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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you love dusty old silent films where people wear heavy wool coats and look incredibly guilty for no clear reason, you should probably watch Le crime du chemin rouge.
But if you need things like fast pacing or characters who don't spend five minutes staring at a piece of paper, you will absolutely hate this. 🎞️
It is a 1924 French melodrama that feels like it was recovered from someone's basement, which, to be honest, is part of why I liked it.
The plot is supposedly about a crime on a red road, but mostly it's about people looking very stressed in small rooms.
Germaine Dermoz has this one face she does where her eyes go totally wide, and she just holds it.
For like, way too long.
I kept waiting for her to blink but she just didn't.
It reminded me a bit of the heavy-handed drama in A Woman's Vengeance, though this one has less talking and more dramatic sighs.
The print I saw was pretty beat up, with lines running down the screen like rain.
Honestly, the dirt on the film strip was sometimes more active than the actual actors. 😅
Well, yes and no.
If you've seen other silents from this era, like Christine of the Big Tops, you know how these family dramas can drag.
But there is a weird, ghostly beauty to it.
Especially when the camera just sits still and lets the French countryside look pretty and sad.
The music on the version I watched was just some guy playing a piano very aggressively.
It didn't really match what was happening on screen, but it kept me awake.
"If you're going to commit a crime on a red road, at least do it when the sun is up so the camera can see it."
The ending wraps up so fast it makes your head spin.
One minute they are crying, the next there's a card saying everything is fine now.
It's not a masterpiece, but it's a neat little time capsule.
Just don't expect to understand every single plot point because, frankly, I don't think the director did either.
