The Last Laugh

(Spoilers for end!)

Man, I felt so betrayed by the ending! I thought, how stupidly cynical, how unaccountably self-reflexive. What a pointless undermining of all that went before it. Murnau’s ‘unlikely’ happy ending changes the tone dramatically and amounts to nothing, I thought. Then I read that the filmmakers had been told to tack on a happy ending so the film would sell better, and I would instead applaud their thumbing their noses at those idiots. Still, I wish modern prints disowned the ending completely, because it is pretty stupid.

So, my rating is for the rest of the film, not taking the ending into account at all.