Der rote Kreis (1929) is a weirdly fun silent crime flick

If you have a soft spot for those old German silents where everyone looks deeply suspicious in a suit, then Der rote Kreis is worth a look. It’s an Edgar Wallace mystery, so you know what you are getting into before it even starts.

If you hate reading title cards or find silent acting too much, you should probably skip this one. It is very much of its time.

The whole plot is about this secret group of blackmailers. They leave a little red circle mark on their letters to let people know they’re in trouble.

I kept thinking about the guy who had to stamp all those letters. It’s a very specific kind of 1920s villainy that involves a lot of stationery. ✉️

The lighting is actually the best part. There are these long, jagged shadows that make even a normal hallway look like a death trap.

It’s much moodier than something like Bobbed Hair, which feels like it belongs in a different universe entirely.

Albert Steinrück plays the lead and he has this incredibly heavy presence. He doesn’t even have to move his face to make you feel like something bad is about to happen.

There is this one scene where a guy gets a letter and his eyes almost pop out of his head. The camera just stays on him for way too long.

It starts to get funny after about ten seconds. You’re just sitting there waiting for him to blink, but he never does.

I noticed the sets look a bit recycled. Some of the furniture looks like it was borrowed from a much cheaper production.

Hans Albers shows up and he is basically playing himself even back then. He has this way of walking into a room like he already knows where the liquor is kept.

The pacing is a bit of a mess in the middle. It feels like they forgot they were making a thriller and just let people walk around rooms for twenty minutes.

I actually lost track of which rich guy was being blackmailed for what. There are so many guys with the same mustache.

It reminds me of the confusing bits in Notoriety where you just sort of give up on the plot and look at the hats.

There is a great shot of a door handle turning very slowly. It’s a classic move, but it still works here.

One of the female characters has a bob that is so sharp it looks like it could cut paper. I wonder how much hairspray—or whatever they used in 1929—it took to keep that in place.

The ending is very sudden. Like, they solve the mystery and then the movie just stops.

It’s not quite as punchy as The Main Event, but for a German krimi, it does the job.

I found myself looking at the background extras a lot. One guy in a party scene is clearly just eating a piece of bread and looking at the ceiling.

He definitely didn't know he'd be preserved on film 100 years later just chewing.

If you like a mystery that feels like a dusty old book you found in an attic, give it a go. It’s got a strange charm to it that survives the silent format.

Just don't expect it to make total sense on the first watch. The subtitles in the version I saw had a few typos too, which honestly made it feel more personal.

The red circle stamp itself looks like something a teacher would use to grade a paper. ⭕

Anyway, it’s a decent way to spend an hour and a half if you’re into the history of crime films.