The Day That Shook the World

The Day That Shook the World
Directed by	Veljko Bulajić
Produced by	Vlado Brankovic Bohumil Pokorný
Written by	Screenplay: Stevan Bulajić Vladimír Bor Paul Jarrico Veljko Bulajić
Starring	Christopher Plummer Florinda Bolkan Maximilian Schell
Music by	Juan Carlos Calderón Lubos Fiser
Cinematography	Jan Curík
Editing by	Roger Dwyre
Studio	Jadran Film Barrandov Studios Kinema Sarajevo
Distributed by	USA Oliver A. Unger (in theater) VidAmerica (on VHS) Czechoslovakia Barrandov Studios
Running time	122 minutes
Country	Czechoslovakia Yugoslavia Germany
Language	Czech, Serbo-Croatian, English, German

The Day That Shook the World is the English language title for the 1975 Czechoslovakian/Yugoslavian/German co-production film called Sarajevski atentat. The film, starring Christopher Plummer and Florinda Bolkan is about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie in Sarajevo in 1914 and the immediate aftermath that led to the outbreak of World War I. When the only surviving heir to the Emperor of Austro-Hungary, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Christopher Plummer) was killed by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, on June 28, 1914, his death set in motion a chain of events which resulted in the First World War. This movie chronicles the events surrounding that death and its aftermath. The assassination gave the Germans and Austrians reason to fear that Russia was actively fomenting unrest in the Balkans, for Serbia was a bone of contention throughout the region.

The Day That Shook World got very positive reviews in the USA , but two negative reviews. Movie was dubbed in theatres (USA - English, Czechoslovakia - Czech, Germany - German ...).The New York Times said about the movie : "Unfortunately, their "Day That Shook the World" is a footnote to history that is rarely moving.". Movie up to this day hasn't aired on TV, just once in Czechoslovakia Television two years after its cinema release.

Release

The film premiered on 31 October 1977 in Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia with English language premieres in January 1977 in Britain and USA. American International Pictures released the movie in 1977 with English dub. Later in the 90's the movie was released VidAmerica to VHS.

Review

Despite an awesome title, "The Day That Shook the World," which arrived at the Festival yesterday, is more quaint than explosive. As a dramatization of the fulminating events leading up to and including the royal murders that triggered World War I, it is a fragmented revival of the past that evolves largely as a picturesque adventure rather than portentous, persuasive history.

Filmed well over a year ago on authentic Yugoslav locations, this "Day That Shook the World" appears to have been cut somewhat confusingly, for all of the obviously good, serious intentions of its little-known director, Veljko Bulajic, and his American scenarist, Paul Jarrico.

Although they focus in captivating color on the June 1914 assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his morganatic wife, Sophie, their plotters, the burning nationalistic issues and the regal machinations that led to that fateful day are touched on in a succession of brief, fuzzy intrigues. The hatred of Bosnian, Serbian, Muslim and other nationalities of Hapsburg dominance is merely indicated. And the backgrounds of the seemingly educated, mostly youthful student-conspirators are also glossed over.

If memory serves, photographs of the Archduke and his spouse were portraits of a rather heavy-set, mature couple, but in the persons of Christopher Plummer and Florinda Bolkan they are a strikingly photogenic, regal and loving pair. Mr. Plummer not only adores the equally loving, stately, brunette Miss Bolkan and their three children but also carries off official duties at military maneuvers and dinners with the same brashness he evinces in a mild clash with Franz Joseph, the irascible, octogenarian emperor.

Maximilian Schell plays the role of the tortured, eventually ill-fated, bearded revolutionary who trains the callow assassins, with simple, glum determination. Among the largely Yugoslav supporting cast, Irfan Mensur plays Gavrilo Princip, the young conspirator who fired the fatal shots. Like his colleagues, he is simply a harried type more involved in a series of escapes from detection by the police than in character delineation.

In guiding his fairly large cast, Mr. Bulajic has succeeded in creating a good deal of melodrama, some tension and a few tepid romantic interludes. And Jan Curik, his cinematographer, has captured the scenic charms of an operetta-like countryside and the visual qualities of vintage automobiles, colorful uniforms and sham battles with toy-like soldiers in maneuvers.

Awards

Movie won one award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in category Special Mention in 1976

Cast

• Christopher Plummer as Archduke Ferdinand
• Florinda Bolkan as Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg
• Maximilian Schell as Đuro Šarac
• Irfan Mensur as Gavrilo Princip
• Radoš Bajić as Nedeljko Čabrinović
• Ivan Vyskočil as Mehmed Mehmedbašić
• Libuše Šafránková as Jelena
• Otomar Korbelář as Franz Joseph I of Austria
• Wilhelm Koch-Hooge as Franz Conrad
• Jiří Holý as Erich von Merizzi
• Nelly Gaierová as Countess Langus
• Jiří Kodet as Morsley

External links

• The Day That Shook the World at the Internet Movie Database
• The Day That Shook the World at AllRovi
• http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9506EEDD1539E334BC4C51DFB766838C669EDE
• http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19750708&id=f5MuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y6EFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2817,2377963The Montreal Gazette - Jul 8, 1975
• http://books.google.com/books?id=PuQCAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA74&ots=5pUfQbKvXj&dq=florinda%20bolkan%20in%20sarajevo&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q=shook&f=falseNew York Magazine, Jan 31, 1977 - (Google Books, 7 October 2011)