This Mayerling is the third film to take the tragic deaths that shook the Habsburg monarchy in 1889 and turn them into a matinee tearfest. Mayerling III doesn't manage to jerk many tears; in fact, it is by all odds the funniest.
Consider the lines. Things aren't so good in Old Vienna. The students are rumbling; the peasants are restless. Emperor Franz-Josef (played in a triumph of miscasting by James Mason), surveys the latest student riot from the palace balcony. Line (in a tone of melancholy): "So we've come to this."
The Emperor's son Rudolf is impersonated by Omar Sharif, an Egyptian actor...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
