Ludwig
- Director: Luchino Visconti
- Writer: Luchino Visconti; Enrico Medioli
- Producer: Robert Gordon Edwards; Dieter Geissler
CGiii Comment
A long and sometimes laborious affair.
Berger's Ludwig is wholly unlikeable.
There is no playfulness which you would expect from such a fantasist...who enjoyed building fairy-tale castles...it's all too dull, too sullen - for a King who lived in a land of make believe!
Visconti has included so many useless scenes that it is difficult, at times, to stay focused.
Too long - too joyless.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandonned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness.
Cast & Characters
Helmut Berger as King Ludwig II of Bavaria;
Trevor Howard as Richard Wagner;
Silvana Mangano as Cosima Von Buelow;
Gert Frobe as Father Hoffmann;
Helmut Griem as Count Duerckheim;
Izabella Telezynska as Queen Mother;
Umberto Orsini as Count Von Holstein;
John Moulder-Brown as Prince Otto;
Sonia Petrovna as Sophie;
Folker Bohnet as Joseph Kainz;
Heinz Moog as Professor Gudden;
Adriana Asti as Lila Von Buliowski;
Marc Porel as Richard Hornig;
Nora Ricci as Countess Ida Ferenczy;
Mark Burns as Hans Von Buelow