''The Grand Duke's Finances'' () is a 1924 silent German

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

F. W. Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An e ...

Plot

The Grand Duke of Abacco is heir to a small and heavily indebted Mediterranean island. The Grand Duke is trying to hide from the usurious money lender, Marcowitz, who demands debt repayment. One hope to improve the situation would be a marriage to the Russian Grand Duchess Olga, who sent him a letter saying she is determined to marry him despite not knowing him, and against the opposition of her brother, the Crown Prince of Russia. Businessman Bekker offers a substantial sum of money to exploit a sulphur mine but the Grand Duke is worried it would have negative effects on his subjects. Bekker joins with local conspirators to organise a revolution against the Grand Duke. In addition, the letter from Grand Duchess Olga is fraudulently obtained by Marcowitz. Thief-detective Phillip Collin, passing as Professor Pelotard, tries to retrieve from Markowitz incriminating letters written by Congressman Isaac. In the process, he also finds the letter from Grand Duchess Olga and replaces it with a fake. Collin asks Isaac for a 50,000 pound loan as his fee, and tells him that he will use it to speculate on Abacco's debt. The Grand Duke decides to go secretly to the continent to retrieve Olga's letter. Meanwhile, Phillip Collin meets an unknown woman in a café, who asks him to help her hide from her pursuers. He willingly obliges, and soon finds out that she is Grand Duchess Olga and that her pursuer is her brother. The newspapers report on the speculation on Abacco's bonds, on the outbreak of a revolution in Abacco and on the disappearance of the Grand Duke. All regular voyages to Abacco are interrupted but Olga, who now passes as Collins' wife, manages to charter a ship to take her to Abacco island. She agrees to take along the Grand Duke, whom she has not recognised, and who introduced himself as a supporter of the Grand Duke. Marcowitz boards the Russian Crown Prince's warship and convinces him to go to Abacco by showing him his sister's (fake) letter. Once Abacco, and after a brief skirmish, the Grand Duke and Collin overcome the self-proclaimed president of the island nation and his accomplices. However further revolutionaries overpower the Grand Duke and start preparing for his hanging. Olga now understands who the Grand Duke truly is, and wants save him by paying off the revolutionaries. This plan is without success. At that moment, the Russian Crown Prince takes control of the situation with his navy. Unfortunately, the Prince is inclined to have the Grand Duke hanged, for having sold his sister's letter. However Olga dismisses the letter as clumsy forgery. Collin gives back the authentic letter to the Grand Duke which allows him to refute the accusation. The Crown Prince orders an immediate marriage and Collin celebrates the success of his speculation on Abacco's debt.Review, synopsis and link to watch the film:

Cast

In alphabetical order *

Alfred Abel Alfred Peter Abel (12 March 1879 – 12 December 1937) was a German film actor, director, and producer. He appeared in more than 140 silent and sound films between 1913 and 1938. His best-known performance was as Joh Fredersen in Fritz Lang' ...

as Philipp Collins *

Mady Christians Marguerita Maria Christians (January 19, 1892 – October 28, 1951), known as Mady Christians, was an Austrian-born German-American actress who had a successful acting career in theatre and film in the United States until she was blacklisted dur ...

as Großfürstin Olga von Rußland *

Adolphe Engers Adolphe Engers (1884–1945) was a Dutch writer and actor on stage and in the movies, who appeared in more than fifty films during his career, a number of them in Weimar Germany. Biography Before his career in film, he was an actor on the stage a ...

as Don Esteban Paqueno *

Julius Falkenstein Julius Falkenstein (25 February 1879 – 9 December 1933) was a German stage and film actor of the silent era. He appeared in more than 180 films between 1914 and 1933. Falkenstein was Jewish, but secured a special permit to continue making ...

as Ernst Isaacs *

Ilka Grüning Ilka Grüning (born Ilka Henriette Grünzweig; 4 September 1876 – 11 November 1964) was an Austrian-Hungarian actress. Born in Vienna in the old Austrian-Hungarian Empire, she was one of many Jewish actors and actresses that were forced to fl ...

as Augustine, die Köchin *

Guido Herzfeld Guido Herzfeld (born Guido Kornfeld; 14 August 1851 – 16 November 1923) was a German stage and film actor. Herzfeld established himself in the theatre in the nineteenth century. In 1914 he made his film debut and went on to appear in over sixty ...

as Markowitz, ein Wucherer * Georg August Koch as Der gefährliche Verschwörer *

Harry Liedtke Harry Liedtke (12 October 1882 – 28 April 1945) was a German film actor. Early life Liedtke was born in Königsberg, East Prussia as the seventh out of 12 children of a merchant. After his father's death in 1896, he grew up in an orphanage and ...

as Don Roman XX, Großherzog von Abacco *

Walter Rilla Walter Rilla (22 August 1894 – 21 November 1980) was a German film actor of Jewish descent. Siegbert Salomon Prawer, ''Between Two Worlds: The Jewish Presence in German and Austrian Film, 1910-1933'', Berghahn Books (2007), pg. 213 He app ...

as Luis Hernandez *

Hans Hermann Schaufuss Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjab ...

as Der bucklige Verschwörer * Robert Scholtz as Bruder der Großfürstin *

Max Schreck Friedrich Gustav Maximilian Schreck Eickhoff, Stefan. 2007 (6 September 1879 – 20 February 1936), Walk, Ines. 2006. known professionally as Max Schreck, was a German actor, best known for his lead role as the vampire Count Orlok in the film ...

as Der unheimliche Verschwörer *

Hermann Vallentin Hermann Vallentin (24 May 1872 – 18 September 1945) was a German actor. Biography Hermann Vallentin was born in Berlin in 1872. He was the son of a Jewish timber merchant and factory owner, Felix Vallentin. He was the older brother of actress ...

as Herr Binzer * Balthasar von Campenhausen as Adjutant

Production and release

The film is based on the novel of the same name by Swedish author

Frank Heller Frank Heller was the pen name of the Swedish writer Gunnar Serner (20 July 1886 - 14 October 1947), (aged 61). He wrote novels and short adventure stories in the genres crime fiction and science fiction. His most well-known tales involve shady bus ...

, and adapted for film by

Thea von Harbou Thea Gabriele von Harbou (27 December 1888 – 1 July 1954) was a German screenwriter, novelist, film director, and actress. She is remembered as the screenwriter of the science fiction film classic ''Metropolis'' (1927) and for the 192 ...

. It was shot from May to August 1923 at UFA's

Tempelhof Studios The Tempelhof Studios are a film studio located in Tempelhof in the German capital of Berlin. They were founded in 1912, during the silent era, by German film pioneer Alfred Duskes, who built a glass-roofed studio on the site with financial back ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, on the sets built by

Rochus Gliese Rochus Gliese (6 January 1891 — 22 December 1978) was a German actor, director, production designer, and Academy Award-nominated art director of early films from the 1910s and 1920s. He was born in Berlin. He is most remembered in the Uni ...

and

Erich Czerwonski Erich Czerwonski (1889–1940) was a German art director.Kreimeier p.73 He designed the sets for around a hundred productions during his career. He died in 1940 after being struck by a train during a blackout. Filmography * '' The Black Panther ...

. The on-location scenes were shot on the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

coast in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

Kotor Kotor (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian language, Italian: ), is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has ...

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

and

Rab Rab may refer to: Places * Rab (island), an island in Croatia * Rab (town), on the island of Rab * Ráb, the Slovak name of Győr, a city in Hungary * Rąb, a village in Poland People * Rab (surname), includes a list of people with the n ...

. The film premièred in Berlin on 7 January 1924 at the

Ufa-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the City West, New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in German ...

. It is the only comedy directed by F. W. Murnau.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grand Dukes Finances, The 1924 films 1924 comedy films Silent German comedy films Films of the Weimar Republic German silent feature films Films directed by F. W. Murnau Films with screenplays by Thea von Harbou German black-and-white films Films based on Swedish novels Films set in Europe Films set in the Mediterranean Sea Films set on islands Films produced by Erich Pommer Films with screenplays by Fritz Wendhausen UFA GmbH films Films shot at Tempelhof Studios 1920s German-language films 1920s German films Films based on works by Frank Heller