The Blue Danube (1928 film)

The Blue Danube is a 1928 American silent romantic drama film starring Leatrice Joy. Due to the public apathy towards silent films, a sound version was also prepared. While the sound version has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. This picture was produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Paul Sloane with a distribution through Pathé Exchange.^[1][2]

The Blue Danube
Lobby card
Directed by	Paul Sloane
Written by	Harry Carr (writer) Paul Sloane (writer) John W. Krafft (titles) Edwin Justus Mayer (titles)
Story by	John Farrow
Produced by	Cecil B. DeMille Ralph Block
Starring	Leatrice Joy Joseph Schildkraut
Cinematography	Arthur C. Miller
Edited by	Margaret Darrell
Distributed by	Pathé Exchange
Release date	March 11, 1928 (1928-03-11)
Running time	7 reels
Country	United States
Languages	Silent Version Sound Version (English Intertitles)

Plot

A romance set in Austria before, during, and after World War I.

Cast

• Leatrice Joy as Marguerite
• Joseph Schildkraut as Ludwig
• Nils Asther as Erich von Statzen
• Seena Owen as Helena Boursch
• Albert Gran as Herr Bourscch
• Frank Reicher as Baron
• May Robson
• Edna Mae Cooper
• Oliver Eckhardt as Fritz

Music

The sound version featured a theme song entitled “Moonlight on the Danube” which was composed by Byron Gay.

Preservation

A print of The Blue Danube is preserved at the Library of Congress, Archives Du Film Du CNC(Bois d'Arcy), BFI National Film And Television Archive.^[3][4]