Crimson Romance (1934) - A weirdly personal WWI flick with Von Stroheim

Is this worth your time?

You should probably watch Crimson Romance if you are into those old-school aviation movies where the planes look like they are held together by hope and a bit of glue. It is a good pick for anyone who likes seeing the 'other side' of the war, though it gets a bit preachy at times.

If you want a fast-paced action movie with crisp sound, you are going to hate this. It is creaky, the audio pops, and sometimes the actors talk like they are reading a grocery list. 🛩️

The story starts with Fred and Bob. They are best friends working in an ambulance factory or something in America.

Fred is German, and because the war is starting, everyone in town starts acting like total jerks to him. It is actually kind of hard to watch how fast his neighbors turn into a mean mob.

There is this one scene where a guy just gets in Fred's face for no reason. You can tell the actor playing the bully is really enjoying being a villain. Fred just stands there looking sad, which is basically his whole vibe for the first half.

So, Fred decides he’s had enough of the 'land of the free' and goes back to Germany to fight for the Kaiser. And because Bob is the kind of friend who would probably jump off a bridge if Fred did, he goes along too.

It is a bit like the duo in Hook, Line and Sinker, but instead of catching fish, they are catching bullets. It feels weirdly modern how the movie handles their friendship—they really do love each other, in a 'bros for life' kind of way.

Once they get to Germany, the movie finally wakes up. We get Erich von Stroheim. 🧐

He plays the commandant, and man, he is just doing his thing. He’s got that stiff neck and that look in his eye like he wants to court-martial everyone in the room just for breathing too loud.

Every time he is on screen, the movie feels ten times more important than it actually is. He has this way of clicking his heels that sounds like a gunshot. It is probably the best part of the whole film, honestly.

I noticed this one tiny detail where a character is holding a cigarette and it just... disappears between shots. I love stuff like that. It reminds you that some guy was just trying to finish his day's work and go home back in 1934.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Crimson Romance (1934) through its definitive frames.

The flying scenes are surprisingly okay? I mean, you can tell they are using models for some of it, but there is a real sense of danger when the planes are banking through the clouds.

It is not exactly The Ghost Breaker in terms of atmosphere, but the fog in the night scenes looks thick enough to eat with a spoon. It adds a nice, gloomy layer to the whole 'war is hell' message they are pushing.

Then there is the romance part. Fred falls for a girl named Alida, and it just feels... fast? Like, they meet and suddenly they are the love of each other's lives.

The movie gets a bit slow here. I found myself checking how much time was left during their long talks in the garden. It is a bit too much 'romance' and not enough 'crimson,' if you know what I mean. 🥀

I kept thinking about Curtain at Eight while watching the indoor scenes because the lighting is so similar—very flat and bright. It makes the actors look a bit like they are made of porcelain.

The ending is where things get really heavy. Bob and Fred end up in a situation where their loyalty to their country and their loyalty to each other just slams together.

It is a bit predictable, I guess. You can see the 'big sacrifice' coming from a mile away, but it still hits okay because you’ve spent an hour watching these two guys be inseparable.

One reaction shot of Bob near the end lingers for way too long. He just stares into the distance while the music swells, and it starts to feel like the director forgot to yell 'cut.'

Overall, it is a weird little relic. It’s not a masterpiece, and some of the acting is as stiff as a board, but it has a heart. ❤️

If you find it on some dusty corner of the internet, give it a go just to see Von Stroheim being a boss. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything.

The way the German soldiers are portrayed is surprisingly human for an American film made between the wars. Usually, they are just faceless bad guys, but here they are just guys who are tired and want to go home, which is a nice touch.

It’s a bit messy, the script feels like it was written by three different people who didn't talk to each other much, but I liked it. It’s got that clunky, honest charm that you just don't get anymore.