Four years before Max Linder filmed it in 1919, the Lucifer Film Company of Imperial Russia made a short comedy version of Tristan Bernard's 1911 play LE PETIT CAFÉ. Roly-poly Anton Fertner plays the lead in giddy, high-spirited fashion; he was a major star of early silents in Poland and Russia, and had a stage career that lasted into the 1950s. Leon Errol was supposed to appear in a remake for Paramount in 1930 but it was Maurice Chevalier who took the leading role when the film was made as PLAYBOY OF PARIS.
On the negative side, there's an abundance of titles, all of them in the Cyrillic alphabet, and the oh-so-slow-moving video transfer can be improved by watching this at 1.5x or better yet, 2x the regular speed.
https://youtu.be/xOHHo2ga3t0
Here's the translated credits and description:
Director: Petr Chardynin
Cast: Anton Fertner (Antosha, the waiter), Alexander Cherubimov (restaurant owner), Vera Karalli (his daughter), Tatiana Bakh (Mishka), Georgy Azagarov (scandalist), V. Glinskaya (woman in a restaurant).
"The waiter Antosha is in love with his owner's daughter. This distracts Antosha from work and the owner is going to fire him. The notary who appears informs the owner that Antosha is receiving a large inheritance. He offers the owner to conclude a three-year contract with Antosha. In case of early termination, the owner receives a large amount. Something will get, of course, and the notary. Drunk Antosha signs a contract, and the next day he becomes rich. Antosha immediately wants to quit, but having got acquainted with the contract, he remains to work. At night, he leads the luxurious life of a rich man. The owner of the restaurant is trying this way and that to fire Antosha. But he manages not only to avoid being fired, but also to marry his daughter."
1915 Russian version of THE LITTLE CAFÉ
1915 Russian version of THE LITTLE CAFÉ
"Of course he smiled -- just like you and me." -- Harold Goodwin, on Buster Keaton (1976)
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