It's very hard, even for a German count, to be aristocratic throughout the entire day; that is to say, maintain without a blink a rigid pose as well as a haughty glance and accordingly, watch transcendent Teutonic silent pictures.
Having this in mind together with the fact that laughing is a capital sin for a genuine German count, one must allow for the fact that aristocratic flesh is weak and from time to time is prone to the sin of privately watching some of those superficial American comedies such as "Hands Up!" directed by Herr Clarence G. Badger in the silent year of 1926.
The film is set during the American civil war. Herr President Lincoln has problems for financing the war but pretty soon he will have excellent news regarding this: a gold mine in Nevada has been discovered so the longhaired North will have financial support in order to defeat the conservative South. Of course, Herr President Lincoln puts his best man in charge of such an important mission.
But meanwhile a Southern soldier ( Herr Raymond Griffith ) is sent to the West as a spy in order to retrieve the gold for the South ( this time the American East was forgotten for this picture
). It's not an easy mission for the Southern spy; he must face many difficulties, the most terrible being that two Northern sisters will fall in love with him.
"Hands Up!" was stars the not well-known American comedian, Herr Raymond Griffith, who was almost forgotten since the old silent days although recently his few surviving films are screened again for the joy of silent rarities admirers.
This Herr Graf can define Herr Griffith's style as an imitation of earlier famous silent comedians (especially Max Linder to whom he bears a physical resemblance as well). gobbling up all these in order to create a not very original character, although effective in comic terms.
In "Hands Up!" there are certainly many hilarious moments wherein Herr Griffith's character shines particularly, focusing every gag and the picture itself around his persona, a character that it seems extrapolated, inserted in a wrong context ( a top hat modernistic gentleman in the American civil war ) adding in this way a surreal, weird atmosphere to this silent comedy.
"Hands Up!" works pretty well for Herr Griffith even though his antics are somewhat predictable and not very original.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must look for gold in his mines of the Ruhr.
Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com
