The Last Performance (1929)

Directed by Pál Fejös [Other horror films: N/A]

I can’t remember much about the first time I watched this late silent movie. I know I watched it in October, and those are always busy months for me, so I likely forgot a lot of it just a couple of days after watching it. Seeing it again, I do think I’ll remember it better, but it’s not a movie I think is that great.

No doubt it’s okay. Conrad Veidt (The Hands of Orlac, Eerie Tales, The Student of Prague, Waxworks, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Man Who Laughs) is a staple of silent horror, and he does well here. Likewise, Mary Philbin (The Phantom of the Opera, The Man Who Laughs) is another recognizable face, though her character here isn’t great. Leslie Fenton (The House of Secrets) and Fred MacKaye were important to the story, but neither performance was a standout.

The story – a hypnotist and magician gets revenge on a woman who left him for another man – is pretty much what you’d expect from a movie of this era, and while the sword trick was fun, the ending here just didn’t do it for me. I guess it makes sense – Veidt’s character was a magician, and thus used to being a showman – but the repentance he displayed struck me as odd.

It should also be said that the version I watched was about an hour long. According to IMDb, there’s a version that’s an hour and 8 minutes long – what those extra eight minutes possess, I don’t know, and I also don’t know if the full version is available, but I am aware that what we’re seeing here isn’t the full story. That said, it all makes sense, which I can’t say for Genuine, so that’s at least good.

The Last Performance isn’t a bad movie, it’s just not something that I think will come to mind when it comes to silent horror. Of course, it may partially be due to the fact the horror here is somewhat light, but unlike The Mad Genius, it’s not difficult to see.

Overall, The Last Performance is okay, but nothing more, and when it comes to silent horror, definitely not memorable enough to really warrant a mention, in my view.

6.5/10