Ludwig **** (1972, Helmut Berger, Romy Schneider, Trevor Howard, Silvana Mangano, Helmut Griem, Gert Frobe, John Moulder-Brown) – Classic Movie Review 2234

Luchino Visconti’s masterly 1972 romantic historical film Ludwig is a gorgeous, extravagant, stirring toast to the mad 19th-century Bavarian king Ludwig II and to the handsome and magnetic star Helmut Berger.

Co-writer/director Luchino Visconti’s masterly epic 1972 romantic historical work Ludwig is a gorgeously filmed, wildly extravagant, often very stirring biopic of the mad 19th-century Bavarian king Ludwig II.

It is Visconti’s toast to Ludwig as a romantic hero and to the startlingly handsome and magnetic Helmut Berger, who is appropriately rather decadent-looking and suffers magnificently as the king, ruler of Bavaria from 1864 to 1886.

Opening with Ludwig’s mysterious in 1886, the movie looks back over Ludwig’s succession with his crowning in 1864, his love relationship with his Austrian cousin Empress Elizabeth (Romy Schneider), his sponsoring of the work of Richard Wagner (Trevor Howard) and moves on to being troubled by his gayness, building castles, taste for the baroque and finally descent into madness.

The main performances are highly fetching, with Silvana Mangano as Cosima von Bülow, Gert Fröbe as Father Hoffmann, Helmut Griem as Count Dürckheim, Umberto Orsini as Count von Holnstein, and John Moulder-Brown as Prince Otto also starring.

It is ideal material for the director, his actors and his audience. And, if the performers seem to be enjoying themselves, Visconti seems to be enjoying himself too in an infectiously indulgent manner.

The production designs and art direction by Mario Chiari and Mario Scisci are marvellous: Ludwig’s real castles are fleshed out with gloriously extravagant period sets at Cinecittà’s studios in Rome. Piero Tosi’s beautiful costume designs were Oscar nominated and Armando Nannuzzi’s Technicolor cinematography has stunning results.

The well-edited 185-minute original release version is ideal, especially on TV, but the full version even at 246 minutes never outstays its welcome. Just sit back and enjoy a glorious wallow.

Also in the cast are Sonia Petrova, Isabella Telezynska, Folker Bohnet, Heinz Moog, Adriana Asti, Marc Porel, Nora Ricci, Mark Burns and Maurizio Bonuglia.

It was filmed in Munich and surrounding parts of Bavaria, and at Cinecittà Studios, for six months. starting in late January 1972. Visconti suffered a stroke on July 27, 1972 during the last stages of production.

As with The Damned and Death in Venice, it was shot Ludwig in English to accommodate the mixed cast of German, English, and Italian speakers. Many scenes were shot silent and the actors looped their lines in post-production. The German-speaking cast dubbed their own lines for the German version, but Helmut Berger was replaced by another actor because of his Austrian accent. And he was dubbed by Giancarlo Giannini for the Italian version. Given that, Berger’s performance is a triumph of silent film acting.

The aristocratic Visconti was a distant relative of Ludwig II and was attracted to the story of the loner aesthete monarch as ‘the last absolutist ruler who preferred to rule with art rather than politics’.

Director Hans-Jürgen Syberberg’s Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King was released the same year.

The film uses orchestral pieces by Richard Wagner (excerpts from Lohengrin, Tristan und Isolde, and Tannhäuser), Jacques Offenbach, and Robert Schumann. It features a performance by Franco Mannino of the unpublished original piano composition by Wagner, Elegie in A Flat Major, his final work for piano.

Romy Schneider previously played Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the 1955 film Sissi and its two sequels.

The main cast are Helmut Berger as Ludwig II of Bavaria, Romy Schneider as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Trevor Howard as Richard Wagner, Silvana Mangano as Cosima von Bülow, Gert Fröbe as Father Hoffmann, Helmut Griem as Count Dürckheim, Umberto Orsini as Count von Holnstein, John Moulder-Brown as Prince Otto, Izabella Teleżyńska as the Queen Mother, Marie of Prussia, Sonia Petrovna as Princess Sophie, Folker Bohnet as Josef Kainz, Heinz Moog as Professor Bernhard von Gudden, Adriana Asti as actress Lila von Buliowski, Marc Porel as Ludwig’s servant Richard Hornig, Nora Ricci as Countess Ida Ferenczy, Mark Burns as Hans von Bülow and Maurizio Bonuglia as Ludwig’s servant Mayer.

Helmut Berger at the time of Ludwig in 1972.

Austrian actor Helmut Berger [Helmut Steinberger] was born on 29 May 1944 and died on 18 May 2023, at the age of 78. He received a special David di Donatello award for Ludwig, and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for The Damned.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,234

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/