Red Rose of Normandy (2011) starring Tino Struckmann, Damian Chapa, Jack Dimich, Claudia Crawford directed by Tino Struckmann Movie Review

Red Rose of Normandy (2011)   2/52/52/52/52/5

Certificate

N/A

Length

103 mins

Genre

Director


Tino Struckmann in Red Rose of Normandy (2011)

A Rose Smothered by Thorns

Having been injured on the Russian front Klaus Mueller (Tino Struckmann) is sent to Normandy to recover which is where he makes an enemy in Gestapo officer Brahms (Damian Chapa) as they quickly clash. Fortunately for Mueller he discovers his fiancee Klaudia (Claudia Crawford) has been stationed at the hospital although her father Schiller (John Courtney) is also there and has never approved of Mueller dating his daughter. Unfortunately Schiller is caught and arrested by Brahms for assisting the French resistance he tries to blackmail Klaudia into becoming his mistress in return for sparing her father. But Mueller with the aid of General Franks (Jack Dimich) attempts to free Klaudia's father from the Gestapo head quarters. All of which leads to D-Day and Klaus and Klaudia caught between the Gestapo and the Allies.

As a reviewer who watches movies to be entertained I am not always the most observant when it comes to issues of accuracy and authenticity especially in war movies but even I can spot some in the low budget war movie "Red Rose of Normandy". During the opening scenes as Klaus ends up injured during fighting on the Russian Front the actors generally playing the soldiers looked far too old to be believable, almost making it feel like friends and family were cast to keep the budget down. But then considering there is a war going on during these opening scenes the costumes are the cleanest you will see. There are numerous other issues when it comes to the look including short skirts and ridiculously bright red lipstick which end up looking laughably wrong.

But then you have the combination of characters and acting which I am sorry to those involved in the movie as it was generally terrible. Wooden performances and dialogue which rarely felt natural ended up almost comical which combined with a lack of atmosphere makes it all the more bad. That is one of the movies major issues as the unnatural quietness and lack of background noise adds to the lack of authenticity.

As to the actual story, well this war time love story is either not that bad or the least worst thing, I can't make up my mind. In a way I would like to see some one take the story and flesh it out properly than get a major studio, producer and director behind it as I kind of feel the basic idea of a great wartime love story is there.

What this all boils down to is that "Red Rose of Normandy" is low budget, does feature poor acting as well as poor special effects, lacks atmosphere and believable dialogue and pretty much everything else needed to make it watchable. But it is not the worst movie I have ever seen and the basic story had potential.


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