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He was responsible for writing exceptional pictures such as "The Last Laughter" and "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans", both produced in collaboration with legendary Director F.W. Murnau. Their partnership is widely regarded by critics as one of the key Writer/Director partnerships in the History of the Moving Image.

When the director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau went to the USA with the script of Carl Mayer to "Sunrise" (27) in his pocket, the movie became a big hit in the USA as well and Carl Mayer's popularity increased again.

Paul Rotha, friend of Mayer's London years, who described him thus: "An autumn leaf floating on a soft wind; always a smile in those eyes. That was the image of Carl which I carried with me when not in his company, and that is the image I have today -- nearly thirty-six years after his death. He never wore a hat to cover his mass of luxurious hair. Sometimes he resembled Beethoven. His clothing was always nondescript. You could never hear him walk. He would just appear, with the same smiling greeting, "Hallo, Paul!"".

The screenwriter Carl Mayer had a difficult start into the life of an adult. When his father committed suicide after bad speculations Carl Mayer had to support the livelihood of his family with occasional jobs. Some of these jobs led him to the stage where he first was active as an extra and later also as an actor at small theaters. There he was also a dramatic adviser.

Carl Mayer wrote his first screenplay for "Die Frau im Käfig" (1919) and shortly afterwards he had a big hit with his screenplay for "Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari" (1920) which he wrote together with Hans Janowitz.