''The Last Moment'' is a 1928 American drama film conceived and directed by
Paul Fejos. The film starred
Otto Matieson
Otto Matieson (27 March 1893 – 19 February 1932) was a Danish actor of the silent era. He appeared in 45 films between 1920 and 1931. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and died in a car accident in Safford, Arizona.
Filmography
* '' ...
and
Georgia Hale.
Fejos made ''The Last Moment'' on a budget of US$13,000. The film told its story without intertitles, which was very unusual for a silent film, and used double- and triple-exposures and expressionistic editing, giving it a style that was not common for commercial releases of that period.
Charlie Chaplin saw the film in a private screening and arranged for it to be theatrically released by
United Artists
United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stud ...
.
No print of ''The Last Moment'' is known to exist in any archive or private collection, and it is considered a
lost film
A lost film is a feature
Feature may refer to:
Computing
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* Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob
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.
[
]
Plot
A man drowns himself in lake. As he is dying, he recalls the crucial moments of his life and the incidents that led to his final, fatal decision. His unhappy childhood, his tumultuous decision to leave home and stow away on an ocean freighter, his unsuccessful attempts to become an actor, and his two tumultuous attempts at married life are relived. The film ends with the man walking towards the lake and wading deeper and deeper into its waters until he is no longer visible from the shore.[Merritt, Greg. “Celluloid Mavericks.” Pages 53-54.Thunder’s Mouth Press. ]
Reception
''The Last Moment'' received supportive reviews. Welford Beaton, writing in the ''Film Spectator'', announced: “Introducing to you Mr. Paul Fejos, Genius.” Beaton added Fejos’ film was “one of the most outstanding works of cinematic art that was ever brought to the screen.” Mordaunt Hall
Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.[The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...]
'', stated the film displayed “a wonderful aptitude for true cinematic ideas” and “an enviable fund of imagination.”
See also
* List of lost films
References
External links
*
*
1928 films
American silent feature films
American black-and-white films
Films directed by Paul Fejos
Lost American drama films
Silent American drama films
1928 drama films
1928 lost films
1920s American films
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