Famous Habsburgs in movies/plays/cartoons

[dmitri]

Have seen it. There are others which are much better.

[aor]

It is a 4 disc DVD set. There are only 3 episodes dealing with the Emperor and his family. The first episode is about him meeting Elisabeth and it tells the tale of her struggle with Sophie, the birth of the first 2 children and the death of the eldest child in Hungary. The berating she gets from Sophie and finally as she states; the broodmare finally produced the heir. It hints towards her illness, Madeira and her finally being able to stand up to his mother.

The second episode shows the Mayerling affair and how it was dealt with by the court. It also shows the Empress during this time and how she had changed and hardened.

The third episode is about the Emperor's final years. His 'friendship' with Ms. Schratt, the dislike he had for Franz Ferdinand and his wife and how Germany pushes for war.

All and all I was not too impressed with this DVD set, as I already had read the book and it too bored me.

[dmitri]

The book was much, much better.

[Princess Susan]

Witch book do you mean? Joan Haslip's book, or Brigitte Hamman's book about Eilisabeth in Bavaria?
Or does any book exist according witch was made this film?
I can't judge because I have never seen 'Fall of Eangels', but how I mentioned before, basically books are much better and much
more interesting than films in common.
Of course success of film depends on lot of things, on actors as well.

[aor]

Witch book do you mean? Joan Haslip's book, or Brigitte Hamman's book about Eilisabeth in Bavaria?
Or does any book exist according witch was made this film?
I can't judge because I have never seen 'Fall of Eangels', but how I mentioned before, basically books are much better and much
more interesting than films in common.
Of course success of film depends on lot of things, on actors as well.

The book is Fall of the Eagles. The BBC based a television series in the '70's on this book and all the episodes of this series are available on DVD. The book get much deeper into the subject matter, and though interesting to read how all of Europe was entwined by these Monarchies, it sometimes was a hard read for me and could not keep me interested.

[dmitri]

I guess the book assumed you had read other things. Go back to it and read bits and pieces as you feel like.

[Silja]

Although you can certainly criticize the episodes on the Habsburgs (as any episode of the series and any film about a historical subject) I think Fall of Eagles positively stands out against the kitsch films made about Sisi/the Habsburg.

[Princess Susan]

Yes, I think so.

[dmitri]

Of course Romy Schneider was overly sweet. Check her in Ludwig and you will see she was not.

[Lucien]

The late Romy Schneider would have celebrated her 70th birthday today.

http://www.royalimages.nl/search.pp?specialid=2134&flush=1

courtesy Royalimages.

[C FIKES]

Hello,
I don't know how many of you seen the movies with Romy Schneider, my feeling is that she was the best Sissi ever and that no other actress will be able to captare the empresses inocents and life as she did. The movies are perfect as they are, don't mess with perfection.

[Eric_Lowe]

I think so too, But I don't think any was identified so much with Sisi than Romy...I can't imagine anybody to play her. Any suggestions ?

[Greenowl]

I think that Romy Schneider was a wonderful actress with a very special and unique charisma. However, I feel that the three "Sissi" films did not do justice to either her or Empress Elisabeth, as they were too idealized and gave a rather false impression of the life of the Empress, who was a far more complex personality than the one depicted. While the Sissi triology made Romy Schneider famous, she spent the rest of her (unfortunately far too short) life trying to distance herself from the role and resented being typecast.

[C FIKES]

Yes I too must agree that the trilogy is more on the romantic side than fact, but that is what I like about it. No sex scenes, no bad language wonderful.

[Imperial_Grounds]

Romy Schneider always will be Sissi to me, but not the Empress. I try to see them as something rather romanticized but lovely, I know Romy played the Empress one more time after the Sissi-Trilogy. She played her in the biopic on the life of Ludwig II of Bavaria called 'Ludwig', in that movie she plays a more true Elisabeth, she has quite a big part, as does her sister Sophie. I also have a miniseries based on the life of her sister Sophie. I have seen the BBC-series 'Fall of Eagles' wich features her too, also there is a miniseries based on the life of her son Rudolf, she is played there by Sandra Ceccarelli. I have also heared about 2 movie's based on her real life, Sisi und der Kaiserkuß & Sissi L'Imperatrice Rebelle - rather dramatised I've heared - , I have not seen both of the movies but i really want too, and there is also a musical based on her life called 'Elisabeth', it is a German production but I've seen parts of the dutch version, and soon I'll have a copy on dvd.

Here is my list with actresses I know that played her:
Romy Schneider(Sissi-Trilogy and Ludwig)
Vanessa Wagner(Sisi und der Kaiserkuß)
Arielle Dombasle (Sissi L'Imperatrice Rebelle)
Sandra Ceccarelli(The Crown Prince)
Pia Douwes(Elisabeth, The Musical)
Diane Keen(Fall of Eagles, Death Waltz)
Rachel Gurney(Fall of Eagles, Requiem for a Crown Prince)

I can try and get some screenshots of most of the listed productions, but Romy Schneider quite looked after the real Empress in my opinion. And as for who I'd like to see playing the Empress, well I haven't thought about it but I will and tell you who I'd like to see as the Empress when I post the pictures.