Instructions: In addition to the films that we have watched together in class, I have placed a number of additional German movies from the Weimar and Nazi period on reserve in the library. These films deal with many of the same themes as the ones that we have screened in class, and in many cases, they have the same directors. In place of the two remaining short papers, you may choose to write one longer paper (5-7 pages) based on an analysis of one of these extra films. As part of your analysis, you will be asked to compare the extra film to one or more of the films that we watched in class. (You can find all of the movies that we have screened in class at the library, should you feel the need to watch them again before you write your paper.)
In your paper you should include some background information on the film that you have chosen. When was it made? Who was the director? Does the film have some special importance in cinema history? You can do this research online, but if you take information from the internet (or from a book), you should give me a citation.
The movie i am going to write about is The Last Laugh (1924) – This film, the story of a hotel doorman who is demoted to a washroom attendant, was made by F. W. Murnau, the same man who directed Nosferatu. (And it stars Emil Jannings, from The Blue Angel.) What can you tell about German society in the mid-1920s based on The Last Laugh? For example, does the film have any lessons about social class and status? Does it tell us anything about Weimar attitudes towards authority? (For example, why is the uniform so important to the doorman?) Does the director have any political message or agenda? The film famously makes almost no use of inter-titles or dialog—the story is carried by the pictures. Do you think that this method is effective? Is the ending a joke? Or is the director making a point with the surprise twist? Compare this movie to Nosferatu. They would appear to be very different films: Nosferatu is an example of Expressionism, while The Last Laugh is considered one of the first films of the “New Objectivity,” a movement in the arts and filmmaking which stressed a more realistic depiction of the physical world. Despite the difference in style, can you see similarities in either technique or subject matter between the two movies? (You may want to take another look at Nosferatu.)
