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| Ludwig | 
 enlarge | Actors: Romy Schneider, Silvana Mangano, Helmut Berger, Trevor Howard, John Moulder-brown
Studio: KOCH Lorber Films
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.98
Buy New: $22.26
You Save: $17.72 (44%)
New (32) Used (10) from $22.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 14674
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Italian (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 238
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 0.6
MPN: KCHDKLF3087D
UPC: 741952308799
EAN: 0741952308799
ASIN: B001C0I626
Theatrical Release Date: 1973
Release Date: October 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new and factory sealed. Most orders shipped within 24 hours directly from our warehouse.
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Product Description
Studio: Koch International Release Date: 10/14/2008 Run time: 238 minutes
Amazon.com
Modern movies are short on elegance, but Luchino Visconti's Ludwig has elegance to burn. It's not only the sumptuous and scrupulously realized depiction of 19th century royal ceremony and trappings, which gleam with old world glamor; it's also Visconti's long, fluid scenes and the subtle play of emotions in the faces of beautiful Helmut Berger (as Bavaria's King Ludwig II) and even more beautiful Romy Schneider (as his cousin Elisabeth, Empress of Austria). From his coronation to when he was deposed due to mental illness, Ludwig was a sad, eccentric figure, obsessed with the mythic operas of Wagner (played by Trevor Howard, Brief Encounter) and building fantastic (and woefully expensive) castles. Ludwig follows the monarch's slow collapse with compassion and nuance. The movie is full of odd, languid scenes, such as when Ludwig, lying in bed, has a visiting actor deliver a romantic speech over and over--Berger's haunted face and the buzz of servants constantly tending to his whims make this sequence both comic and unsettling. Many will find this four-hour-long movie hopelessly slow, but Visconti's portrayal of the strange, arid life of royalty--indulged and lavish, yet deprived of meaning--has a hypnotic power. The dvd includes an excellent documentary about Visconti (who also directed The Leopard and White Nights) and another about actress Silvana Mangano (who also appeared in Visconti's Death in Venice). --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Visconti's magnificent epic, as good as The Leopard, lovingly restored.... December 8, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Hooray! Koch Lorber has decided to restore this magnificent, terribly underrated and misunderstood masterpiece by Luchino Visconti, one of my favorite Italian filmmakers. This is the full length, four hour version. When it was released here in the states initially, it was cut almost in half to two measly hours, which destroyed Visconti's stately pace and vision. Even the VHS copy (which ran about 10 minutes shorter than this copy) was in the wrong aspect ratio (it was 1.85:1), and it cropped Visconti's excellent framing. This DVD is in the proper ratio (2.35:1), it's at the proper length (there is no six hour version as some have said on this thread), and the transfer looks magnificent.
This is a sad, poetic, elegaic film that has scenes which are often startling in their poetry and beauty. Despite Ludwig's sheltered and indulgent life, he is vastly unhappy, indulging in fantasies and building extraordinary castles (many of which still remain in Bavaria). Visconti portrays him with sympathy and empathy, and has made one of his greatest films. Helmut Berger is excellent as Ludwig (Visconti had great taste in actors as well as lovers), Romy Schiender is wonderful as Ludwig's cousin (whom Ludwig loves), and Trevor Howard is great as Richard Wagner. It has some of the most exquisite, painterly cinemtography in any Visconti films. You really owe it to yourself to see this great film, whose reputation should soar after people see this DVD.
The DVD has a few documentaries, including one called Luchino Visconti: Life as in a Romance. It's a rehash of a documentary that appeared on its own DVD called Luchino Visconti: A Portrait. It's a poorly made, very short documentary, and doesn't even get close to the brilliance of Visconti or any of his works. It's an extraordinarily superficial work. The other documentaries are slighly more interesting, though I've seen better special features on DVD. Regardless of the disappointing special features, the film Ludwig is worth watching and owning. It's one of Visconti's most extraordinary films, arguably his last masterpiece.
 English version of Ludwig November 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I saw LUDWIG with English Dialog in the 1973 MGM domestic release.
The NYC premiere was reported to be in English. Has anyone noticed that the lip movement is in English....Has a lip-reading expert seen this film, and is still convinced the original "shooting language" was Italian ?
Where is the English track for this release ?
Visconti's lesser known major opus October 26, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I'm so glad this film finally has been re-released in the American market.
The scope, cinematography, and character development is excellent. The gradual deterioation and dethronement of Ludwig is very well represented.
The question as to whether Ludwig is a genius or a madman- or a combination of both- is handled sensitively and intelligently. The portrayl of his enduring love of his cousin (Romy Schneider in one of her finest and most controversial roles) is excellent, as is the portrayl
of the wily genius, Richard Wagner (played masterfully by the veteran British actor Leslie Howard: more than 35 years after playing a major role in the Humphrey Bogart/Bette Davis Classic "Petrified Forest.)" Ludwig, played adroitly by Helmet Berger. is victimized by a lack of royal mentoring and the very common inbreeding that often afflicted European royalty. All in all, the historical representation is enlightening as exemplified by the backdrop of Bismark's consolidation of the disparate German kingdoms into modern Germany in 1870. I was ALSO impressed by the representations of Ludwigs castle without rooms, and his underground grotto with swan boots in a spring. The film gets pretty bizarre at times, and the ending in particularly puzzling and strangely justified.
I've seen this four times and each time I find something new and interesting. On the other hand, the film is long with subtitles which may turn off much of the American audience. I feel this movie is most like another Visconti masterpiece "The Leopard." which also depicts the
demise of the preeminence of European monarchies in the ninteenth century. Also the obsessive homoerotic element is remiscent of Visconti's
adaptation of Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice. For someone who loves first rate European "art films;" Ludwig is a real boon!
 This is the complete theatrical cut, it's NOT a cut version, people! October 18, 2008
22 out of 24 found this review helpful
The two comments about this being a cut version are misleading. This is the complete theatrical version as released at 238 minutes. There WERE various cut versions that the producers released without the director's approval, but this is not one of them. It's the version Visconti sanctioned to be released at the time. To speak of the only version worthy of release as being a 6 hour version is certainly a bit extreme. Would you refer to the approved theatrical release of Bergman's Fanny and Alexander as cut?
ludwig October 17, 2008
17 out of 23 found this review helpful
After having ordered much from Amazon in the past few months, and with a great deal of satisfaction for the quality of product and speed of delivery,I must express great disappointment with the movie Ludwig. After havng seen the original years ago and being led to beleive that this new realese was a restored version, I would not recommend the movie and advise Amazon to mention that it is a seriously cut version of the original Visconti masterpiece which I have awaited with great anticipation. Why short change yourselves and us with such an inferior, chopped-up productiion of a truly great work of cinema art????????????????????????
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