Sissi (1955) was filmed in some original places the Empress visited, including Schönbrunn Palace and the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl. The scenes of her youth on Lake Starnberg, however, were actually filmed at Schloss Fuschl at Lake Fuschl in the Salzkammergut region because Possenhofen Castle was in a poor condition at the time. The wedding celebration was filmed at St. Michael's Church, Vienna.
Sissi (1955) was viewed by 20 to 25 million people in cinemas. It is one of the most successful German-language films. The film was followed by Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956) and Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957). The director Ernst Marischka planned a fourth film, but Schneider refused to play Sissi any longer. A two-and-one-half hour condensed version of the trilogy was released in English under the title Forever My Love (1962). The trilogy is a popular Christmas television special, and is shown on channels in German-speaking countries, Hungary and Italy. The Empress' date of birth on Christmas Eve 1837 adds to the appeal of the film as a Christmas special.
Romy Schneider appeared 15 years later again as Empress Elisabeth in Luchino Visconti's film Ludwig (1973).
Forever My Love (1962) is based on the operetta "Sissy," music and libretto by Ernst Marischka and Hubert Marischka and Fritz Kreisler (Vienna, 23 Dec 1932).
An early film about the life of the empress was The King Steps Out (1936), a 1936 American light comedy film directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Grace Moore. Since the rights to the original play "Sissys Brautfahrt" by Ernst Decsey and Robert Weil aka Gustav Holm were bought from Marischka by Columbia Pictures, he bought instead the novel "Sissi" from Marie Blank-Eisman, published in 1952. Marischka then adapted the script based on the novel.
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