'The Last Laugh'

Unlike Billy Budd, our hero, the doorman, in The Last Laugh receives a reprieve in life.

Budd found his fate on the gallows. The doorman was on the brink of wasting away into old age until "the author took pity on him" and made it that the doorman received a hefty inheritance and lived high on the hog for his entire life.

I mean, the actual director (F.W. Murnau) references to himself and the screenwriter in the film. As if, if it were any other character, they would not have had any pity for them. Like Genghis Khan or Stalin.

But the doorman was likable and loving. He was kind and sharing. He deserved pity. I wonder what Murnau would have done for Budd. Maybe he forgoes the execution and ends up getting his own ship. Or a pirate's chest full of gold.

I'm just happy someone in films or books are in for a happy ending.