Crimson Romance

The Great War rages in Europe as America sits neutrally by, but its corrosive effects are felt across the Atlantic in the form of fear, distrust and prejudice. Anti-German hysteria in the United States leads to the firing and blacklisting of immigrant Fred von Bergen, a talented pilot. Unable to get work, he decides to return to his homeland to enlist in the Kaiser's Air Corps. His best friend from America, Bob Wilson, impulsively 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. finally ends the charade of its neutrality and joins the allies, Bob escapes from the German air base to go fight for his country, putting the lifelong friends on opposite sides of a looming 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 accomplished pilot in real life, flying his own planes for aerial combat scenes in Howard Hughes' 1930 masterpiece, Hell's Angels.

Two Yankee flyboys join the German Air Force on a lark in this questionable British farce with Von Stroheim playing a hawkish Commandant.