Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "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.

zeebrite-321-220768 Yep. It's about a doorman. A fat, pompous doorman. A doorman that, because he's getting old, get's demoted to Washroom Attendent. Then he does washroom things. Sounds dry, but it's not.Emil Jannings play the lead (did I mention, doorman?). He carries the entire film in a masterful silent performance. Truly silent; not one dialog card in the entire movie.Direction, camera-work and lighting are all excellent.Could've been a masterpiece if not for a ridiculous deus ex machina ending. Not just a "didn't see that coming" ending, but a ending that is just absurd enough to ruin the integral mood of the first 80 minutes.If you like classic silents you should check this out. But you will leave unsatisfied if you want an emotional payoff.

andyterry 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.

Michael_Elliott Last Laugh, The (1924) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Emil Jennings plays a proud and honored doorman at a lavished hotel but soon his world is turned upside down into humiliation when he is demoted, because of his age, to working in the bathroom shining shoes. There's no doubt this is one of the most beautiful looking films ever made but it might also be one of the most depressing ever made. There were countless times during the film that I wanted to turn it off simply because it was too depressing watching this older man lose everything he loved. The beauty of the film comes from cinematographer Karl Fruend who once again shows why he was the master in his field. The incredibly haunting shots really adds to the depression felt by the lead character and the use of superimposed images just add a haunting figure to the entire film. Jennings performance has to rank as one of the greatest from any era as he really nails the proud side of this character as well as the torture and humiliation. The scene where his beloved jacket is ripped off of him is incredibly sad and the way the actor plays trying to steal it back is just as sad. The title pretty much gives away the twist at the end of the film but it's also worth noting that Murnau had this ending forced on him by the studio. One could certainly debate that it wasn't needed and it ruined the film but after so much depression I didn't mind it too much. It makes for some cute scenes and moments but I guess each viewer will debate on if it was needed. Murnau was already a genius at this point in his career and he'd go onto making even better films, which just shows how incredible he was. The most noted thing about this film is that Murnau doesn't use intertitles to tell the story. A few notes are shown but outside of that this is as silent as a silent film can get and to me it just proves that a master filmmaker and a great actor don't need words to get emotions across.