Die Deutschmeister

....This was released in France (title: "Mam'zelle Cricri" )after Sissi had become one of the biggest blockbusters in the fifties Europa.But it was probably a blueprint : Three of the actors are already here (Romy Schneider and her mother;Josef Meinrad who would provide the trilogy with its comic relief)and even Francis-Joseph,but an old one(79),and the heroine has a scene with him ,which is almost surrealistic,when you know what comes next.

I saw this when I was a child ,and I must admit that,unlike Sissi which retains a certain freshness, a certain magic ,"die Deutschmeister" seems straight from the ark today;there are several subplots,none of which is really interesting.

If the emperor is 79,it means that the story takes place in 1909 five years before WW1.Who could have predicted that pretty soon these nice majesties (Francis-Josef and Wilhem from Germany),along with their Russian,French and English counterparts would plunge their youth into slaughter? There are many songs (it's actually a musical) and even a military march written by Romy's squeeze.And Mrs Schneider senior's bakery displays mouth-watering Viennese pastries.