The Last Laugh
About The Last Laugh
The doorman of the Atlantic Hotel is proud of his coat. The manager decides he is too old for the door and puts him in the washroom. He steals the coat back so the neighbors will not see the change, then returns to sleep in the washroom. The night watchman covers him. A title card says the story should end there. In the epilogue the doorman inherits a fortune from A. G. Monen, a millionaire who died in his arms in the washroom, and he dines at the hotel with the watchman.
Cast & crew
More about The Last Laugh
F. W. Murnau directed. Carl Mayer wrote it. Erich Pommer produced it at UFA. Karl Freund photographed it. Giuseppe Becce wrote the music. UFA released it in Germany on December 23, 1924. Wikipedia gives 90 minutes. The German title is Der letzte Mann. Emil Jannings plays the doorman. Maly Delschaft and Max Hiller are billed with him. Almost the whole film has no intertitles.
Themes
Making
Mayer wrote it to be played without titles. The one card is the hinge into the inherited fortune.
Look
Karl Freund moved the camera with the doorman, through the revolving door and down to the washroom.
Music
Giuseppe Becce wrote the score for the German release.
Notes
- The only title card admits the happy ending is improbable and says the author took pity on the old man.
- The millionaire in the newspaper story is named A. G. Monen.
- Freund's camera follows the doorman through the revolving door and into the washroom.
- The night watchman is the one person who is kind to him before the epilogue.
Scenes
- The manager takes the coat and sends him to the washroom.
- He and the night watchman ride off after the inheritance.
Quotes
Here our story should really end, for in actual life, the forlorn old man would have little to look forward to but death. The author took pity on him, however, and provided quite an improbable epilogue.
