The Last Moment

"The Last Moment" is a 1928 silent experimental film conceived and directed by Paul Fejos. The film starred Otto Matieson and Georgia Hale.

"The Last Moment" focused on a man who 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 stowaway on an ocean freighter, his unsuccessful attempts to become an actor, and his two tumultuous attempts at married life flash are relived. The film end 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. ISBN:1-56025-232-4]

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 its use of double- and triple-exposures and expressionistic editing gave it an avant-garde style that was not common for commercial releases of that period. Charles Chaplin saw the film in a private screening and arranged for it to be theatrically released by United Artists.Thompson, Frank. “Lost Films.” Pages 163-164. Citadel Press. ISBN:0-8065-1604-6]

"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.” Mourdant Hall, writing in "The New York Times", stated the film displayed “a wonderful aptitude for true cinematic ideas” and “an enviable fund of imagination.”

No print of "The Last Moment" is known to exist in any archive or private collection, and it is considered a lost film.

References

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019072/ "The Last Moment" in the Internet Movie Database]