The Way of All Flesh is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Victor Fleming, written by Lajos Bíró, Jules Furthman, and Julian Johnson from a story by Perley Poore Sheehan.

[2][3] In the story, which opens in the early 1900s, Jannings plays August Schiller, a bank clerk in Milwaukee who is happy with both his job and his family.

Following other scenes in a Christmas snowstorm, Schiller makes his way to his former home, where he sees that the son whom he had taught to play violin is now a successful musician.

Only two fragments survive, both from the ending, making Jannings' the only Academy Award-winning performance with no known complete copy of the film preserved.

[citation needed] The movie was remade in 1940 by Paramount Pictures and starred Akim Tamiroff, Gladys George, and William Henry.