Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

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

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

mtloans First, I was amazed a film like this could be made in International Socialist (Communist) infested Hollywood in the late 1940's. Read the book "Hollywood Party" by Kenneth Lloyd Billingsley. A huge proportion of Hollywood's behind the scenes employees (not the stars) took their marching orders from Moscow. This was at the same time the studio heads were in cahoots with the National Socialists of Germany in making sure nothing bad was said about Herr Hitler.The funny part was the Ribbentrop/Molotov Non-aggression Pact where the Nazis and the Communists agreed to carve up Poland. Up until then the Hollywood myrmidons blindly followed the anti-Fascist line of Stalin. Stalin needed a word to describe his internal enemies so he picked "Fascist". I mean the loyal Communist apparatchiks he executed by the thousands were suddenly 'Fascist'? The word stuck both in the UUSR and the US and the blind left today who won't read history still use this epithet against everyone they disagree with, not remotely knowing the word's true meaning. Mussolini of course came from a famous Socialist family and was the editor of Italy's leading Socialist publication: "Avante". Fascism, Nazism, Communism -- all repressive Socialist political systems. Anyway, the hard leftists in Hollywood after denouncing Nazis and Fascists for a decade now had to praise them to the sky by orders from Stalin. Being the rotten people they were, they turned on a dime without even blinking - like Orcs.Why does this all matter? Well, Walter Pidgeon's character like 99% of Allied soldiers had little clue about the horrible nature of Communism given the propaganda about Uncle Joe Stalin being our ally. Pidgeon gets a first hand glimpse of the forced repatriation of USSR dissidents when the first man he tries to turn over, an elderly gentleman, requests that he pack a few things, walks into the next room and you hear an instantaneous gunshot - he had blown his brains out. Pidgeon takes his orders in turning over these poor people waiting to be executed or put in the Gulag back in the "Workers Paradise" but finally realizes with the help of Ethel Barrymore's Character - Mother Superior - that he is committing an awful crime against humanity and fights back. Just watch the rest of the movie as it plays out.If you want to learn more about the Allied treachery, read "Operation Keelhaul" by Julius Epstein.Hollywood is pretty craven - imagine a Spielberg type being given this script - no way he would make this film. He would never turn on his ideological masters. The enemy in Hollywood will always be Nazis and Fascists, the ideological allies of the Communists. Muslim terrorists could blow up Hollywood and the first script about that event would have the Muslims being replaced by the Waffen SS without even the slightest hesitation.

IzzyTree I truly enjoyed this film. The themes of individual responsibility in an evil world, and the problem of faith in God, are handled sensitively and well. Although it is unclear at the beginning, the main characters are the Colonel played by Walter Pidgeon and the Reverend Mother played by Ethel Barrymore. The romance between Peter Lawford's adjutant and Janet Leigh's sylph-like Russian refugee ballerina is, in a sense, just an excuse plot to build the movie around, although that storyline is satisfying as well, mainly due to these two talented actors. Also noteworthy is Angela Lansbury cast against type (at least, compared to her debut in Gaslight) as a highly sympathetic, yet somewhat salty woman officer.I found others' comments on the relationship to McCarthyism and/or anti-Communism in general to be interesting. I do believe this movie showed the evils of the Soviet system, which to me, is fine. I have no idea if it fed McCarthyism, since I wasn't alive during that period. However, to me, it seems to be more about anti-totalitarianism of all stripes, rather than merely anti-Communism. In particular, the scene of the refugees in boxcars seems to be a direct reference to the Holocaust. That The Red Danube was nominated for best art direction speaks, as well, to the technical beauty of this black & white film. This film reminded me of The Third Man, in its location, art direction, and storyline. (Orson Welles always said that "Black & white is the actor's friend" -- how true, in both these movies!) Although this film is inferior to The Third Man overall, in terms of its acting, atmosphere, and skill of the director, it is still worthy of viewing. Whereas The Third Man focuses on the moral dilemma of dealing with the evil in one individual (in a corrupt society), this film deals more generally with the morality of living in a corrupt society. In other words, The Third Man asks: "Why do men turn evil in an evil society?" (which, when you think about it, may not be such a profound question; although the further question of "What can be done about it?" is also explored), whereas The Red Danube asks: "How can men stay good in an evil society?" (which is really a much more useful question). So, although there's no denying that The Third Man is the better movie overall, I would highly recommend The Red Danube due to its high production values, the collection of wonderful actors in its ensemble cast, and a very engaging, philosophical script.

bkoganbing Russian colonel Louis Calhern is looking for prima ballerina Janet Leigh to take her back to the Soviet Union in post World War II Vienna in 1946. His quest is the heart of The Red Danube. The Red Danube came out in 1949 and is set at the time when people thought it possible to keep the wartime Allies on the same page. That was not to be due to the differences in the two political systems that combined to defeat Hitler.Walter Pidgeon is recently transferred to Vienna and gets an order to find her and turn her over to the Russians. He doesn't count on three things, his aide Peter Lawford falling for Janet, the formidable presence of Mother Superior Ethel Barrymore who is sheltering Leigh, and his own growing conscience about what he sees around him.People would rather die than return to the worker's paradise that Communism has created. I mean literally, both here in the film and in real life back in the day. It's easy to dismiss The Red Danube as a Cold War inspired film. But the situations are way too real.Best performance in the film is Ethel Barrymore, followed closely by Pidgeon as the British Colonel with a conscience. Pidgeon is a nonbeliever and his debates with Barrymore about religion are the best thing in the film. Part of the film has Pidgeon getting Barrymore on a military plane to see the Pope in Rome during a conference concerning refugees. Now mind you this is Pius XII we are talking about who before and as Pope never quite saw the danger Hitler was to the church that Stalin was.But I'm willing to bet that seeing Ethel Barrymore delineate the character of the Mother Superior this was a woman who walked the Christian walk as well. I'm even willing to bet she probably sheltered a few Jews during the holocaust as well.

curtissann 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.