to understand exactly what is going on in all scenes. In my opinion, the material was not (good) enough for 90 minutes here. Not among Murnau's best. Not recommended.

Switching from expressionism to kammerspiel was only for the best for F.W. Murnau. Turning from pure fiction to reality, the director and his cinematographer Freund introduced, quite revolutionarily, moving camera (and also POV-shots) and abandoned intertitles. Intertitles do often kill film's dynamics, and "Noseratu," which is apparently the most famous Murnau's title, was in a way spoiled by texts of all kinds. To abandon intertitles completely was an obvious decision, but difficult to realize and demanding a great skill. Murnau did a brilliant job: there isn't a sequence or a shot which is hard to get despite no lines heard or seen and no explanation given.Admirably, even from external difficulties Murnau managed to benefit. I mean the ending forced by the movie producers. Murnau had to obey; but he made an obviously unrealistic farce instead of regular happy ending, and also preceded it with a sardonic commentary. As a result, the final sequence underlines picture's message: the second change of protagonist (now to a tux and a top hat) is not a random detail. Furthermore, it's not Hollywood-like idealism we feel here, but a hysterics, some desperate hope. We can even suppose that everything after the only intertitle with Murnau's commentary is a dream, protagonist's insane fantasy.Funny enough, this forced ending not only gave an additional dimension to "Der Letzte Mann," but also would be used as a narrative technique on its own right by other filmmakers: see Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and Kusturica's "Underground," both featuring corresponding unrealistic epilogues.

The film is among the finest achievements of the silent cinema. The old doorman (Emil Jannings) of a luxury hotel is demoted to the job of lavatory attendant, but comes into a fortune and gets his revenge.The Last Laugh is an ironic silent anecdote, made important by its virtual abandonment of dialogue and the whole-hearted adoption of a freewheeling camera technique which gives some thrilling dramatic effects. The film is the most famous example of the short-lived Kammerspiel or "chamber-drama" genre. The set was built entirely within a studio, unusual for director F.W. Murnau, who preferred to shoot on location.