A Study in Reds (1944) Review - A very weird bridge game

Is this worth watching today? Only if you really like old propaganda or you want to see what people were scared of in 1944. If you want a movie with a plot that actually goes somewhere, you will probably hate this. It’s mostly just people sitting in chairs and talking about politics.

I think history buffs might find it interesting. Everyone else will be bored out of their mind within five minutes.

So, the movie starts with these women playing bridge. They all have these wild hats that look like they belong in a museum of bad fashion. One lady has a hat with a literal feather that keeps almost poking her friend in the eye.

I spent about ten minutes just wondering how they even sat through a whole game without those things falling off. 👒

Anyway, they start talking about what life would be like under Soviet rule. It is not exactly a subtle conversation. One woman basically starts a monologue about how the government would take their houses and their fancy tea sets.

The acting is really stiff. Miriam Bennett looks like she is reading her lines off a grocery list hidden behind a teapot. She has this very serious face the whole time, like she's worried she left the stove on back at home.

There is a moment where they look at a newspaper and the camera zooms in. It feels like the movie is shouting at you to be afraid. It reminds me a bit of the weirdly intense vibe in The Devil Plays, but without the mystery stuff.

The sound quality is pretty bad too. There is this constant hissing in the background that sounds like someone is frying bacon in the next room. I had to turn my volume way up just to hear what they were saying about the Red Menace. 🥓

The Dream Sequence That Isn't

The movie tries to show what they are imagining. It is not like a big budget action scene or anything. It is just more talking, but everyone looks a bit more miserable.

They talk about "Nationalized Women" which was a big talking point back then. It sounds really scary the way they say it, but the way they act it out just looks like people waiting in a very long line for bread.

I noticed a small detail in the background. One of the windows in the "Soviet" version of the house is dirty. I guess that’s how you know things are bad? Dirty windows and no bridge games.

It’s kind of funny how much they focus on the loss of their social clubs. Like, the end of the world is coming, but the real tragedy is that we can't play cards on Tuesday afternoons. It feels very specific to that era of middle-class life.

The lighting is very flat. It’s like they just turned on every light in the studio and hoped for the best. It doesn't have the moody shadows you see in something like The House of Glass.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of A Study in Reds (1932) through its definitive frames.

A Strange History Lesson

There is a scene where a guy comes in and starts explaining things. He has this very 1940s "radio voice" that is way too loud for the room. He sounds like he is announcing a football game instead of talking to a few ladies in a parlor.

I found myself wondering if real bridge clubs actually talked like this. Probably not. It feels like someone's dad wrote a play to scare his kids and then somehow got it filmed.

One of the ladies keeps nodding her head way too much. Every time someone says the word "Communist," she nods like she’s a bobblehead on a car dashboard. It’s actually kind of distracting once you notice it. 😵‍💫

The movie is really short, which is its best feature. If it were any longer, I think my brain would have melted from the sheer amount of concern on screen.

It is definitely less fun than Looser Than Loose. That one at least has some energy. This one just feels heavy and dusty, like an old rug that needs a good beating.

I did like the tea set, though. It was a very nice floral pattern. I wonder if Miriam Bennett got to keep it after they finished shooting. Probably not, she looked too stressed to enjoy it.

There is this one shot where the camera stays on a woman's face for like ten seconds after she stops talking. She just stares into the void. It’s supposed to be dramatic, but it’s just awkward. I think the editor might have fallen asleep for a second there. 😴

You can really feel the movie trying to make you feel patriotic. But it does it by making everything else look so gray and boring. It’s not exactly a great selling point for their side of things either.

It’s weird how much they talk about the "Reds" without actually showing anything. It’s all just ideas. It makes the movie feel like a podcast that accidentally got filmed.

If you've seen Smashing Through, you know that old movies can be exciting. This one just isn't. It’s a lecture with hats.

I guess the point was to make people appreciate what they had. But looking back, it just feels like a very strange time capsule. People were really, really worried about their bridge clubs being nationalized.

I wouldn't watch it again. But I am glad I saw it once, just to see how weird 1944 was. The ending is very abrupt too. It just sort of... stops. No real conclusion, just a final shot of a worried face.

Anyway, that’s A Study in Reds. Lots of red talk, not a lot of study. And way too many hats. 🎩