The Last Laugh / Der Letzte Mann
d. F.W. Murnau / Germany / 1924 / 101 mins
Viewed at: Screen 3 @ Cinema City (Norwich, UK)
One of the problems with viewing (and writing about) silent cinema, comes with the knowledge that there is every possibility that – due to the loss of certain elements (such as tinting and toning), the addition of others (newly created soundtracks), or even re-editing (which often took place when films were re-released) – there is no way of knowing whether what you are watching is the ‘genuine article’, the film ‘as it was meant to be seen’.
Stephen Morgan 