The Last Laugh (Restored Deluxe Edition)

I want to warn you now that this review is full of spoilers.
What? Some of you are unclear on the term "spoilers"? You haven't been reading your internet movie reviews. At a variety of movie sites you can read reviews of movies that are seen before the films are released. Sometimes you can read reviews of scripts before a film is even produced. Often the reviewers will warn *minor spoilers* or *major spoilers*, depending on whether they plan on giving away minor plot details or every twist and turn in the story.
Some people like spoilers, some don't.
I prefer not to know what's going to happen in the movies I watch and the books I read; I want to be surprised. On the other hand, my wife Mindy often reads the ends of novels before deciding if she wants to go on reading. She does this with mysteries. This is a mystery to me.
Some people like spoilers, some don't.
*Major Spoilers*! I plan on giving away the whole plot of a certain film, and not only that, but some major spoilers about life itself.
So if you were planning on rushing out to rent F.W. Murau's silent German Expressionist classic The Last Laugh, and you don't want to know how it ends, quit reading now!
Emil Jannings plays the doorman (or porter) of an elite German hotel. He is proud of his job and especially proud of his gaudy uniform. When he returns from work to his dilapidated tenement, his neighbors treat him with deference and respect because of his big lapels and shiny buttons.
But the doorman is getting on in years, and when the manager of the hotel sees him take a long break after struggling with heavy luggage, the manager demotes him to restroom attendant.
The new job does not have the status of doorman and does not have a uniform.
So the former doorman decides to steal a uniform so he can still wear it when he's back in his neighborhood. But when a neighbor spies him at work in the restroom, he becomes the laughing stock of the neighborhood.
The man breaks down in tears when he returns the uniform to the hotel security guard. And then the film makers show one of the most amazing title cards in silent films.
I'm paraphrasing a bit, but the card says something like this: "In real life, the porter would have little to look forward to, except his own death. However, the writer took pity upon the man and added this unexpected epilogue."
The film then shows guests in the hotel laughing as they read a newspaper article. The article tells about a millionaire who died in the arms of a hotel restroom attendant. The millionaire's last will and testament specified that his entire fortune would go to the person who held him as he died.
The final minutes of the film show the former doorman of the hotel enjoying the hotel's luxuries, along with his friend the security guard. The film ends with the new millionaire tipping all of the bell staff before riding off in a convertible.
The title card that changes the doorman's fortune is a classic "Deus ex machine" device (or `God from the machine'). This is a phrase that originated in Greek drama, when the writer would paint his characters into such a difficult situation that the only solution was an arbitrary plot intervention by one of the many Greek gods.
It is usually quite an annoying device in a play, book or film.
If an ordinary Western story concludes with a UFO blasting the bad guy with lasers in the climatic gun fight or a parent's objection to the love match in a Victorian romance resolved by having Dr. Phil enter in and give counsel, the audience is understandably upset.
But somehow, this device works in The Last Laugh, because the film makers are so transparent about its use. A (slightly) more recent use of blatant "Deus ex machine" is found in Wayne's World. The film appears to be ending with our hero Wayne losing the girl and the villain triumphant. But Wayne speaks to the camera and suggests a different ending. They first try the Scooby Doo ending ("I would have succeeded, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids") and then finish with the mega-happy ending.
I think the "God from the machine" device works because there is an acknowledgement of a creator outside of the fictional world. Of course, we get ourselves into impossible situations. Particularly, we've got the problem of sin (Romans 6:23 - "The wages of sin is death"), and we need help to get us out of our predicament.
Fortunately, help did come from out of our world, when Jesus came to save us (John 1:14 - "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling with us.")
I don't mind that "Deus ex machine" at all. And when I said before that I don't like spoilers -- well, Jesus perhaps gave away the biggest spoiler of all when He said in John 14:3, "I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am."
I don't mind that spoiler at all.

During the period of recovery after World War I, the German film industry was at its height, but tough economic times made it difficult for filmmakers to compete with the expensive, lavish features produced in Hollywood. Filmmakers of the German UFA studio developed their own distinctive style by using symbolism and milieu to add mood and deeper meaning to a movie. This style came to be known as German Expressionism.
"The Last Laugh" is a 2-disc set showcasing F.W. Murnau's 1924 silent German Expressionist drama. The film stars Emil Jannings as an aging doorman whose happiness dissolves when he is relieved of the duties and uniform that have for years been the foundation of his identity and pride. Through Jannings' impressive performance, "The Last Laugh" becomes more than the plight of a single doorman. It is constantly referred to as one of the most poetic and sad dramatizations of the frustrations of the working class. As a result of his work in "The Last Laugh," Jannings became one of the world's most acclaimed film actors during the 1920's.
In the making of the film, three different camera negatives were exposed and edited. One would be used for striking prints for the German release, another for general international distribution, and the third for American release. The surviving German negative was reconstructed utilizing material from several sources. This Deluxe Edition contains the new restored version, the unrestored export version, a 40-minute making-of featurette, and a new stereo recording of the original score by Giuseppe Becce. The ending contrasts sharply with the tone of the rest of the movie, and may have been influenced by Hollywood's "happy ending" formula.

I love Kino. I really do. But they really need somebody to make executive decisions for them, because this two disc set is yet another glorious muddle.

What I mean is this: the image is stunning, cleaner and more vivid than the previous release, Giuseppe Becce's 1924 score is gorgeously recorded and matches perfectly, and the making of documentary is especially informative (in German with the subtitles of your choice). BUT the opening titles and Epilogue cards from the English print are used while everything else is in German (with subtitles that hold on the bottom of the screen for literally a fraction of a second, one needs to pause the player to read the damned thing). Why has Kino not learned from Criterion and just given us the original German print with optional English subtitles? Why must we go through this everytime with them? The beautiful release of Nosferatu last year was also flawed; that two disc set contains TWO copies of the film, the original German and then one with video generated English titles, both with optional subtitles (???).

So I really like this set for the image and sound and documentary, but Kino really need to stop building a horse by committee and get someone to make a solid decision to just release these great silent films as they exist on film and not try to make everyone happy. I think anyone looking to purchase films by Murnau knows that they're getting themselves into. So far, this release is a little more organized than the Nosferatu release, so hopefully by the time they get round to Faust they'll have got it right.

A word on the film. Der Letze Mann really was a ground-breaker, due to its shocking use of camera movement and lack of intertitles. But the end is really utterly grotesque, a deliberate contrivance that lead actor Jannings convinced Murnau to film and producer Eric Pohmer (sic?) made him tack on. The disgusting wealth and gluttony that ends the film is not only hypocritical in light of the fact that it was the very same disgusting wealth and gluttony that ruined the Old Porter's life to begin with, but it is revolting and creepy as well. Money is useful, but it does not buy happiness. There is no resolution with the Daughter, despite that their great love for each other has been established at the beginning of the film. Even the filmmaking in the "improbable" Epilogue is perfunctory; Murnau flourishes in the main body of the film, absolutely flourishes, so it is worth getting this set to revel in the first hour and fifteen minutes. I always turn it off where Murnau intended it to end, with the final fate of the Last Man.

F.W. Murnau didn't have a typical storyline - he could do pure Gothic horror as in Nosferatu, social commentary as in Phantom, fantasy with a religious theme as in Faust, and the redemption of love as in Sunrise. What ties Murnau's work together is its imagery. He excelled at it as few directors ever did. "The Last Laugh" is a tale about an older man who is proud of his position as doorman at a prominent German hotel. One night he has had to carry some heavy luggage as part of his duties and he takes a break. As luck would have it, his supervisor sees him taking this short rest and assumes the worst. The next day the old man is reassigned to the job of washroom attendant. He does his best to hide his change of position from his friends, but they find out anyway. To make matters worse, they assume he's always been lying about his job and that he has thus always been a washroom attendant. At this point you might wonder - why exactly is this film named The Last Laugh? There is a somewhat tacked on ending that is the foundation of the film's title. I won't spoil it for you.

This is a two disc edition because there are two versions of the film included. The extras include a 40 minute documentary on the making of The Last Laugh that was included with the last edition of the film that was in The F.W. Murnau Collection (Nosferatu/The Last Laugh/Faust/Tabu/Tartuffe). I thought that the video was perfectly clear on that version, so I'm curious to see what further remastering has done for the visual clarity of the film. The documentary is well-done and quite detailed. This somewhat surprised me since if Kino has a flaw in its DVD productions it is this - it sometimes misses the point entirely of multimedia presentation and of the extra space DVD affords you for extra features. I personally want commentary and featurettes to go with these films, not the text notes that Kino often includes that leave me - at age 50 - squinting at the TV screen.