The Red Danube (1949)

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(95 ratings)

One of the more palatable of Hollywood's anti-communist tracts of the late 1940s-early 1950s was MGM's The Red Danube. Janet Leigh plays Maria Buhlen, an Eastern Bloc ballerina who seeks political asylum in the British-occupied zone of Vienna. Maria's plight turns into a political tug-of-war… More One of the more palatable of Hollywood's anti-communist tracts of the late 1940s-early 1950s was MGM's The Red Danube. Janet Leigh plays Maria Buhlen, an Eastern Bloc ballerina who seeks political asylum in the British-occupied zone of Vienna. Maria's plight turns into a political tug-of-war involving a British colonel (Walter Pidgeon) and a Soviet colonel (Louis Calhern). Their ideological hagglings spill over into spiritualism, as represented by Mother Superior Ethel Barrymore, and romance, as personified by Maria's ardent suitor Major John McPhimister (Peter Lawford). Like earlier anti-Red cinematic exercises, The Red Danube failed to connect at the box office. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 59 min.
Directed By: George Sidney II
Genres: Drama, Classics

In Theaters: Oct 14, 1949 Wide

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
What elevates George Sidney's agit-prop feature from MGM, which reflected the Cold War mentality, is the strong acting from Walter Pidgeon and especially Ethel Barrymore

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