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Mayerling (1968 film)

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This article is about the 1968 film. For other uses, see Mayerling (disambiguation).

Mayerling
Theatrical release poster by Tom Jung
Directed byTerence Young
Screenplay byTerence Young
Denis Cannan (dialogue)
Based onClaude Anet (novel)
Michel Arnold (book L'Archiduc)
Produced byRobert Dorfmann
Maurice Jacquin
StarringOmar Sharif
Catherine Deneuve
James Mason
Ava Gardner
CinematographyHenri Alekan
Edited byMonique Bonnot
Music byFrancis Lai (original)
Aram Khachaturian (non-original; Adagio from Spartacus)
Production
companies
Associated British Picture (UK)
Winchester-Corona Productions (France)
Distributed byWarner-Pathé (UK)
Valoria Films (France)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (USA)
Release dates
1968 (France, UK)
Running time
140 min
CountryUnited Kingdom / France
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5,000,000 (estimated)
Box office$14,754,720[1]

Mayerling is a 1968 romantic tragedy film starring Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason, Ava Gardner, Geneviève Page, James Robertson Justice and Andréa Parisy.[2] It was written and directed by Terence Young. The film was made by Les Films Corona and Winchester and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

It was based on the novels Mayerling by Claude Anet and L'Archiduc by Michel Arnold and the 1936 film Mayerling, directed by Anatole Litvak, which dealt with the real-life Mayerling Incident.

Plot

In the 1880s, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria (Sharif) clashes with his father, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (Mason) and his mother Empress Elisabeth (Gardner), over implementing progressive policies for their country. Rudolf soon feels he is a man born at the wrong time in a country that does not realize the need for social reform. The Prince of Wales (Robertson Justice), later to become King Edward VII of Britain, visits Vienna and provides comic relief. Later in Hungary popular revolt broke out, which Rudolf begged his father, Francis Joseph, to tolerate, but to no avail.

Rudolf finds refuge from a loveless marriage with Princess Stéphanie (Parisy) by taking a mistress, Baroness Maria Vetsera (Deneuve). Franz Joseph I sends his son to supervise military training, and further exiles Maria to Venice. When back in Vienna, the couple's mutual untimely death at Mayerling, the imperial family's hunting lodge, is cloaked in mystery. The film's ending suggests that the two lovers made a suicide pact when they decided they could not live in a world without love, nor prospects for peace.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mayerling (1968) - JPBox-Office".
  2. ^ "Mayerling (1968) - IMDb".
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