The Last Laugh

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Vidhu K Aug 23 Murnau's ingenious, towering work about man's ultimate sin, of falsely attributing a person's worth to their occupation and social standing and a reminder that an act of kindness goes a long way. See more Dawn B 12/06/2024 The last laugh. You find out who your friends are eh! Like that it makes unusual statement towards the end. Read me book b.utt. 7.2/0. D.B. See more Leaburn O 08/08/2023 One of the best of the silent era. Murnau was a master storyteller of parables. A lot to dissect in this movie but sadly it's a tale of a man who put too much stock in his societal status. Saw this one on YouTube where there is a good quality version with a nice score. See more Michael M 12/29/2021 Questionable epilogue aside, The Last Laugh is one of Murnau's finest films, telling a moving story without a single intertitle or line of dialogue. The director uses an everyday tragedy about an elderly man (played brilliantly by Emil Jannings) who loses an integral piece of his identity when he is removed from his position as a doorman at a fancy hotel to make a larger point about the precariousness of the working class, a point which is still very much relevant. Even without the brilliant story and moving lead performance, the film deserves recognition for its revolutionary cinematography, including one shot that clearly inspired a famous camera trick used in Citizen Kane. See more georgan g 03/26/2021 Glad I read about the societal issues this film represented, along with how working class individuals were affected. Lighting and camera work were well done. The beginning of modern film making. See more William L 01/27/2021 Not only a massive leap forward from a technical perspective, but a unique interpretation of the role of the image of oneself in society, which strikes an oddly relevant tone with the rapid emergence of social media as the true depiction of a subject despite reality. Murnau presents the nameless doorman as the victim of a terrible fall from grace, whose sole crimes are essentially unavoidable - growing old, and wishing to still be of use. He maintains a way to support his family, but both he and the world around him treat his plight as a shameful defeat, as he attempts to retain the physical manifestation of his position, his uniform, with all the peculiarities of symbolism that such an article carries with it in German culture. Set design and camerawork elements that Murnau and his production team pioneered in The Last Laugh would become industry standard following its release. (4/5) See more Read all reviews

The Last Laugh

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