Raymond s'en va-t-en guerre

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

With all the work of the major silent comedians so readily available, it's easy to forget about the other, less-known clowns whose work isn't as easy to find. Raymond Griffith falls under this category, because so much of his work is lost, and what does survive isn't that easy to see.

What struck me immediately was the endless parade of sight gags in the film. The opening scene with Abraham Lincoln meeting with his cabinet set up a serious tone that is delightfully contrasted in the very next scene, when Ray Griffith rides up to visit General Lee. The sight gags begin immediately, and in this scene reminded me of similar battlefield gags in DUCK SOUP (shells flying through the window, etc). Thankfully, the rest of the film kept up the ingenuity and clever gags found in this scene. Griffith himself is a very fun performer to watch. His characterization of the unruffled gentleman in the silk hat played very well against the overall zaniness of the film. I would really enjoy seeing more of his work. Mack Swain, always great, turned in a memorable supporting appearance here.

The length of the film is perfect for a comedy. It's one thing that pre-WWII comedies had as a major advantage-that they could end after 60 or 70 minutes and not have to hang on a lot of exposition and plot wrap-up for the mandatory 90 minute-plus running time of today.

Many years ago at a film festival, I saw a beautiful print of Paths to Paradise and recall laughing uproariously. . This film – not so much. Of course seeing an excellent print of a film on a big screen and with an audience is quite a different experience from seeing a poorer quality print on a small television set with no audience. So I should probably make a certain allowance when evaluating Hands Up! Griffith plays a likable rogue type who is a spy for the confederacy trying to hijack a wagon load of gold. This gold could give the South the winning edge in the Civil War. A number of the comedy routines are brilliant - most notably the firing squad scene and the bumblebee in the coach scene But the story line between the comedy routines was slow going – his romance with the two sisters was numbing, although it did lead to an unexpected and amusing ending. His trademark top hat was used effectively throughout the movie especially in the mine scene. A little crisp editing in some of scenes could have helped the movie. That said, Griffith did have a flair and manner about him that was quite engaging. We are just lucky to have this film at all; it's a shame that so little of Griffith's work remains.

I thoroughly recommend this 70 minute feature which showcases Raymond Griffith as a Southern spy attempting to thwart a gold shipment to the North from Nevada. His style of acting is quite sophisticated, reminding me of an American Max Linder. He plays comedy and pathos with delicious layers of understatement followed by bravado. He is truly a forgotten actor in the great tradition of American comedy. How fun it would have been to have seen him in a Lubitsch film.

There are movie buffs who believe that Raymond Griffith belongs in the same class of silent comics as Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, and from what little I've seen, I'd say they have an argument. "Hands Up" is a delightful feature, enjoyable from beginning to end, with the dapper, dandified Griffith as a clever and enthusiastic Confederate spy. There are some brilliant gags, including one with a firing squad and another where he teaches hostile Indians to dance the Charleston (OK, so it's anachronistic-- who cares?), and the final gag is brilliant. Griffith is thoroughly ingratiating; it's a pity that so many of his movies have disappeared and the survivors are so seldom revived. It's interesting, by the way, that both Griffith and Keaton made a comedy about the Civil War in the same year-- and that both of them portrayed Southerners. "Hands Up" isn't quite as good as Keaton's "The General," but that certainly isn't an insult. This is one buried treasure that deserves a wider audience.