It is an age of speed in Amerika ( a strange habit for that far away Country, indeed
in Europe the German aristocrats only drink tea
) and for that reason two motor cops are after Mary Ellen; Dame Mary, fleeing from the police, is helped by Jim Joyce who runs a garage with old Abner Hope. Because the silent cinema is a small world, Herr Abner Hope is Mary's grandfather, and he had received just a few seconds ago a letter from his granddaughter telling him she was about to pay a visit to him. When finally Mary is rid of the police, it's time for her to fall in love with Jim, a youngster with a special dream: a dream of harnessing the vast power of Rainbow Falls
but unfortunately that young engineer can't get any financing to make true his engineering dream, in spite of his trying so very hard with Curt Horndyke, the town banker
but that's not all about these two special partners, because Mary's grandpa has an astronomical observatory ( an ordinary habit for a middle-western Amerikan automobile repairman
), and thanks to this hobby and years of study, old Abner Hope predicts that the earth is being drawn out of its course and in eighteen months and three days it will collide with the moon and be destroyed! So there is no hope because of Abner Hope...
"Waking Up The Town" was directed by the prolific James Cruze and starred Jim Joyce and Norma Shearer; the most remarkable aspect about this film is the story, a bizarre combination of sci-fi ( the most interesting aspect of the film due to Abner Hope's astronomical and surprising catastrophic predictions ) and romantic comedy ( predictable and naïf ) and in spite the copy that this German Count watched is incomplete and apparently missing a section near the end, it is a routine film directed by Herr Cruze, who was not very interested in developing the great possibilities of its peculiar sci-fi story.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must check if the Earth is still turning around.
