DVD Review: Der Letzte Mann (1924)

F.W. Murnau's Der Letzte Mann ("The Last Man", also known as The Last Laugh) represented a major technical breakthrough for silent cinema.  Inspired by Nikolai Gogol's story "The Coat", it concerns an elderly hotel doorman (silent cinema giant: Emil Jannings) who, because of his age, is cruelly demoted to bathroom attendant.  Reduced to towelling hands and polishing sinks, he tries to conceal the truth from friends and family, but to his shame is discovered.  Neighbours believe he's lied all along about his prestigious job and taunt him mercilessly, while his niece (Maly Delschaft), her new husband (Max Hiller) and his aunt (Emilie Kurz) reject him out of embarrassment. 

Grief-stricken, the old man retreats to the hotel bathroom, where a kindly night watchman (Georg John) covers him with his coat while he sleeps.  A title card concedes the story should end here since "in real life the old man has little left but death".  However "the author took pity on him and provided an improbable epilogue."  At the end, the old man inherits a fortune and dines happily at the hotel where he once worked. 

This unlikely denouement - devised by Jannings with Murnau's support - might be why Der Letzte Mann is less celebrated than Sunrise (1927) or Nosferatu (1922).  Yet the happy ending was calculated to add an anti-military tone, wherein the doorman discovers uniforms have no value.  A subtext set to gain added resonance with the rise of Nazism in Germany.  Though protracted, the conclusion does raise a smile, especially from the old gent's generosity to those less fortunate. 

Unlike most Murnau movies, this is considered a kammerspiel ("chamber play") film rather than expressionist.  Its script was written by Carl Mayer, a prominent figure within the kammerspiel movement that rejected elaborate set designs and favoured storylines/themes regarding social injustice towards the working classes.  Nonetheless, Murnau is credited with introducing subjective POV, where the camera "sees" through characters' eyes, and using visual style to convey their psychological state. He further innovated "unchained camera technique", deploying an arsenal of pans, tilts, zooms and dynamic tracking shots.  Yet, as the enlightening documentary included on Eureka's DVD reveals, equal credit should be given to genius cameraman Karl Freund and Murnau's art directors, who sketched out the entire film including camera movements.  At a time when Germany was the hub of fashionable decadence, Der Letzte Mann remains an impressive indictment of modern society's indifference towards poverty, old age and human suffering.