CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

boblipton In one of those fictional Mitteleuropean kingdoms that Victorian writers were so fond of -- Graustark, Ruritania, Scythia-Pannonia-Transbalkania, but here called Austria-Hungary -- the Emperor's mother arranges for her son to marry her sister's eldest daughter. When he meets her second daughter wandering in the woods, however, they fall in love.The charming anti-Cinderella tale of Sissi based on history, sort of, but it is brought to the screen in its fairy-tale glory with shots of Schonbrunn Castle, Bad Ischl, lavish sets and costumes and 15-year-old Romy Schneider. Its nostalgia for the dead glories of a lavish court life, stuffed-shirt bureaucrats -- Josef Meinrad has a very funny turn as the incompetent major in charge of security -- is certainly fun to look at, so long as we remember that it's just as unreal as any Disney feature cartoon, even if there are no singing mice. If only the characters in this one didn't look so real.....

Sissi-Joe von Trappen Sissi is sometimes thought to be a rather silly name but that'sen quite besides the point-en jar? We have to bear in mind-en that this was the 19th centurion dafter they didn't quite think these things out. People then were too busy trying to invent electricity rather than thinking about decent names to call their children. And what about Franz? "Sissi and Franz" sounds a bit like "Tom and Jerry", except that they love each other and drink a lot of alcohol. In fact, I know some people who have heard that Sissi and Franz used to go for their holiday-sen in Ibiza and party hard over there. They used to go crazy. Luckily in the movie they cut out all the "inedaquate" parts and instead installed bits of schmooze over-romanticized mushy gaily plots such as "Oh dear, Herr Franz, please pick up a flower for me and I will be yours forever! Herr Franz, stop playing with Nintendo!". That is why I gave it a rather low vote. Siis was very inspiring - we will go hunting very soon, but we are hippies so we would rather kiss the deer instead of shooting it jar? - the grass was too green. For the next time, let's get back from this movie meant a lot to me. it left a permanent mark in my heart. it opened up a rivulet of fresh steaming passion that has been like a guiding light throughout my humble life. this movie set out my role models, revealing their most intimate thoughts and behaviors jar? when i met my wife, the love of my life, the light of my eyes, i was a Franz to my Sissi. And we went to Ibiza, and I picked up the flower, and we lived happily forever in the green hills of Vienna. i recommend every Bozen to watch this film.

Mark I know these films are considered by some purported high-brows to be of low popular-art form and saccharine emotions. They have historical inaccuracies and pander to the idea of what should-have-been, rather than perhaps quite what was. But-man oh man-they are extremely well-made and extremely enjoyable. There is nothing wrong with these films on a visceral or visual level.The production values in the sets and costumes and the magnificent outdoor locales makes these films really spectacular. But the very rich and cohesive performances by the cast are what keep these films alive. Above all Romy Schneider and Vilma Degischer as Sissi and Sofia playing the tension between the young empress and her formidable mother-in-law, are great to watch. Each has their own humanity and, actually, rich human qualities shine through in all of the other characters quite beautifully.Karl-Heinz Boehm is excellent as the young emperor torn between his love for the fresh and lively Sissi and duty to his by-the-book mother. And Magda Schneider and Gustav Knuth are warm and sympathetic as Sissi's parents.The restoration, recently performed on these films, has left them looking incredibly beautiful (on par with "Gone With the Wind"). And people are now able to enjoy these films in the U.S., as they have recently been sub-titled in English and given deluxe DVD transfers with bonus features. Apparently there was an assembled version made of all 3 films and dubbed-horribly-into English included in the set. But above all it is great to see them released here with a good translation and anexcellent DVD presentation.

TheOtherFool The fairytale of a young girl falling in love with a handsome emperor (king, prince, feel free to fill in) seems as timeless as can be, but this first Sissi movie doesn't quite make it... Schneider is cute, but that's about it. Comic relief from some sort of count is silly at best, and the movie drags on a bit at the end... You can't help thinking: just get married and be done with it! Only for the very romantic... I give it a 4/10.