The Last Laugh (1924)

Rewatching Nosferatu over the weekend reminded me of this other favorite Murnau silent, which is historically notable for (among other things) its almost total lack of intertitles and innovative use of camera movement and other techniques to reflect the doorman’s emotional state. The plot sounds like nothing—the Wikipedia page notes that one summary was “a nameless hotel doorman loses his job”—but like Bicycle Thieves, the opening is another masterclass in taking something ordinary (here the doorman’s uniform) and imbuing it with enough meaning and importance that the scene where it’s taken off of him is genuinely crushing.

(If you have a public library card, it may be available on Kanopy, and it's also on YouTube, among other places.)