If the name Raymond Griffith is familiar today only to historians and silent comedy completists, blame the fact that his reputation rests entirely on two surviving but rarely shown features: 'Paths To Paradise' (1925) and 'Hands Up!' (1926). Neither comedy can match the sublime heights of invention achieved by Keaton, Chaplin or Lloyd (or, in his brief prime, Harry Langdon), but Griffith was an engaging talent who, given time, could have developed into a master craftsman. The Civil War comedy 'Hands Up!' is more self-consciously offbeat than the earlier film, showing one direction Griffith might have pursued had his career been more successful. Again the playful impostor (a role he could have patented), Griffith plays a Confederate spy (dressed, incongruously, in top hat and tails) sent West to hijack a Union gold shipment. The film is a daring, if not always successful, departure from the conventional farce of 'Paths To Paradise' (with a curious romantic triangle involving twin sisters), but unfavorable (and unfair: the film is more a Western) comparisons to Buster Keaton's Civil War classic 'The General' have doomed it to obscurity. Griffith, and his films, deserve better.
10 Reviews
An entertaining silent comedy with the unfortunately almost forgotten Raymond Griffith
Paularoc19 June 2012
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.
A few good bits brighten up a routine whole
MissSimonetta19 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I might have had too much hype going into HANDS UP! I knew about the rather subversive closing gag going in and often heard this movie compared to Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL, but aside from both films being Civil War comedies from 1926, they're not much alike. Keaton's film actually has suspense and dramatic stakes to heighten the comedy while Griffith's feels more like a light two-reeler stretched out to feature-length, making it a bit laborious in the middle. However, it has its moments to be sure and Griffith plays a very a charming rogue who's perfectly fine with playing dirty in both love and war.
A Top Hat Modernistic Gentleman In The American Civil War
FerdinandVonGalitzien23 November 2012
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
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
Raymond Griffith is a lost comedic treasure
carver7 July 2000
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.
A neglected classic
cygnus5812 November 2001
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.
Funny at times, but by the end the film completely loses its way...and the audience.
planktonrules22 September 2014
"Injun Trouble" is a very difficult film to rate--so I'll skip a numerical rating for this one. This is because the ending to the film was missing--a common problem with old silent films. Because these movies were made on nitrate film stock, which tends to deteriorate quickly over time, many old films only exist in bits and pieces. So, having almost all of "Injun Trouble" is actually rather fortunate.
The film begins with a Confederate officer being given orders to go undercover as a spy. His task is to prevent the Union from gaining access to gold from their mines in Nevada. However, this plot soon vanishes and the film seems to meander terribly. First, the hero is inexplicably captured and allowed to escape by the Union troops and ultimately he is captured by a group of Indians--who he teaches how to dance in the final portion of the film.
While the film has some amusing moments, for the most part it's terribly unfunny and episodic. To make things worse, the Indians are total idiots--and ride their horses around the covered wagon repeatedly---allowing them to be easily shot. Overall, it's a film best suited for die-hard fans of silent comedies---all others would probably find the film a bit dull.
The film begins with a Confederate officer being given orders to go undercover as a spy. His task is to prevent the Union from gaining access to gold from their mines in Nevada. However, this plot soon vanishes and the film seems to meander terribly. First, the hero is inexplicably captured and allowed to escape by the Union troops and ultimately he is captured by a group of Indians--who he teaches how to dance in the final portion of the film.
While the film has some amusing moments, for the most part it's terribly unfunny and episodic. To make things worse, the Indians are total idiots--and ride their horses around the covered wagon repeatedly---allowing them to be easily shot. Overall, it's a film best suited for die-hard fans of silent comedies---all others would probably find the film a bit dull.
Deserves a hand
hte-trasme10 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
"Hands Up!" is the third feature I've seen starring Raymond Griffith, and it's reputed to be a lost classic that would be much better-known if it were not for its spotty availability and the fact that most of its lead's work as a starring comedian has been lost. After viewing I'd be inclined to agree with that. "Hands Up!" is hilarious and delightfully mischievous. There have also been a lot of comparisons with Buster Keaton's great feature "The General," but apart from the fact that they are both silent comedies set during the Civil War, are quite different animals.
The story here is that Griffith is a Confederate soldier who must cut off Union access to a gold mine, and in doing so he uses every unscrupulous trick in the book to extricate himself from the scrapes that come with his mission. He's not a good guy, but Griffith's enormous charisma and screen presence coupled with the ingenious quality of his plans have us rooting for him -- as in a way we wish we were him -- all the way. The movie is full of unlikely and implausible but not quiet impossible developments and gags -- in fact, it revels in them to the point where they become one of its biggest advantages.
In form, it is like a series of ingenious, semi-episodic sequences which nonetheless advance a clear story at a good pace. Griffith defeats a firing squad by tossing plates like a circus performer and painting the image of his back on the wall in one extended scene, escapes being killed by Indians by introducing the chief to dice and winning all his clothes in another, and manages to becomes engaged to both of the daughters of the mine owner -- all with wonderful comic timing and subtly of performance (I think a lot of his comedy works so well because he plays it with the same kind of plain excellent expressive acting that could have brought him equal success in drama).
Events like these pile on top of one another for a kind of triumphant whirlwind of of coincidence and double-crossing that is always surprising. One scene that's a highlight involves Griffith and the two daughters trying to catch a bee in their stagecoach -- which in a very cleverly choreographed routine keeps them from noticing they are being shot at by Indians' arrows.
And, of course, I think it's impossible not to love a film that ends with the hero deciding to move to Utah so he can marry both girls.
The story here is that Griffith is a Confederate soldier who must cut off Union access to a gold mine, and in doing so he uses every unscrupulous trick in the book to extricate himself from the scrapes that come with his mission. He's not a good guy, but Griffith's enormous charisma and screen presence coupled with the ingenious quality of his plans have us rooting for him -- as in a way we wish we were him -- all the way. The movie is full of unlikely and implausible but not quiet impossible developments and gags -- in fact, it revels in them to the point where they become one of its biggest advantages.
In form, it is like a series of ingenious, semi-episodic sequences which nonetheless advance a clear story at a good pace. Griffith defeats a firing squad by tossing plates like a circus performer and painting the image of his back on the wall in one extended scene, escapes being killed by Indians by introducing the chief to dice and winning all his clothes in another, and manages to becomes engaged to both of the daughters of the mine owner -- all with wonderful comic timing and subtly of performance (I think a lot of his comedy works so well because he plays it with the same kind of plain excellent expressive acting that could have brought him equal success in drama).
Events like these pile on top of one another for a kind of triumphant whirlwind of of coincidence and double-crossing that is always surprising. One scene that's a highlight involves Griffith and the two daughters trying to catch a bee in their stagecoach -- which in a very cleverly choreographed routine keeps them from noticing they are being shot at by Indians' arrows.
And, of course, I think it's impossible not to love a film that ends with the hero deciding to move to Utah so he can marry both girls.
A definite must-see!
JohnHowardReid11 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Very few silent films were regarded as cult movies in the 1950s and 1960s-for the very simple reason that most were unavailable. But Hands Up! definitely and deservedly had an honored place in that short list, along with Battleship Potemkin, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, The Covered Wagon, The Lost World, Ella Cinders, Easy Street, The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance, Metropolis and Are Parents People?
Then as now, movie cultists were mostly made up of college students and university people. So what was the appeal of this particular movie? It not only attacks conventions but sets them on their head. These conventions are political and social as well as simply the tried-and-true canons of Hollywood movie-making. Thus, the comedian does not wear shabby, eccentric or ill-fitting clothes, but in point of fact is dressed to the nines (which tends to make him even more conspicuous). He has no facial tics or peculiarities, but is quite handsome. He pokes no faces, affects no weird walk, utilizes no stooges and uses no props. As he shakes hands with General Lee on the battlefield, we see war neither as heroic nor damnable, but as an utter folly. And when he is torn between two heroines he takes his cue from Brigham Young! He's not dumb or stupid, but slides out of perilous situations ingeniously.
Then as now, movie cultists were mostly made up of college students and university people. So what was the appeal of this particular movie? It not only attacks conventions but sets them on their head. These conventions are political and social as well as simply the tried-and-true canons of Hollywood movie-making. Thus, the comedian does not wear shabby, eccentric or ill-fitting clothes, but in point of fact is dressed to the nines (which tends to make him even more conspicuous). He has no facial tics or peculiarities, but is quite handsome. He pokes no faces, affects no weird walk, utilizes no stooges and uses no props. As he shakes hands with General Lee on the battlefield, we see war neither as heroic nor damnable, but as an utter folly. And when he is torn between two heroines he takes his cue from Brigham Young! He's not dumb or stupid, but slides out of perilous situations ingeniously.
Griffith long and short
kekseksa30 May 2017
There appear to be two versions of this film, a full 70-minute version and a half-hour short entitled Injun Trouble. The latter does also seem to have been released as I have seen contemporary reviews which appear to be discussing the short version. It also appears to be the version by the sole unfavourable reviewer here.
An unidentified Raymond Griffith short, A King for a Day (Eén dag koning) appears in the Dutch EYE collection. It is a story of a king and his lookalike in an imaginary kingdom and, although EYE dates it as 1920, it seems to be more likely that it appeared in 1922, when there was a whole spate of pseudo-parodies following the success of Metro's Prisoner of Zenda (others are the Christie comedy Choose Your Weapons and Semon's A Pair of Kings). There were later parodies, Laurel's Rupert of Heehaw (following Selznick's release of the sequel to Prisoner of Zenda, Rupert of Hentzau, in 1923) and Langdon's Soldier Man 1926 (which also contains a neat clin d'oeil towards the 1926 Barrymore film The Sea Beast) but none that I know of before 1922. The film is very similar in plot to Semon's A Pair of Kings and is a rather mediocre slapstick comedy, although there is evidently missing footage. The production company is unknown.
An unidentified Raymond Griffith short, A King for a Day (Eén dag koning) appears in the Dutch EYE collection. It is a story of a king and his lookalike in an imaginary kingdom and, although EYE dates it as 1920, it seems to be more likely that it appeared in 1922, when there was a whole spate of pseudo-parodies following the success of Metro's Prisoner of Zenda (others are the Christie comedy Choose Your Weapons and Semon's A Pair of Kings). There were later parodies, Laurel's Rupert of Heehaw (following Selznick's release of the sequel to Prisoner of Zenda, Rupert of Hentzau, in 1923) and Langdon's Soldier Man 1926 (which also contains a neat clin d'oeil towards the 1926 Barrymore film The Sea Beast) but none that I know of before 1922. The film is very similar in plot to Semon's A Pair of Kings and is a rather mediocre slapstick comedy, although there is evidently missing footage. The production company is unknown.
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