The Last Laugh

Where Jannings proves again he has the face, body and very essence designed for humiliation. Murnau gets to have his cake and eat it too, taking Jannings’ downward spiral into the depths of hopelessness and almost suicidal despair, before wrapping it up in a jolly, spirited epilogue, which may be the broadest capitulation to the censors/wink to the audience until Hitchcock’s PSYCHO wrap-up; “the last laugh” indeed! Of course, it’s Murnau’s signature stunning directorial prowess that’s the main attraction here, and he doesn’t disappoint, creating a ghoulishly nightmare world that makes Jannings’ potentially comical downfall play fairly realistically and sadly.