Sissi

Sissi is an Austrian romantic drama from 1955, set in the Bavarian and Austrian courts of the mid-nineteenth century. Elisabeth, known as Sissi, is the younger daughter of Duke Max of Bavaria, a free-spirited girl who prefers the outdoors to court formalities. Her mother takes her and her older sister Helene to Austria, where Helene is expected to become the bride of the young Emperor Franz Joseph, a match arranged by his mother, Archduchess Sophie. When Sissi and Franz Joseph meet by chance, without either knowing the other's position, they are drawn to each other, and the emperor's choice of bride defies his mother's plans.

Ernst Marischka directed and wrote the screenplay, with Karl Ehrlich and Marischka producing. Romy Schneider plays Elisabeth, Karlheinz Böhm plays Franz Joseph, and Magda Schneider, Uta Franz, Gustav Knuth and Vilma Degischer appear in supporting roles. The film was the first of three Sissi films Marischka directed in consecutive years, followed by Sissi: The Young Empress in 1956 and Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress in 1957, with The House of the Three Girls following in 1958.

Made in Austria on a budget of about six million dollars, the film runs 102 minutes. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 11,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 7.3 out of 10 from roughly 534 votes, indicating a generally favourable response from audiences across both platforms.