Sissi: The Young Empress (1956) [NR] ****

Sissi: The Young Empress picks up where Sissi, the first film ended. In fact, the three films play like a 5-hour miniseries and should be viewed as such. Franz (Karlheinz Boehm) and Sissi (Romy Schneider) are a young couple still madly in love, while dealing with both international and domestic issues. Chief among these are the strained relations between Austria and Hungary. There had been an assassination attempt on Franz’s life sometime before he had met Sissi, and his ministers wanted the eight rebels who were captured to be executed, but Franz, on Sissi’s advice, offered them amnesty. Sissi went even further and thanks to the stories and pictures provided by her Hungarian tutor developed a genuine love of Hungary. Representing his country, the Hungarian Count Andrassy (Walther Reyer), is eventually charmed by Sissi, and her love of his country and genuine concern for its people.

Unfortunately for Sissi, Franz’s mother, Archduchess Sophie (Vilma Degischer), continues to believe that Sissi is a Bavarian duchess who became Empress by chance, and is still a child herself. So, when Sissi gives birth to a little girl, Sophie insists it be named after herself, and also insists on raising the child, moving the nursery to be near her. Unfortunately, Franz doesn’t understand how strongly Sissi feels about this, and when he sides with his mother, Sissi does the only thing she can do, leaves the Shoenbrunn Palace in Vienna and returns to Bayern (Bavaria) to her home, Schloss Possenhofen, and her mother Duchess Ludovika (Magda Schneider, Romy Schneider’s real-life mother) and her father Duke Max (Gustav Knuth).

Thanks to Sissi’s military escort, Major Boeckl (Josef Meinrad), who telegraphs Franz, the Emperor travels to Possenhofen and reunites with Sissi. However, it is only after Sissi’s mother, Sophie’s sister, prevails upon her, and Sophie appreciates how influential Sissi is in bringing Austria and Hungary together in an empire, that she relents and returns Sissi’s daughter to her.

I found this second installment of the Sissi trilogy in many ways richer, more complex and more engaging than the first one, with the development of Sissi’s endearing character and a more in-depth view of her relationship with both Franz and Sophie. Sissi becomes an even more important historical figure, not as a result of any lust for power but because her sweet and caring nature causes the people of both Austria and Hungary to fall in love with her.

The version of the trilogy I am watching is The Sissi Collection, from Film Movement, Released in October, 2017, digitally remastered in Widescreen and incredibly stunning. LINK TO AMAZON.COM PAGE

Labels: drama, history, romance, Romy Schneider
IMDb 67/100
Blu-ray