Romy Schneider Movies

This comical mix up features a baron who falls for a young woman on her way to visit her aunt in Vienna. When he call to ask for the girls hand in marriage, he calls the wrong aunt about the wrong niece. ~ All Movie Guide

It took nerve for director Harald Braun to attempt an all-talking remake of F.W. Murnau's silent masterpiece The Last Laugh, though it can't be denied that Braun's version has its moment. Still, the remake, Der Letze Mann (The Last Man) lacks the originality and nuance of the silent film, if only because it is retreading familiar ground. In the earlier version, Emil Jannings starred as a proud, self-reliant hotel doorman whose whole world disintegrates when he is demoted to washroom attendant. In the remake, Hans Albers plays a headwaiter who is professionally humiliated when the ownership of the hotel changes hands. The Murnau version ended with an ironically comic coda, which may or may not have been a figment of the protagonist's imagination. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Trouble rears its ugly head when the young emperor and empress of Austria arrive in Budapest for their coronation. ~ All Movie Guide

17th century author Daniel Defoe is assisted by a group of children in this drama. ~ All Movie Guide

Christa Winsloe's novel Maedchen in Uniform was first filmed in Germany in 1933. The story, about a sensitive schoolgirl's lesbian attachment to her headmistress, was handled tastefully, albeit with remarkable frankness for its period. The 1958 remake is somewhat toned down and the material directed in a routine fashion, though technically the production has fewer frayed edges than the 1933 version. Romy Schneider stars in the old Hertha Thiele role as the student, while Lili Palmer takes over from Dorothea Wieck as the older woman. Made in 1958, the remake of Maedchen in Uniform was not released in the U.S. until 1965, possibly because it went against the production code edict concerning "suicide as a plot solution." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The political overtones in this action-oriented drama may be a little murky outside of its time and place, yet the story is well told. Clement (Jean-Louis Tritignant) is a right-wing rabblerouser married to aspiring young actress Anne (Romy Schneider). He belongs to an underground terrorist group determined to spread chaos among the Western nations in order to eventually gain political control and then expand their activities. At the moment, he is taking part in an assassination scheme aimed at a major labor leader that ultimately fails because of an informer. Clement takes off to find the culprit, leaving Anne in the care of his supposed friend Paul (Henri Serre). That turns out to be a mistake on several different counts. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

The trilogy on Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria and his queen Empress Elizabeth by director Ernest Marischka has been cut and spliced to make this interesting though slow-paced, two and a half-hour compilation costume drama. The tale starts out with the courtship of the future queen, known as "Sissi" (Romy Schneider, who made her screen debut in the first of the three dramas), an attractive and lively young woman. After Franz Josef (Karl Boehm) falls in loves and captures Sissi's heart, they plan their wedding and head into the topic of the second feature in the series, the coronation of Franz Josef in Budapest. Finally, Sissi is shown as being instrumental in helping to keep the peace -- or obtain it -- among the belligerent nations of Europe. The original titles of each of the three separate dramas were Sissi, Sissi, die Junge Kaiserin, and Sissi, Schicksalsjahre Einer Kaiserin. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Much of Orson Welles' latter-day reputation as an "unfathomable" genius rests upon his seeming unwillingness to tell a story in clear, precise fashion. Sometimes, as in such films as Touch of Evil, Welles' spotty storytelling skills can be forgiven in the light of the excellent visuals. In other cases, as in his 1962 adaptation of Kafka's The Trial, Welles'style comes across as empty virtuosity, precious and petulant when it should be profound. Anthony Perkins plays Joseph K, a man condemned for an unnamed crime in an unnamed country. Seeking justice, Joseph K is sucked into a labyrinth of bureaucracy (Welles once described the character as being a "little bureaucrat" himself, who deserves to be punished. This is never clearly expressed in the finished film). Along the way, he becomes involved with three women -- Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli -- who in their own individual ways are functions of the System that persecutes him.

While Welles considered The Trial one of his finest films, this enthusiasm is not universally shared; even his most fervent admirers have been known to emerge from a screening of the film with quizzical, disappointed expressions on their faces. On the plus side, Welles and his cinematographer Edmond Richard perform miracles in transforming an abandoned French railway station into the headquarters of a totalitarian, red tape-ridden society. It's also fun to hear Welles' voice emanating from several of the supporting characters (his post-dubbing budget was nil). All in all, however, The Trial never truly works; it is unfair, however, to lay the blame for this entirely on Welles, inasmuch as the 1948 and 1994 attempts to cinematize the original Kafka novel likewise came a cropper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Disgusted by the smarminess of his 1963 vehicle Under the Yum Yum Tree, Jack Lemmon vowed that his next effort would be a wholesome family picture. Good Neighbor Sam is suitable for all ages, to be sure, but that doesn't stop producer-writer-director David Swift from injecting plenty of double-entendre dialogue and harmlessly risque situations. Lemmon plays ad executive Sam Bissell, happily married to all-American blonde Minerva (Dorothy Provine). Anxious to land the Nurdlinger's milk account, Sam is carefully scrutinized by the prudish Simon Nurdlinger (Edward G. Robinson), a staunch advocate of old-fashioned family values.

Meanwhile, Minerva welcomes her old school friend, sexy Janet Langerlof (Romy Schneider) into her home. Janet is in line to inherit a fortune, but only if she's married. Unfortunately, Janet is currently separated from her insanely jealous spouse Howard Ebbets (Michael Connors), so big-hearted Minerva volunteers Sam to pose as Janet's husband. The ensuing comic complications come to a head when Nurdlinger elects Sam and Janet as the nation's ideal "married" couple, and posts their pictures on billboards all over town! Some of the smaller pleasures in this film are provided by Louis Nye as a high-tech private eye, Barbara Nichols as a squeaky-voiced call girl, Robert Q. Lewis as Sam's lascivious neighbor, and an uncredited Gil Lamb as a genial wino. An amusing running gag involved the Hertz "man in the driver's seat" commercials of the 1960s has sometimes been cut from TV prints of Good Neighbor Sam. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Passion, whether sex or violence, is the root of conflict in this film which follows as the alcoholic Mercouri and her husband Finch travel with their daughter and Schneider across Spain. Being married does not stop Finch from fooling around with other women, however, and an affair flares up between him and Schneider. But it doesn't just stop between these two--things start warming up between Mercouri and Schneider as well. ~ All Movie Guide