Silent Film of the Month: Finances of the Grand Duke (1924)

 

Run Time: 80 minutes. Studio: UFA. Director: F.W. Murnau. Writer: Thea Van Harbou. Adapted from a novel by Frank Heller. Producer: Erich Pommer. Main Cast: Mady Christians, Harry Liedtke, Robert Scholtz, Alfred Abel.

F.W. Murnau has become probably the most popular German film maker of the silent era, and with good reason. His films such as Nosfertu, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, Faust and The Last Laugh have been praised as some of the greatest masterpieces of the German cinema. Fans of these great films though might be surprised to see The Finances of the Grand Duke. The reason for this is that it is a film that is very different from what Murnau is usually associated with. Unlike the horrifying Nosfertu or the unmatched beauty of Sunrise, this film is a rather unassuming little lighthearted comedy, and it successes very well at being just that. This is in fact F.W. Marnau's only comedy.

Besides F.W. Murnau, another name that might be familier to fans of classic German cinema is this films writer Thea Van Harbou. Thea Van Harbou was the wife of the great German director Fritz Lang, and wrote many of Lang's German films, including his two most popular Metropolis and M. Finances of the Grand Duke is one of the only two films Harbou wrote for Murnau, the other was the 1922 film Phantom. The two cinematographers on this film also have a very impressive body of work. Karl Freund would later be the cinematographer for Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Tod Browning's Dracula, John Huston's Key Largo and every episode of I Love Lucy. He also worked with Murnau on The Last Laugh and Tartuffe. The other cinematographer for this film was Franz Planner. Franz Planner would later work on such films as The Cain Mutiny, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Disney's version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  

The story begins with the grand duke (played by Harry Liedtke), a benevolent dictator (?) being in great debt. Because of this he plans to marry Princess Olga (played by Mady Christians), who offers to marry him through a letter, despite having never meet him. A letter about this engagement has been stolen. On top of this many greedy men opposed to the Grand Duke conspire against him. Both the grand duke and Princess Olga have to save the country Abacco from greedy men who want to exploit the country for their own gain.

Overall while Finances of the Grand Duke isn't the masterpiece Nosfertu or Sunrise are, it is a very entertaining movie. It has very likable characters, the humor while not constantly hilarious can quite funny at times, the story is fun, and the film looks great visually. Interestingly this film was made the same year as The Last Laugh. The Last Laugh would be a film completely without intertitles. However in Finances of the Grand Duke too many intertitles is the film's biggest fault. This film seems very much in the style of a classic movie serial and is just as fun. In a visual sense this film is very much a Murnau film. The cinematography and sets are as beautiful as you would expect from a Murnau film It is sad this film is so overlooked because it remains a very enjoyable movie, and should get more attention from silent film fans.

This film has gained a following in recent years for a few reasons one that it is so different from a regular F.W. Murnau film, making it very fascinating peek into a different side of one of Germany's greatest filmmakers. It also shows Max Shreck out of his Count Orlok makeup from Nosfertu. This is also the reason that it is a darn good film.

-Michael J. Ruhland

Recourses Used
Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide by Leonard Maltin
connormartinsmith.blogspot.com/2010/01/finances-of-grand-duke.html
seul-le-cinema.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-finances-of-grand-duke.html
imdb.com/title/tt0014900/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
DVD Audio Commentary by David Kalat