- The likeable and carefree Grand Duke of Abacco is in dire straits. There is no money left to service the State's debt; the main creditor is looking forward to expropriating the entire Duchy. The marriage with Olga, Grand Duchess of Russia, would solve everything, but a crucial letter of hers about the engagement has been stolen. Besides, a bunch of revolutionaries and a dubious businessman have other plans regarding the Grand Duke. With the intrusion of adventurer Philipp Collins into the Grand Duke's affairs, a series of frantic chases, plots and counter-plots begins...—Eduardo Casais <eduardo.casais@nokia.com>
- The Grand Duchy of Abacco, located on a small island, is hopelessly in debt, so the entire duchy is pawned to the pawnbroker Marcowitz. When it's time to call in the money to pay off the debt, the Grand Duke just passes the time by throwing bills from his garden at children playing in the water. The only hope of improving his financial situation would be to marry the Russian Grand Duchess Olga, but his brother opposes the marriage. In this situation, businessman Bekker appears and wants to buy part of the Grand Duke's land to extract sulfur. Much to the chagrin of his finance minister, the Grand Duke refuses, not wanting to see his subjects toiling in a sulfur mine. A letter from Grand Duchess Olga unexpectedly reaches the Grand Duke. In it, she declares that she really wants to become Grand Duchess of Abacco - even though they've never met - because she was impressed by the Grand Duke's self-sacrificing behavior in saving shipwrecked men. She promises to put the Grand Duke's finances in order. Meanwhile, Herr Bekker, rejected, incites a few scoundrels to a revolution against the Grand Duke. Meanwhile, adventurer Phillip Collin meets promising parliamentarian Mr. Isaaks and learns from him that his love letters to a beautiful woman are in the hands of blackmailer Marcowitz. Collin offers to help. The Grand Duke must also have learned from his finance minister that he had secretly brought the Grand Duchess's letter to Marcowitz in order to obtain a grace period to repay the debt, and that Marcowitz simply kept the letter. Collin uses a trick to lure Marcowitz out of the house, mounts and steals Isaac's letters and the Grand Duchess's letter, which he discovered by chance, leaving a quickly made copy at Marcowitz's house. In return for the love letters, Collin asks Isaac for a loan of £50,000, and the Grand Duke and his Minister of Finance secretly travel to the continent in search of Grand Duchess Olga. As they leave, news arrives of Abacco's purchase of 80% of the national debt, much to the Grand Duke's amusement. As he sits in a street cafe, happy with his coup, Phillip Collin rushes over to a stranger who has just escaped persecution. He takes care of them and helps them hide and camouflage themselves from their pursuers. Collin discovers the next day that the woman is a wealthy noblewoman. In addition to 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 preoccupied with the developments, the Grand Duke is amused by the news, as he imagines the shocked Marcowitz rushing to the continent to at least blackmail his letter to earn some money. Olga, Collins, the Grand Duke and his finance minister have met under false identities at the hotel and are traveling together on a boat to Abacco. Marcowitz no longer reaches the ship with the Grand Duke and returns to the place on the island with that of the Grand Duke of Russia, where he gained access 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 fill his pockets with coins, overpowering him and the conspirators who rush in. Herr 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 traveling companion is the beloved Grand Duke. She wants to buy him free from the revolutionaries.Then his brother appears and wants the Grand Duke hanged because he pawned his sister's love letter. However, Olga describes Marcowitz's letter 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 Russian Grand Duke now orders the immediate marriage, and Collin toasts his successful coup.
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