Ludwig II of Bavaria, more commonly known by his nicknames the Swan King or the Dream King, is a legendary figure - the handsome boy-king, loved by his people, betrayed by his cabinet and found dead in tragic and mysterious circumstances. He spent his life in pursuit of the ideal of beauty, an ideal that found expression in three of the most extraordinary, ornate architectural schemes imaginable - the castle of Neuschwanstein and the palaces of Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee. Today, these three buildings are among Germany's biggest tourist attractions. Dan Cruickshank explores the rich aesthetic of Ludwig II - from the mock-medievalism of Neuschwanstein, the iconic fairytale castle that became the inspiration for the one in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty, to the rich Baroque splendour of Herrenchiemsee, Ludwig's answer to Versailles. Dan argues that Ludwig's castles are more than flamboyant kitsch and are, in fact, the key to unravelling the eternal enigma of Ludwig II.
Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, ...
In Montauban in 1944, Julien Dandieu in a surgeon in the local hospital. Frightened by the German ar...
Catchy mix of farce and documentary. Portrait of a Berlin theatre company made up entirely of the ho...
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who pred...
Theodor Hierneis oder Wie man ehem. Hofkoch wird consists of a monologue performed by Walter Sedlmay...
In 1812, during the French period, large parts of Germany are occupied by the troops of Napoleon. Se...
After a wonderful time in Hungary Sissi falls extremely ill and must retreat to a Mediterranean clim...
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan w...
Henry VIII has just married Marie of Normandy, and is eager to consummate their marriage. Unfortunat...
In the days of King Henry IV, stalwart young Myles and his sister Meg have been raised as peasants, ...
Documentary film with play scenes about the rise and fall of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republi...
During one of his campaigns, Malkoçoğlu Ali Bey was taken prisoner by Homer and spent years in a dun...
In the year 1215, the rebel barons of England have forced their despised King John to put his royal ...
“Let nature be nature” is the philosophy of the Bavarian Forest National Park. Despite massive resis...
The Count sets out to make a private room for him and his Countess, built in such a way no one can s...
North Face tells the story of two German climbers Toni Kurz and Andreas Hinterstoisser and their att...
Forced into exile by the English after being crowned King of Scotland, legendary warrior Robert the ...
Sir Walter Scott's classic story of the chivalrous Ivanhoe who joins with Robin of Locksley in the f...
Henry II and his estranged queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, battle over the choice of an heir.
Lola Montes, previously a great adventuress, is reduced to being the attraction of a circus after ha...