"Scarlet Dawn" is a film that appears to have been abandoned mid-way through the project. So, instead of the film having a decent resolution, it just seems to end very abruptly. Plus, while I think it is supposed to be a romance, it is about as romantic as a GI training film! The film begins during the throes of the Russian Revolution. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is a member of the aristocracy and spends much of the first portion of the movie trying to escape the country. On the way, one of his servants (Nancy Carroll) meets up with him and they manage to make it to Turkey. After a while, they have spent so much time together that they decide "what the heck...let's get married"--though there really wasn't any build up to this and it seemed to come out of left field. Shortly after this, and this also came out of left field, he left his new bride to run around with a new lover ostensibly to make money by bilking American tourists. Months later, he starts to miss the wife and returns home--only to find her gone. When unemployed Russians are being rounded up and deported, they meet for a happy(?) ending.
So what's romantic about this supposed romance? There really isn't any love between Fairbanks and Carroll--only a low self-esteemed servant marrying her master because he suggested it. Carroll's character is like a lost puppy--without much substance and accepting whatever scraps Fairbanks throws her way. As for Fairbanks, while quite handsome, he has about as much appeal as day-old fish guts. Through much of the film he only thinks of himself and is a man with little substance. So between these two characters, there isn't much to connect with or care about, as they just aren't particularly appealing or likable. Plus, being only a 57 minute film, it comes off as very rushed and very incomplete. A great example of this incompleteness is that there is apparently a pregnancy that only briefly is alluded to at the end of the film. But, when the credits unexpectedly pop up, this has never been discussed in any way--like they just forgot about it. In fact, it just looked like the director gave up and ordered a wrap--even though the film wasn't quite finished! What's romantic about some cad who abandons his new wife?! The folks at Warner Brothers must have been smoking something funky when they wrote and then approved this script.
So what's romantic about this supposed romance? There really isn't any love between Fairbanks and Carroll--only a low self-esteemed servant marrying her master because he suggested it. Carroll's character is like a lost puppy--without much substance and accepting whatever scraps Fairbanks throws her way. As for Fairbanks, while quite handsome, he has about as much appeal as day-old fish guts. Through much of the film he only thinks of himself and is a man with little substance. So between these two characters, there isn't much to connect with or care about, as they just aren't particularly appealing or likable. Plus, being only a 57 minute film, it comes off as very rushed and very incomplete. A great example of this incompleteness is that there is apparently a pregnancy that only briefly is alluded to at the end of the film. But, when the credits unexpectedly pop up, this has never been discussed in any way--like they just forgot about it. In fact, it just looked like the director gave up and ordered a wrap--even though the film wasn't quite finished! What's romantic about some cad who abandons his new wife?! The folks at Warner Brothers must have been smoking something funky when they wrote and then approved this script.