During the good old days of the Russian aristocracy, that is to say, before the October Revolution, in the city of Moscow there was a fancy restaurant which catered to the appetites and egos of the rich.
In one such establishment works a middle-aged waiter who is devoted to serving his bourgeoisie clients correctly. However, his life outside his job is very different: His son was killed during the Russian civil war and the waiter's wife died of grief as a result. The waiter's daughter is a beautiful schoolgirl but she has to drop out of school because of her father's financial problems. The waiter is obliged to rent a room in his small apartment. The young man who applies for it quickly falls in love with the daughter. The waiter finds a job as a violinist for his daughter in his restaurant (vive le nepotism!) but there she attracts the unwanted attentions of a middle aged factory owner who has lecherous designs on her.
"Chelovek Iz Restorana" ( Man From The Restaurant ) (1927) was directed by the prolific Russian film director Herr Yakov Protazanov, a very interesting film wherein different subjects are subtly outlined and put together in an understated and skillful way.
For example, the film depicts the different sides of Russian society before the Revolution; inside the restaurant exists a world of opulence and excess but outside that artificial atmosphere injustice reigns. Indeed even within the restaurant life is hard for the employees so the need for a union arises. The upper classes are depicted as corrupt and this point is brought home by the behavior of the factory owner who steals secret war documents and blackmails the waiter's daughter by threatening to frame her boyfriend (the tenant) for his crime.
These complicated situations will converge "in crescendo climax" wherein Herr Protazanov pulls together every dramatic element of the story with its opposing class forces until he reaches a frenzied finale in which justice and dignity finally triumph.
And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count is going to a fancy Muscovite restaurant with one of his rich Teutonic heiress (who of course will pay the bill) Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/
