The Red Danube (1949)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Too much of everything

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Walter Pidgeon (Colonel Nicobar), Ethel Barrymore (mother superior), Peter Lawford (Major McPhenister), Janet Leigh (Maria), Angela Lansbury (Quail), Melville Cooper (Sergeant Moonlight), Louis Calhern (Colonel Piniev), Francis L. Sullivan (Colonel Omicron), Robert Coote (Brigadier Cathlock), Alan Napier (the general), Roman Toporow (Lieutenant Omansky), Tamara Shayne (Helena Nagard), Konstantin Shayne (Bruloff), Janine Perreau (Mickey Mouse), Victor Wood (aka David Hydes) (Lieutenant Guedalia-Wood), Geoffrey Alan (major), Argentina Brunetti (Italian woman), Kasia Orzazewski (Sister Kasmira), Margo Von Leu (Lani Hansel), John Royce (sergeant at rehearsal), Carol Savage (Private Jemima), Tito Vuolo (Italian bill-poster), Audey Long (Countess Cressanti), Doris Lloyd (Mrs Omicron), Lotus Thompson (female private), Emil Rameau (proprietor), Henry Kulky (Russian lieutenant), Kenneth Hunter (the brigadier- general), Sigmund Halperon (a German), Richard Fraser (the transport checking officer).Director: GEORGE SIDNEY. Screenplay: Gina Kaus, Arthur Wimperis. Based on the 1947 novel Vespers in Vienna by Bruce Marshall. Photography: Charles Rosher. Film editor: James E. Newcom. Art directors: Cedric Gibbons and Hans Peters. Set decorators: Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt. Costumes designed by Helen Rose. Make-up: Jack Dawn. Hair styles: Sydney Guilaroff. Special effects: Warren Newcombe. Camera operator: John M. Nickolaus, jr. Music composed by Miklos Rozsa, orchestrated by by Eugene Zador. Sound supervisor: Douglas Shearer. Producer: Carey Wilson.Copyright 29 September 1949 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 8 December 1949. U.S. release: 14 October 1949. U.K. release: 17 April 1950. Australian release: 18 May 1950. 10,689 feet. 118 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Seeking refuge in postwar Vienna, a young ballerina is determined not to be repatriated to her Communist homeland.NOTES: Nominated for an Academy Award for black-and-white Art Direction, Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters, Edwin B. Willis and Hugh Hunt, lost to Sunset Boulevard.COMMENT: Although here it serves as a blatantly biased piece of hysterical anti-Communist propaganda, the plight of displaced persons in postwar Vienna seems a worthy enough theme. Indeed it was treated with both realism and stunning power in :The Third Man" (1949). Unfortunately, however, the characters of The Red Danube form a medley from musical comedy and gaslight melodrama. In real life, Colonel Nicobar would have faced a court martial and Colonel Piniev a firing squad, whilst the Mother Superior would have been drummed out of every convent this side of heaven. And while Hollywood may fondly imagine that brass hats are all comedic morons, they are definitely not akin to the amusing cretins depicted here by Messrs Robert Coote and Francis L. Sullivan. In all, it is difficult to name a less credible tale served up under the guise of realistic fiction. Yet, thanks to director George Sidney's skill, abetted by some fine photography and excellent sets, certain scenes do come across with undeniable force.

A very good piece of propaganda may best describe this 1949 film dealing with repatriation of people after World War 11.Walter Pidgeon stars as the non-believer assigned to Rome and Vienna after the war. There he encounters the Mother Superior, played so well by Ethel Barrymore.The story concerns itself with Maria Buhlen- a young and wide-eyed Janet Leigh, who has been living in Austria, but since she is a Russian citizen, she must return to the Soviet Union. Even as a ballerina, her fate will be sealed there. Maria manages to escape before being turned in by the British who are looking to appease the Soviets. Of course, legislation is pending in the U.N. that would help repatriates such as Maria.Love blossoms along the way between Maria and an army man, Peter Lawford. Lawford, other than making love to Ms. Buhlen, has little to do here. Love seems to conquer all until tragedy intervenes.The film succeeds in showing the deprivation and fear of such people caught up by world politics. That little Austrian girl will just tug at your heart.The heavy here is Louis Calhern. He turns in a fine performance as a Russian soldier who goes by the book. He goes after Maria Buhlen with a vengeance.Mother Superior? Maria? Hiding Maria? I thought I was back in "The Sound of Music" momentarily but this film is worthwhile and should be seen.

I found the film captivating. It addresses subjects such as faith and morality, and the conflict between being both a soldier and a human being. It gives no easy answers. It presents a piece of history rarely shown in film, and attempts to side-step making everything black and white. Yet The Red Danube is, foremost, good entertainment, a tale of love in the midst of war. Focusing on entertainment is necessary in the entertainment business, and the film does it well, with a few gratifying twists, too. Walter Pigeon and Ethel Barrymore are their grandest dignified selves. Sometimes its nice to be able to be reminded what that is. Interesting to note that Ethel Barrymore was seventy years old when making this film.

A solid film, which it is strange to see people calling controversial, since one would think that there would be little doubt any more about the nature of Soviet Communism, and the horrors perpetrated by Stalin. The cruelty of the allies turning over innocent expatriates to the Gulag and worse is rather convincingly portrayed. The moral dilemmas are decently examined, there are outbreaks of actual Christian faith and, of course there is a love story, because western audiences could hardly handle a movie without one. Barrymore is pungent, Leigh is beautiful, Lawford is sentimental, and Pigeon is as stiff as you could want a Brit to be. And Angela Lansbury makes a charming supportive appearance. Not a great movie, but a reasonably honest one which has nothing to do with McCarthyism and is definitely worth a viewing.