The Grand Duke's Finances (1924)

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Movie
Original title The Grand Duke's finances
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1924
length 77 minutes
Rod
Director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau
script Thea of ​​Harbou
production Erich Pommer for Ufa
camera Franz Planer , Karl Freund
occupation

The Finances of the Grand Duke is a German comedy film by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau from 1924. It is based on the novel The Finances of the Grand Duke ( Storhertigens Finanser ) by Frank Heller .

action

The hopelessly indebted Grand Duchy of Abacco lies on a small island. The entire duchy is pledged to the moneylender Marcowitz. When the latter comes to the reminder to repay the debt, the Grand Duke is passing the time by throwing banknotes to some children playing in the water from his garden. The only hope of improving the financial situation would be a wedding with the Russian Grand Duchess Olga, but her brother objects to a marriage with the impoverished Grand Duke. In this situation, the businessman Bekker appears and wants to buy part of his land from the Grand Duke in order to extract sulfur there. To the horror of his finance minister, the Grand Duke refuses because he does not want to see his subjects toil in a sulfur mine.

Unexpectedly, a letter from Grand Duchess Olga reaches the Grand Duke. In it she announced that she absolutely wanted to become Grand Duchess of Abacco - although they had never seen each other - because she was impressed by the self-sacrificing behavior of the Grand Duke in rescuing some castaways. She promises to put the Grand Duke's finances back in order. The rejected Herr Bekker meanwhile incites a couple of good-for-nothing to revolution against the Grand Duke.

The adventurer Phillip Collin meets the budding parliamentarian Mr. Isaaks and learns from him that his love letters to a beautiful woman are in the hands of the blackmailer Marcowitz. Collin offers to help. The Grand Duke, too, has to find out from his finance minister that he secretly went to Marcowitz with the Grand Duchess's letter in order to obtain a reprieve for school repayment, and that Marcowitz simply kept the letter. Collin lures Marcowitz out of the house with a trick, gets in and steals Isaac's letters and the letter from the Grand Duchess, which he accidentally discovered, of which he leaves a quickly made copy with Marcowitz. As a reward for the love letters, Collin asks Isaak to borrow 50,000 pounds in order to buy as much as possible of Abacco's worthless government bonds and land a coup on the stock exchange.

The Grand Duke and his finance minister secretly make their way to the mainland to look for the Grand Duchess Olga. On their departure, the news of the purchase of 80 percent of Abacco's national debt arrives, which the Grand Duke is extremely amused. When he is sitting in a sidewalk café and is happy about his coup, Phillip Collin runs up to a stranger who has just escaped chase. He takes care of them and helps with hiding and camouflage from their pursuers. The next day, Collin discovers that the woman is a wealthy noblewoman.

In addition to the stock market news, the newspapers of the day also report the outbreak of a revolution in Abacco and the mysterious disappearance of the Grand Duke. While everyone is worried about the development, the news amuses the Grand Duke, as he imagines how the shocked Marcowitz will now rush to the mainland in order to at least get money with his letter through extortion. Olga, Collins, the Grand Duke and his finance minister met under a false identity in the hotel and are traveling together on a ship to Abacco. Marcowitz can no longer reach the ship with the Grand Duke and instead goes back to the island with that of the Grand Duke of Russia, where he has gained access there with the alleged letter from Grand Duchess Olga.

Back at the castle, the Grand Duke and Collin surprise the self-proclaimed president as he is about to stuff his pockets with a few coins and overwhelm him and the conspirators who hurry up. Mr. Bekker can still prevent the defeat of the revolution by defeating the Grand Duke. The conspirators prepare to hang the Grand Duke. Olga joins them and now learns that her travel companion is the beloved Grand Duke. She wants to buy him out of the revolutionaries. Then her brother appears and wants the Grand Duke to be hanged, because he has pledged his sister's love letter. The letter from Marcowitz is described by Olga as a clumsy forgery and Collin secretly slips the original to the Grand Duke, with which he can refute the Grand Duke's accusation. The Grand Duke of Russia now orders the immediate marriage and Collin toasts his successful coup.

background

Based on the novel by Swedish author Frank Heller , the film was shot from May to August 1923. Rochus Gliese and Erich Czerwonski were responsible for the buildings . Shooting location were the Messter -Ateliers Berlin-Tempelhof and the Ufa studios Neubabelsberg , today's Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam . The outdoor shots took place on the Adriatic in Spalato , Cattaro , Zara , on the island of Arbe and on the outdoor areas of the Ufa studios in Neubabelsberg, where u. a. the castle was built as a large external backdrop. The Grand Duke's Finances premiered on January 7, 1924 in Berlin's Ufa-Palast am Zoo . It is the only comedy among the works of the director Murnau.

criticism

Film-Dienst : "Murnau's only comedy may not have turned out too masterfully, but it is still shaped by his flair for comedic timing."

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ Hans-Michael Bock and Michael Töteberg: "The Ufa Book - Art and Crises, Stars and Directors, Economy and Politics (The International History of Germany's Largest Film Group)" . Verlag Zweausendeins, Frankfurt am Main 1992, p. 120.
  2. ^ The Finances of the Grand Duke (1924) at kabeleins.de