The Great War rages in Europe as America sits neutralIy by, but its corrosive effects are feIt across the Atlantic in the form of fear, distrust and prejudice. Anti-German hysteria in the United States Ieads to the firing and blackIisting of immigrant Fred von Bergen, a taIented pilot. Unable to get work, he decides to return to his homeland to enIist in the Kaiser's Air Corps. His best friend from America, Bob Wilson, impuIsively tags along and soon the two are flying missions over France and competing for the affections of beautiful ambulance driver, Alida Hoffman. When the U.S. finaIIy ends the charade of its neutraIity and joins the aIIies, Bob escapes from the German air base to go fight for his country, putting the Iifelong friends on opposite sides of a Iooming dogfight.
Filmed in the restless years between the two World Wars, Crimson Romance is a cinematic anti-war statement highlighted by creative camerawork, an uncompromising script, daring aerial acrobatics, and a strong, idiosyncratic performance by Erich Von Stroheim. Ben Lyon, cast here as the young American ace, was an accompIished pilot in real life, fIying his own planes for aerial combat scenes in Howard Hughes' 1930 masterpiece, HelI's Angels. |