The Secret of Mayerling

The Secret of Mayerling is a French filmdedicated to Mayerling’s drama , directed by Jean Delannoy and released in 1949 .

Synopsis

A version of the tragic story of Rodolphe de Habsbourg and Baroness Marie Vetsera , who died in mysterious circumstances in Mayerling , near Vienna , Austria . Although the official thesis was suicide , there was also talk of political assassination , because of the Archduke ‘s support for the cause of Hungarian nationalism . Delannoy and his screenwriter Jacques Remy present the Archduke’s retirement in Mayerling as the preparation for a coup d’état which would have failed. The official services would then have murdered the couple by making up this execution in suicide.

Technical sheet

  • Original title: The Secret of Mayerling
  • Director: Jean Delannoy
  • Assistant Director: Pierre Zimmer
  • Scenario: Jacques Rémy
  • Adaptation: Jean Delannoy
  • Dialogues: Philippe Hériat
  • Sets: Raymond Druart
  • Costumes: Marcel Escoffier , Jean Zay
  • Photography: Robert Lefebvre
  • Sound: René Longuet
  • Editing: James Cuenet
  • Music: Louis Beydts
  • Régie: Roger Rogelys
  • Production: Claude Dolbert
  • Production Manager: Jean Velter
  • Production Companies: Codo-Cinema (France), Les Productions Claude Dolbert (France)
  • Distribution Companies: Les Films Marceau (France), Cocinor (France)
  • Country of origin: France
  • Original language: French
  • Format: 35 mm – black and white – 1.37: 1 – monophonic sound
  • Genre: drama , historical film
  • Duration: 117 minutes 1
  • Release dates:
    •   (Marivaux and Marignan cinemas in Paris)
    •  
  • (en) CNC classification : all public (operating visa o 8442 issued)

Distribution

  • Jean Marais : the archduke Rodolphe
  • Dominique Blanchar : Marie Vetsera
  • Jean Debucourt : The Emperor Franz Joseph
  • Silvia Monfort : Archduchess Stephanie
  • Jane Marken : Baroness Vetsera
  • Marguerite Jamois : Empress Elizabeth
  • Claude Farell : Countess Larisch
  • Jacques Dacqmine : Archduke Franz Ferdinand
  • Michel Vitold : Archduke Jean-Salvator
  • Denise Benoit : Anna Vetsera
  • Madeleine Foujane : the ambassador of Germany
  • Wanny : a socialite
  • Renée Thorel : a lady of honor
  • Raphael Patorni : Count Hoyos
  • François Richard : Prince of Saxe-Coburg
  • Charles Lemontier : Loschek
  • André Carnège : the doctor
  • Jean Toulout : Count Taafe
  • Léonce : a surgeon
  • Pierre Juvenet : a surgeon
  • Jean Ayme : the nuncio
  • Roger Vincent : a sculptor
  • Andrews Engelmann : the killer
  • Leo Massart : Archduke Albert
  • Gabriel Sardet : Archduke Charles-Louis
  • Marie-Laurence
  • Mag April
  • Renée Cosima
  • Simone Barillier
  • Michèle Brabo
  • Toni Grand
  • Jean Ozenne
  • Lucien Guervil
  • Victor Tabournot
  • Eugene Frouhins
  • Guy Henry
  • Étienne Aubray
  • Georges Lycan
  • Claude Ruida
  • René Worms
  • Daniel Mendaille
  • Léon Larive
  • Claude Bertrand
  • Célia Clairnet

Production

Casting

  • Madeleine Jaeglé, who was to be an extras in the film, recalls that Dominique Blanchar (Marie Vetsera) and Jean Marais (Rodolphe de Habsbourg) were lying on the hay of the cart of Martin Dierstein, another inhabitant of Mittlach 2 .
  • Françoise Piazza 3 : ” Silvia becomes for Jean Delannoy the Archduchess Stephanie, unfortunate wife of Rodolphe de Habsbourg. […] Absolute beauty of the first images: in the night, we take away the bodies of the lightning lovers, Marie Vestera and Rodolphe, interpreted by Jean Marais . The body of the young man is brought back to the Hofburg and that of Marie thrown to the mass grave. The dialogues are signed Philippe Hériat and Marguerite Jamois begins on the screen in the role of the Empress. Dominique Blanchar plays the role of Marie Vestera. She will become a great theater actress. “

Shooting

  • Shooting period: filming took place, with small means, from  the 4 .
  • Exteriors: valley of Munster , in the valley between Kastelberg and Schnepfenried ( Haut-Rhin ) The scene where Rodolphe and Marie stop in an inn to eat was turned in the forest house of Grand-Trait (Langenwasen), a hamlet of the commune of Lapoutroie ( Haut-Rhin ) 2 .
  • Interiors: Épinay Studios ( Épinay-sur-Seine , Seine-Saint-Denis ).

Home

Criticism is favorable, but the film will not make a long career, the public being more sensitive to the romantic thesis of suicide developed in the first version of Anatole Litvak : Mayerling , with Danielle Darrieux and Charles Boyer ( 1936 ).

Videography

  • The Secret of Mayerling by Jean Delannoy , René Chateau Video , 1 DVD Region 2 [ online presentation  [ archive ] ] : The publisher mentions “Full Version” (duration 110 min) In the film marketed in 1994 in VHS by the same publisher , the end was cut and it is missing seven minutes compared to the original, without the author, Jean Delannoy was informed 5 . The bias of the assassination is erased.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Duration announced by the CNC .
  2. ↑ a and b Jean Marais kept saying, “But, how beautiful it is here! ” . Source: Alsace [ archive ]
  3. ↑ Page 48 of his book: Silvia Monfort: Living standing ( pref.  Jean-Claude Drouot , Paris,) Editions Didier Carpentier ,, 146 p. ( ISBN  978-2841677191 , instruction BNF  FRBNF42429097 , online presentation  [ archive ] )
  4. ↑ Source: Film Library , shooting dates  [ archive ]
  5. ↑ Jean des Cars , Rudolph and the secret of Mayerling , Editions Perrin, 2004 .

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