Not the masterpiece of reputation, since the story (a tragic anecdote
concerning the decline and fall of a proud hotel doorman) is somewhat
smug and contrived; moreover, Jannings' pathos is so calculated as to
feel grotesque. Murnau's direction, however, is something else; his
imaginative use of the moving camera and stylised settings exactly
mirror the state of a disintegrating mind, and the film becomes a stark
expressionist nightmare. The city in which it unfolds is a wholly
artificial, emotional construct which looks forward to the greater
achievement of Murnau's Sunrise; the film as a whole is a dazzling
exercise in visual style.
