Stylistically innovative, The Last Laugh was the result of a fruitful collaboration between F.W. Murnau, screenwriter Carl Mayer, cinematographer Karl Freund and star Emil Jannings. The film marked a turning point in the types of roles played by Jannings – after playing the doorman at an upscale hotel whose identity is completely shattered when he is demoted and stripped of his authoritative uniform, from which he entire sense of self is derived, he began to specialize in roles of defeat and humiliation, including in Variety and The Blue Angel. Murnau’s inventive use of elaborate tracking shots and his unique understanding of cinematic space resulted in a highly Expressionistic and fluid camera, lending the tale of one man’s decline the depth and scope of national tragedy.