1924: The Last Laugh (aka Der letzte Mann) (100th!)

What else happened this year? From the looks of it, a lot of crackdowns by the USSR on countries who declared independence (Georgia, Uzbekistan, for one), and Hitler gets out of prison, for two.

What is the plot - in one sentence? We follow an old guy who is dumped from his hotel welcomer job and becomes a toilet attendant.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? He has a nervous breakdown, as his welcoming job had been his entire sense of being… and leave him flaccid bearded in the men’s room. However, we’re told that this story is to have a happy ending, so he becomes a wealthy guy and spends the rest of his time eating prodigious amounts of food and drink with a guy who helped him before. It ends before he dies of over-consumption, so it’s happy.

What is the meaning of the title? He has the last laugh, I guess – even if it’s a deus ex scriptwriter

In a dream sequence, he's able to... get it up again.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? Maybe the oddest thing is the view of the bloke – he lives in a… hovel thing, and takes great pride in his work, before he’s replaced. He is given another job and has a breakdown… but he’s still one of the few people who has a job around the building. The toothless crones and gossip-bags who live in the building find it hilarious that he’s been replaced. It’s weird.

Any thoughts? I suppose the whole thing is a metaphor for the loss of manliness and virility – he’s replaced by a younger, larger man. In his drunk dream he dreams he can lift a suitcase above his head, before we spend the middle third of the movie following him in despair, slinking around and looking miserable… and being laughed at by crones. I didn’t get that at all.

Also, after he’s wealthy (for the film equivalent of ‘no reason’) why does he go back to the same hotel to eat at when he’s wealthy? He’s been treated badly by them, and the snooty customers continue to laugh at his big-spending bumpkin ways.

Would you recommend this? There were a few interesting shots – after he’s fired he gets drunk and rocks up to his daughter’s wedding, and he goes on a bit of a trip, we see a few interesting shots and special effects, but mostly I was just baffled.

Final thoughts? I didn’t understand the mindset of the villains, – his daughter seems to abandon him for his toilet job – and he’s made a laughing stock by the toothless, unemployed crones for.. having a job. He then gets laughed at by the crème de la crème for being a nouveau riche glutton. I didn’t get this, as a morality tale. Is it, money makes you happy? If so, then I agree. 

 Also, some research shows that at least a few of the cast members died in Nazi camps in real life, that's a bummer.

100 of these are now done! I’m so close you’d better close your eyes. The other 99 are to be found here.