Superb! I loved it. The cinematography was spectacular for that time, although I shouldn't be surprised since it is German. The story was a little difficult to believe since the surroundings the characters lived in suggested they all had rather menial or blue-collar jobs. This makes the embarrassment and humiliation of his family a little hard to understand. Still, I was taken in by it and loved every minute. I also like that the inter-title before the ending hinted at the fact that the author/director was ambivalent about how to end it, i.e., on a sad, down note - which might actually be more in keeping with reality - or on a happy note - which more people would like to see. Obviously he chose the happy ending which probably helped sell more tickets.

I was less convinced by this than those who claim "masterpiece" - it was, of course, an exceptional film for its time, with some clever camera work and beautiful art direction (including a wonderful shot of the enormously tall revolving doors in the Porter's dream), but Emil Jannings performance is so tiresomely melodramatic, endlessly staring with horror into the middle distance, it's a permanent distraction and more than evidence enough that the old dodderer needed to be replaced as quickly as possible (he miraculously straightens up and moves like lightening though when he has to sneak his uniform out of the hotel though). For such a simple story it makes very little sense; as greenhorg pointed out - one menial job is just the same as another to people who actually have no job, fancy uniform or no, and makes his family throwing him out of his own home for the shame of working as a toilet attendant as unlikely as the tacked on "dream" ending. Personally I didn't think it a patch on Murnau's other famous silent, supernatural classics - Nosferatu and Faust.

When I saw it, I was pleased - but not convinced.
When I woke up the following day, it hit me how great it is.
I actually think, that the "forced" ending works great - only because of the inter-title describing it. It says a lot about the art of making movies, and how Murnau and every other great artist had and have to deal with the public perception.