Robert Taylor was later filled with public remorse for having starred in Song of Russia, which ranks along with Mission to Moscow as an unusually pro-Soviet Hollywood film. Taylor plays an American conductor who falls in love with a Russian lass (Susan Peters) while touring the Soviet Union. He visits her at her parents' farm, marries her, and is then rudely separated from her by the Nazi invasion. Song of Russia is a musical, written by Richard Collins, who later “named names,” among them fellow scriptwriter Paul Jarrico. It was made, according to Nora Sayre (“Running Time: Films of the Cold War”): “in order to pay tribute to the Russian resistance, just as Mrs. Miniver had exalted the heroism of our British Allies.... The two Communist screenwriters expected to make a deeply serious film about the Russians destroying their crops and villages in order to deny any sustenance to the invading troops.... But the movie was produced by Joe Pasternak, whose specialty was Deanna Durbin musicals....” The New York Times called it “a honey of a topical musical film, full of rare good humor, rich vitality and a proper respect for the Russians' fight in this war...a fine blend of music and image is achieved in the best cinematic style.” But Sayre concludes, in retrospect, “Ayn Rand, in her testimony before the Committee, was not inaccurate when she protested that there was too much smiling throughout the movie....”
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