A silent classic from the halcyon days of German expressionism, Der Letze Mann is FW Murnau’s dreamlike melodrama of hubris?a big-budget 1924 masterpiece of light, shadow and set design. Restored to a crispness that’s worthy of ’40s film noir, it stars Emil Jannings as a shambling, walruslike doorman who’s demoted to the hotel lavatories. Slow and emotionally laboured but fluid and spectacular to watch.
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