Mayerling *** (1968, Omar Sharif, Catherine Deneuve, James Mason, Ava Gardner, James Robertson Justice, Genevieve Page) – Classic Movie Review 8477

Director Terence Young’s 1968 Mayerling is the third movie version (after 1936’s Mayerling and 1940’s Sarajevo) of the story from Claude Anet’s novel about the 19th-century misalliance of the Austrian Crown Prince, Archduke Rudolf.

Mayerling is a sweet cream-cake of a movie, piled high with ornate scenery, imperial bric-a-brac, and soupy music by Francis Lai.

Sixties beautiful people Omar Sharif and Catherine Deneuve are deliciously tasty and dashing as the star-crossed lovers, Rudolf and Baroness Maria Vetsera, but their thunder is consistently stolen by effortless scene-grabbers James Mason as Sharif’s father Emperor Franz-Josef, Ava Gardner as Empress Elizabeth and James Robertson Justice as the Prince of Wales.

Also in the cast are Genevieve Page, Ivan Desny, Maurice Teynac, Andréa Parisy, Mony Dalmès, Moustache, Fabienne Dali, Roger Pigaut, Bernard Lajarrige and Véronique Vendell.

There are two versions of the film: the International Version and the French Version, with scenes filmed both in English and in French, and the editing and the running time are different.

Mayerling is directed by Terence Young, runs 141 minutes or 127 minutes, is made by Winchester Productions, Les Films Corona, is released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1969) (US) and Warner-Pathé Distributors (1968) (UK), is written by Terence Young, is shot in Technicolor by Henri Alekan, is produced by Robert Dorfmann, is scored by Francis Lai and Khatcheturian and is designed by Georges Wakhevitch.

Marcello Mastroianni and Alec Guinness were the original choices for Rudolf and Franz-Josef.

RIP Omar Sharif, who died at the age of 83 on 10 July 2015.

RIP French composer Francis Lai, who died at the age of 86 on 7 November 2018. He won an Oscar for Love Story and wrote the beguiling theme for A Man and a Woman.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8477

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