Like the first two Marischka movies ,and although nobody sings in these movies,they are closer to operetta than to cinema.Maudlin and syrupy to a fault,they nonetheless retain a kitsch charm.I must confess I love this exponentional schmaltz.History is given a rough ride,this is an euphemism,although most of the events that are depicted here did happen: Sissi's brother did marry an actress, a misalliance,and the adorable little girl whom Sissi's mother pampers would later be Marie Larish who would play a despicable prominent part in the Mayerling tragedy.The Hungarian part would occur later in Sissi's life,(her son Rudolf was present) and Andrassy's flame was purely fictional.
While watching such candid pictures ,listening to lessons in wisdom and kindness,we almost forget that Sissi's fate was in fact a very dark one,and that her husband was still here when WW1 broke out.Afgacolor pictures are delightful and the ending is guaranteed to make the impressionable use two boxes of Kleenex.
Romy Schneider made a volte face after Sissi the third.She turned down a one million marks offer,and despite her mother Magda -who plays her fictional mother and who was the star of Max Ophuls's "liebelei",left for broader horizons:she was to meet Visconti and Welles at the beginning of the sixties.A far cry from Sissi.She played "Sissi " again in 1972 in Viconti's "Ludwig" and she used to say that the Italian master was the only one who showed Elizabeth as she was.
But Sissi is a dear memory ,particularly if you saw it when you were a child.You remember it like some kind of fairy tale in some faraway magic kingdom where every dream can come true.Or something like that.
