F.W. Murnau tried to achieve almost the impossible with this film and on the whole succeeded :  the titleless silent movie a film which would display its meaning visually with no need for explanation, he gets by the title embargo by having words in letters etc. The cinematography is extraordinarily fluid from the opening shot like coming down in the lift to the hotel lobby. Emil Jannings conveys great emotion as the porter demoted to washroom attendant who clings to his uniform, only the final sequence forced on the director by the studio seems false introduced by a title which is also superfluous.       

For the opening shot cameraman Karl Freund took a camera strapped to his chest and rode across the hotel lobby on a bicycle.

This film greatly impressed critics and studio heads in the US, particularly William Fox who was to sign Murnau to make a Hollywood film.

DVD available from Kino Home Video  :
http://www.amazon.com/