Customer Reviews

Essential Art House: Mayerling

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

One of the greatest love stories ever to grace the screen, a bittersweet and poignant romance between a star-crossed Austrian Prince and his adoring mistress. MAYERLING is a touching masterpiece; a poetically tragic romance, the kind of which seem obsolete in movies anymore. Only Boyer could have played the doomed Rudolph so expertly and with such incisive understanding: he becomes the part and gives a majestic portrayal. Darrieux is tender and electric as the sad young woman who chooses death to be with the man she loves. The success of the film lies in its manner, not its matter. There have been many recognition-scenes, such as the one at the ballet where Danielle Darrieux as Marie Vetsera becomes aware that the prince in the royal box is indeed the young man of yesterday's carnival! It was a compliment on Miss Darrieux's acting to remember more scenes involving her than anyone else; her American debut was certainly promising. This in no way detracted from Boyer's brilliant performance as the temptestuous Rudolph which, it suffices to say, is a finished job. The completely excellent cast included Suzy Prim (!)as the comic Countess Larisch, Jean Dax as the glazed-eyed Emperor, Marthe Regnier as the conventional and unsuspecting mother and Debucourt as the implacable spy-director. Directed beautifully by Anatole Litvak.

Mayerling has been released a number of times by crummy companies specializing in PD movies. That's why the AV quality has always been awful. The recent rerelease by Criterion in 2009 is an official one and this the quality is great. So buy that one. If you see bad reviews, the buyer got one of the substandard prints of this movie.

Watching this video, or, more accurately, trying to watch it, has to be one of the worst disappointments I've ever encountered on home video. The performances, photography, writing, and direction are absolutely first class. But the manufacturers of the video should be ashamed of themselves for releasing the film in this condition--the soundtrack (at least on this print) has deteriorated horrendously---it has the worst sound of any 1930's movie I have ever seen.Entire syllables are inaudible; the sound fades in and out like a bad shortwave radio connection. The bad quality of the sound has to be heard to be believed, and what's even worse, the music track seems relatively unaffected-only the dialogue suffers. The box proudly proclaims that the subtitles in this French film have been digitally improved. One wonders why they didn't pay more attention to the sound. I hope that there are better prints of this 1936 "Mayerling" (long unseen on television-especially since the 1968 English-language remake) still around. If not, and if that is one of the reasons it hasn't turned up on TV, then it is one of the great tragedies of film preservation.

UPDATE (2011): I have just seen part of the Criterion DVD of "Mayerling" online, and while the sound is far from perfect, it has been greatly improved. You can hear all of it, and it no longer fades in and out like a badly tuned radio.

Mayerling doesn't deserve this treatment. Boyer (who I'm not a big fan of) is in his element as the domineering, passionate prince. Darrieux is exquisite as his lover. And the director Litvak does a stunning creative job of placing the camera just so, whether at an intimate beergarden or the royal opera. But...the transfer to this VHS tape is awful. Long sections are out of focus, the whole film is muddy and scratched, and half of the subtitles are below the screen. A great film, but please do not buy the wretched copy offered here.

The Sound track on this film is simply awful! I can't understand it. Every aspect of it is superior to the other version that is available except the sound track. The sound levels are all over the place from moment to moment. Whole chunks of dialogue are missing as Boyer's voice disappears for brief moments. This is a great and outrageous distraction. This more expensive version sounds as if it was recorded in a tin cup. I saw the other version, the $12.99 version, and don't remember its sound track being as bad as it is here. The things that bother me about that version were the poor picture quality and the badly placed, frequently off the screen, subtitles. This version is better in those qualities in every way, but the sound track is awful. Other than the bad sound track, this is a well-acted and superior historical romance with a tragic ending.

I got particularly interested in seeing this film after a recent voyage to Vienna - not only because the Prince's mother Empress Sissi is now such a hot commodity that a whole section of Hofburg is dedicated to her as "Sissi Museum", a new development since my last visit to the Habsburg's stronghold 13 years ago, but also because the word Mayerling is still quite around Viennese billboards, announcement poles, and other places of attention; only that it is another movie, with Catherine Deneve, is advertised. Yet I am pretty sure that this 1936 version easily beats modern soup opera, although it is funny to think that both films are in French!

It is interesting to observe that in Anatole Litvak's movie Empress Elisabeth is played by a middle-aged actress with no apparent beauty (Gabrielle Dorziat); she is a good-looking 50+ years old lady, as befits a 52 years old mother, as Empress Elisabeth was in 1889, of the 31 years old prince. There is nothing of a sugar-sweet-soupy character created later on and incarnated in Romy Schneider, with a cult of Sissi catching on and growing into today with much fanfare. Here she is just an obscure empress and quite a distant mother, selfish enough- which is much more true to her historic character.

Speaking of this version, Mayerling with Charles Boyer as Prince Rudolf and Danielle Darrieux as the young Baroness Vetsera, it is quite a masterpiece of cinematography. I read with amazement the other reviewers complains about the soundtrack - for me it is one of the strongest and most powerful points of the picture. The scene in the opera house with the music from "Sleeping Beauty" is so marvelously clever and suggestive of the young baroness struck by love for her Prince Charming; it is such an exquisite hint in the film towards the development of the events as a fabulous fairytale. And on a side note, one can notice how ballet as an art form progressed from those days - today they dance infinitely better than when the film was done - in 1936.

Next, we hear the opening accords from "Aufforderung zum Tanz" ("Invitation to the dance") by Carl Maria von Weber, written in 1819. For those who are familiar with these pieces of music, it brings incredibly powerful associations - of the utmost romantic love, of a fairytale, of sublime and beauty of idealized love. It is interesting to note that the same music was used by Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in "Le Spectre de la Rose" ballet in 1911, based on a poem by Théophile Gautier, on these two lines:

Je suis le spectre d'une rose
Que tu portais hier au bal.

And in the film the music starts when the young Baroness sees her Prince Charming, just as in the ballet the He-Rose appears in the girl's dream. It is incredibly witty used in the film.

It is difficult to believe the suicide story, in the same way as that of Ludwig II of Bavaria, or that "accidental" death of Princess Diana. These mysteries are invariably politically driven, and these characters are without a doubt are victims of conspiracy.

For that reason, it is difficult to read the ending as it is presented by the director; even if we believe Rudolf committed suicide, his murder of his young lover invalidates the whole notion of love; destroying the fairytale.

Should we believe that he was simply a psycho? It is hard to accept. Archduke Rudolph as Charles Boyer looks somewhat sinister, deceiving and secretly scheming, very much in the same way as a treacherous lover in Visconti's film "Senso" (1954), played there by another beautiful male Farley Granger, who in 1954 is as young and handsome as Charles Boyer in 1936; strangely, both play Austrians - Boyer plays Archduke Rudolf and Granger plays an Austrian Lieutenant in Venice of 1860s - not too far from archduke Rudolf's times ...

Charles Boyer's "emploi" seems to be this kind of cold and cruel lover - as he is in extraordinary film "Gaslight" and a great one "Earrings of Madame de..." (1953), where he is incidentally co-starred by Danielle Darrieux encore. Yet I think he is a more formidable actor, with much more unique personality on the screen than she is.

What is really strange, however, that the real Charles Boyer had committed suicide two days after his wife's death. "Goodness, that's awkward".

Apart from musings on what was the true story at Mayerling, the movie is a gem of cinematic art, made in a manner that is not to return.

Beautiful.

This film was made in 1935 and how well it has travelled. It was the film that got both Charles Boyer and Anatole Litvac, the director into Hollywood. Everything about it boasts quality from the sets, the costumes and of course the acting.

Charles Boyer was 36 when he played this role. He brings such quality and skill to his role. The decadence of life at court, a prince with no job and nothing to do. He had two friends whom he could trust and two servants whose loyaly was without question. Otherwise there was nothing except drink and women. He never met anyone who didn`t want something from him. Husbands sent their wives to him when they wanted a favour. The corruption, spying and the uselessness of his life was more than he could bear.

When he finally met the young woman who loved him for himself, his whole world changed and for a short time they were happy. When their affair became known in the Court, the Emperor and the Prime Minister wanted it stopped. Prince Rudolph refused which was the catalyst for the couple`s suicide.

Danielle Darrieux was the seventeen year old who loved the prince. The two stars are excellent in their roles and the whole film speaks of excellence and care.

Charle Boyer went on to have a huge career in Hollywood but his first love was always the stage and he returned there whenever he felt the need for change. His stage performances were mesmorising as he held the audiences in the palm of his hand. Although he and his wife lived in America, they returned to France quite often and he continued to make films there for the rest of his life.

I have just read his biography. He was a method actor long before the word was invented. Very intense, he spent most of his time, when filming, on his own, getting himself into the right frame of mind for his next scene. He left a huge body of work behind. He had four Oscar nominations. He didn`t win but what ability and consistancy to be able do that.

I was looking for the later copy of Mayerling; however, it had been pulled from distrobution. This a great movie even if it is from an earlier period. In many ways black and white has advantagies over color, and in this case I believe it works. It is a great story based on history of days passed. The only draw back was subtitles which takes away from concentrating fully on the movie. This is a great movie and I do recommend it for the real movie buff.

this cassettee was not clear and sharp as i was led to belive citing a "new video of mayerling " this copy is no better than one i bought a few years ago from notorious "e bay "
sub titles sink below the television picture so losing a lot of story line . so in all, very disapointed
sorryto have to state this but you asked my opinion

I always wanted to see this version after having seen the 1969 remake.
It was quite good i thought,Charles Boyer was very good as the tortured monarch and Danielle Darrieux looked very virginal indeed but probably not as breathtaking as Catherine Deneuve was in the later version. Not a masterpiece but a valuable
example of vintage French cinema...