Review of The End of St. Petersburg (1927) by John M — 16 Feb 2009

Fiercely didactic little fable about the deprivations of the underclasses in Tsarist Russia. Our protagonist wanders out of the farmlands when his wife dies and his sense of social justice runs afoul of the cruel factory boss (who all but twirls his moustache amidst his villainy).

Jail and police brutality yield to the First World War and forced conscription. This is where the film really takes off with some truly arresting visuals. The revolution which follows is somewhat brief and poorly edited, but it does a decent effort of justifying the revolution to an audience viewing it 10 years later.