Meyer from Berlin: Ernst Lubitsch

Ignoring its rampant antisemitism, Ernst Lubitsch's Meyer from Berlin is not a very good film. It is, in a word, quaint. Much of the humor is dry and depends on dialogue and not body language. One of the main reasons why the silent comedies of Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd are still so fresh and entertaining almost 100 years later is that physical comedy is universal. But Meyer from Berlin relies too much on what the characters are saying instead of what they are doing. For silent cinema, that is a death knell. The film itself follows a Jewish Berliner named Sally Meyer (played by director Lubitsch) who fakes an illness to his wife so he can be "prescribed" a trip to the Alps "for his health." While there, Sally immediately starts to romantically pursue a young woman. Their courtship climaxes with a nearly disastrous climb to the top of Mount Watzmann. Visually, the film is plain and unimpressive. Unlike some of his other silent films, Meyer from Berlin merely looks like a movie serial that managed to snag a half-way decent shooting location in the Bavarian Alps.

5/10