{"id":272,"date":"2008-02-01T12:29:33","date_gmt":"2008-02-01T11:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/02\/01\/der-letzte-mann\/"},"modified":"2008-02-01T12:29:33","modified_gmt":"2008-02-01T11:29:33","slug":"der-letzte-mann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/02\/01\/der-letzte-mann\/","title":{"rendered":"DER LETZTE MANN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\"Der<\/a><\/p>\n

\nFormat:<\/B> DVD

\nRelease date:<\/B> 21 January 2008

\nDistributor:<\/B> Eureka Video

\nDirector:<\/B> FW Murnau

\nScreenplay:<\/B> Carl Mayer

\nAlternative title:<\/B> The Last Laugh<\/I>

\nCast:<\/B> Emil Jannings, Maly Delschaft, Georg John

\nGermany 1924

\n90 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nDer Letzte Mann<\/I> is less celebrated than FW Murnau’s Nosferatu<\/I><\/A> (1922) or Sunrise<\/I> (1928), and its imaginative scope is certainly narrower. But it is perhaps the director’s most perfect example of purely visual narrative. It is famous for the absence of intertitles: Murnau simply shows us what is happening, even what is being said, rather than telling us in words. <\/p>\n

The film is driven by an unstoppable performance by Emil Jannings as the proud old doorman at the prestigious Atlantic Hotel. Each turn in the story remoulds his body, each small humiliation etches itself in his face. The contrast between his proud erect gait as doorman and his cringing, hobbling posture when his fortunes change is the essence of the film. Though Jannings was, amazingly, only 40 at the time, he evokes vividly the trials of age – we feel in ourselves, as we watch, the old man’s aching back, shortness of breath, bleariness of eye, stunned incomprehension of a world leaving him behind.<\/p>\n

The obligation to get the plot across without words certainly doesn’t cramp Murnau’s style. Practically every scene offers unusual composition and lighting, the most memorable vision being the nightwatchman trudging the murky gloom of the hotel basement, his torch glowing in the centre of his silhouette and then becoming a spotlight for the doorman’s shame. Murnau and his cinematographer Karl Freund frequently turn the visual effects up to 11 – most extraordinarily by means of lens distortions. This might seem a limited and gimmicky technique (so did the wah-wah pedal before Jimi Hendrix); in inspired hands it proves richly expressive. But perhaps the greatest visual pleasures of the film are the moving shots with which the two parts of the film begin, drawing us through the perfectly choreographed world of the bustling hotel. The moving camera was a new technique in cinema then – and it is hard to think anyone has ever used it better.<\/p>\n

The bleakness of the film is relieved by an exuberant Chaplinesque comic epilogue. Murnau introduces it with an extraordinary Brechtian distancing technique: an on-screen admission, in the film’s only title card, that he doesn’t believe his story could really end this way. The epilogue (like the prologue to The Darjeeling Limited<\/I> last year) is so perfectly realised as to steal the show from the main body of the film.<\/p>\n

Why is the film called Der Letzte Mann<\/I>? The doorman is ‘the last man’ for a wealthy stranger, in an encounter which leads to his second turn of fortune. But this reading of the title would make the epilogue the key to the film (as does the standard English version of the title, The Last Laugh<\/I>). And we can only see the film this way if we ignore the ironic framing of the epilogue. Instead I think we should understand ‘letzte’ as having the connotation of ‘least’ or ‘lowest’, as in the biblical warning ‘the first shall be last’.<\/p>\n

A film like this – simple, melodramatic, sentimental, wordless – could not be made today. Watch it and visit a world we have lost.<\/p>\n

Peter Momtchiloff <\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Silent master FW Murnau’s experimental elegy to a disappearing world is a wordless tragicomic masterpiece.
\nReview by Peter Momtchiloff <\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvds-and-blu-rays"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-4o","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":237,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/12\/02\/tabu\/","url_meta":{"origin":272,"position":0},"title":"TABU: A STORY OF THE SOUTH SEAS","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"December 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"An unforgettable silent masterpiece made by two giants of cinema, Tabu reminds us how it was once possible to take innocent delight in the alien-ness of a distant culture. Review by Peter Momtchiloff","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2514,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2012\/11\/20\/the-golem\/","url_meta":{"origin":272,"position":1},"title":"The Golem","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"November 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Inspired equally by Hebrew mythology and 19th-century literature, Wegener\u2019s 1920 classic is the last of three Golem films he starred in, and the only one to survive. Review by Jim Harper","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/TheGolem-594x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/TheGolem-594x338.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/TheGolem-594x338.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":213,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/11\/01\/nosferatu\/","url_meta":{"origin":272,"position":2},"title":"Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"November 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Hailed as a masterpiece of early German cinema and still regarded as one of the best horror films ever made, the 1922 classic Nosferatu has stood the test of time, despite a shaky start. Review by Lindsay Tudor","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nosferatu 1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Nosferatu-1-594x446.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Nosferatu-1-594x446.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/11\/Nosferatu-1-594x446.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3750,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/11\/01\/nosferatu-the-vampyre\/","url_meta":{"origin":272,"position":3},"title":"Nosferatu the Vampyre","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"November 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Klaus Kinski\u2019s Dracula is a creature who is as much a victim of his own condition as anyone else. Review by John Bleasdale","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nosferatu the Vampyre","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Nosferatu-the-Vampyre-594x409.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Nosferatu-the-Vampyre-594x409.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Nosferatu-the-Vampyre-594x409.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2588,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/02\/08\/the-keep\/","url_meta":{"origin":272,"position":4},"title":"The Keep","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"February 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"If anything deserves the label film maudit, it's Michael Mann's The Keep. Review by Kim Newman","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/review_thekeep.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/review_thekeep.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/review_thekeep.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":549,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/03\/01\/il-divo\/","url_meta":{"origin":272,"position":5},"title":"IL DIVO","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"March 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Il Divo, which translates as 'The Divine', is just one of the nicknames given to Giulio Andreotti, who was Prime Minister of Italy seven times between 1972 and 1992. The others, including 'The Man of Darkness', 'The Black Pope' and 'Beelzebub', give a good indication of Andreotti's notoriety. Review by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}