---
title: "The Last Laugh: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-last-laugh/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-last-laugh"
critics_score: 78
critics_reviews: 8
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Last Laugh (1924): what the critics said

Critics' score 78 from 8 reviews: 6 positive, 2 mixed, 0 negative.

Most critics respond warmly to The Last Laugh, with praise clustering around Murnau’s direction and Karl Freund’s inventive cinematography. The reviews repeatedly value the way images convey humiliation and inner distress, making the doorman’s experience vivid without relying on verbal explanation. Several also find substantial social criticism in its treatment of inequality, authority and individual dignity. Across the favourable responses, technical invention serves a recognisable concern for people whose standing in society is precarious.

The spread runs from wholehearted admiration to qualified respect, with six positive assessments, two mixed and none negative. Reservations centre on whether the storytelling sustains the achievement of the camerawork, particularly towards the close. Empire finds the ending unconvincing but still considers the film impressive. Eye for Film is more doubtful about how well it holds up, admiring Freund’s cinematography while finding the ending tacked on.

## Slant Magazine — Andrew Schenker

Rating 4/4. 23 September 2008. 

Schenker argues that the film is best understood as a horror story about a modern world that discards the old and infirm. He praises the camera work for making the doorman’s humiliation and inner states vivid.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-last-laugh/)

## The New Yorker — Richard Brody

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 April 2013. 

Brody presents the film as a powerful, prescient work about inequality and social authority. He especially praises its vivid warning about society’s treatment of individual dignity.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/dvd-of-the-week-the-last-laugh)

## Time Out

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 15 March 2012. 

The review calls Murnau’s film a masterpiece and an example of pure cinema. It singles out the absence of intertitles as a defining strength.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/the-last-laugh-1)

## RogerEbert.com

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 

The page could not be accessed, so its verdict and specific praise or criticism cannot be verified. The available page information identifies it as a Great Movies review of the 1924 film.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-last-laugh-1924)

## The New York Times — Mordaunt Hall

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 1 February 1925. 

The review gives Murnau’s German film a clearly positive verdict. It singles out the direction as particularly adroit and imaginative.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1925/02/01/archives/adroit-and-imaginative-direction-in-german-film.html)

## Los Angeles Times — MARK CHALON SMITH

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 March 1994. 

The critic finds the film visually striking and its story a meaningful blend of vanity, tragedy, and irony. He particularly praises Murnau’s direction and Karl Freund’s inventive camera work.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-10-ol-32505-story.html)

## Empire — Alan Morrison

Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

Morrison finds the film’s ending falsely upbeat but considers the overall experience impressive. He especially praises Karl Freund’s groundbreaking cinematography, including the expressionistic drunken-dream sequence.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/last-laugh-review/)

## Eye for Film — Keith Dudhnath

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 2 February 2004. 

The critic finds the film technically impressive and historically important, but remains ambivalent about how well it holds up. They praise Karl Freund’s cinematography and criticise the ending as blatantly tacked on.

[Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-last-laugh-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-last-laugh.md