Right in the first few minutes, you’re hit with a visual whirlwind. The editing is, without a doubt, the most striking and revolutionary aspect of the whole film. Incredibly dynamic, fluid, and bold. The cuts, the camera movements, the optical effects and overlays — it’s as if the editing were shaped directly by the protagonist’s thoughts, his delusions, hopes, and despairs.

Technically, I’d say the film is flawless. Murnau’s subjective camera is practically a character in itself, going in and out of the protagonist’s dreams, entering his pain as if we ourselves were living in that body. The mise-en-scène is almost cruel in its coherence: the contrast between the cold luxury of the hotel and the melancholic poverty of the…

[98]

Second viewing, up from 86. I've been anxiously wanting to revisit this immediately after my first viewing but held off until I snagged the Blu-Ray (and yes, the quality is far superior to the streaming copy I previously saw). Sheepishly must confess I don't have much to add other than I simply underrated it the first time. In fact, I'm almost flabbergasted how I settled on a mere 86, as this revisit -- not even a full two months later -- revealed a nearly perfect film : I struggle to think of one that's more masterfully directed and assimilated than this. The story itself fashions about 15-minutes of actual material, but Murnau manages to elongate every reaction, every pan,…

***One of the best 150 films I have ever seen.***

To begin with, the second timeless absolute masterpiece by the memorable silent cinema legend F.W. Murnau did not conclude in the way he originally wanted it to. The executives at UFA sought for a more ambitious financial success; therefore, they compelled Murnau and the screenwriter Carl Mayer to close Der Letzte Mann with a happy ending, not to mention that they were pressured to change the film's title from "The Last Man" to "The Last Laughter". There is an undeniable fact in this matter: Murnau was a visionary. When an artist is way ahead of his time, presenting unconventional and amoral thematic material, the biggest possibility is the public's rejection.…

made me remember how i had to present a text on how the happy ending of a Douglas Sirk film had subversive qualities to a class of students of cultural theory. just as our protagonist here i failed miserably cause i didn't understand the author's idea behind it, and was constantly wondering why an anti-happy ending can't simply be the ultimate subversive construct, why we had to make intellectual strains to bend a film into a complicated theoretical construction.

Murnau manages exactly this double-edgedness by letting his Last Laugh end on the most impossible depressed note but then making a 180° turn last second - interestingly forced to by executives at the UFA - by raising a question that is…

"Today, you're on top, respected by everyone, a minister, a general, maybe even a nobleman ... But do you know what you will be tomorrow?"

The aging doorman (Emil Jannings) of the high class Hotel Atlantic, whose prestigious job earned him the respect of his neighbors, is one day being retired from his position at the hotel door, and relegated to spend his final years working in the hotel's washroom. Desperate, the doorman decides to steal back his uniform so his family and neighbors won't become aware of his shame ...

Der letzte Mann ("The Last Man") is a drama film directed by F. W. Murnau.

This was Murnau's first film with UFA, when he was on the peak of…