Romance Road (1938)

Romance Road (1938)

** (out of 4)

Weak romance about a RCMP sergeant who finds himself in the middle of a land rights battle between trappers and a railroad crew. The two sides are battling over what the land is for while the officer has this on his mind as well as a relationship with one of the locals. If it wasn't for one item this short would have been a complete disaster because there's really nothing good here. The story is about as simple as one could be and nothing special is done with it. The acting is below par to say the least and the relationship between Walter Cassel and Anne Nagel never rings true. Another major problem are the two songs that we get to hear because neither one is catchy and I'd say both should have been tossed out to save us from the 19-minute running time. What makes this film worth viewing is the 3-strip Technicolor. This color process wasn't widely used in 1938 so you can almost overlook all the flaws here because it's obvious everyone involved was more interested in making the picture look pretty and not overly worried about anything else. Fans of the 3-strip process will want to check this short out but others should stay clear.