Diagonaldi Very well executed

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

boblipton In between saving the Austro-Hungarian Empire for her screen husband as Sissi, Romy Schneider took the time out to rule Great Britain in her own right. Hereshe humbly but effortlessly wins the hearts of all (except for her controlling mother, of course) with her fearless determination to read newspapers and do the right thing.In order to put her off from interfering too much with their running things, her ministers decide to marry her off to Prince Albert, whom she has never met; she objects, as does Albert. Fortunately, G*d watches over fools and constitutional monarchs, and they are both hiding out in the slums of Windsor, where rough seafaring men play Stephen Foster tunes, where they can meet cute and fall in love without interfering with the fiction that this was anything but a love-match in any version of reality.It's another of the cream-puff costume dramas that Ernst Marischka wrote and directed Miss Schneider in. Here, various high-class locations around Vienna stand in for various high-class locations around Britain. The Austrian audiences must have lapped up the luxury after the devastation of two world wars over forty years.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Mädchenjahre einer Königin" or "Viktoria in Dover" or "Victoria in Dover" or "The Story of Vickie" or "The Pursuit and Loves of Queen Victoria" is an Austrian German-language movie from 1954, so this one is already over 60 years old and to put in perspective this was the year when Sepp Herberger won the World Cup with his team, only you understand how long ago this came out. The director is Ernst Marischka and he worked together with actress Romy Schneider on many occasions, for example on the Sissi trilogy and this 105-minute-film we have here is a good indicator of things to come. The struggle with adapting to life as a royalty at a very young age, the different relationships with characters that have an impact on her life as the queen (soon to be) or finally the romance relationship with her future king: these are all aspects that play a major role in the Sissi films and they also play a big role in this movie we have here. You could actually say that these under 2 hours are Sissi condensed into one movie and you would be correct. At least partially. The real gravity and seriousness involving illness for example or children is missing in here and it's all a bit on the lighter side. There is also probably at least as much comedy as in the three Sissi films together in this one movie. But it is a trailblazer for the trilogy without a doubt, the action only switched from England to Austria then. Yeah what else is there to say. You will find many actors in here who also play in the Sissi films. One to mention would be Magda Schneider, Romy's mother, who starred alongside her in pretty much every project back then. Overall, I cannot say I enjoyed the movie too much. It suffered from problems that were fairly common in the 1950s when it comes to storytelling. However, I do believe the struggles here are different compared to the main problem of the Sissi movies. Both films/series are not really worth seeing, but for very different reasons. However, I would say that people who like Sissi will also like this one we have here. It's one for the easily entertained I guess. I personally give it a thumbs-down as there were too many moments (drama and comedy) where the film was not working well at all. I recommend to watch something else instead.

MartinHafer It's interesting that the DVD producers seemed to try to make people think this was one of Romy Schneider's immensely popular Sissi movies. However popular this trilogy of films was, this is NOT one of them but is a story of part of Queen Victoria's life--and has nothing to do with the Austria-Hungarian empress, though they both lived during the same period. Now because this is about Victoria, it is a tad confusing, as everyone's speaking German during the film. Her future husband, Albert, was German and she could speak the language, but in this film set in the UK and France it is odd hearing nothing but German! The film begins just before Albert and Victoria meet--but it is pure romantic fiction. The Princess is about to become queen when the film begins. Soon, King William dies and she is now queen. When she's told she must marry, she has no interest in a proposed marriage to a German prince (Albert) and instead takes off for a trip to France. On the way to Dover, by chance, she stops at an inn and meets a man who she falls head over heels for--not realizing it is Albert himself! It may sound like I am providing a spoiler, but this also is divulged in the summary listed on IMDb.If you think about it, the plot is very much like the plot of the first Sissi film--a member of the royalty longs for life outside court and ends up meeting and falling in love with their future husband. The big difference is what's not in the film--that Victoria practically worshiped Albert, whereas Sissi and her husband, Franz Josef, were about as compatible as a wolverine and a hyena! Also, you may notice that Romy Scheider looks and acts like she did in her Sissi films--and little like Victoria. So is it worth seeing? Well, yes...if you like romantic fluff. This isn't meant as pejorative--but the film has very little depth and isn't exactly a biography--more a story of the couple that COULD have happened...but didn't. If you are looking more for the real life of Victoria, try watching "The Young Victoria"--it's so much closer to the facts and lacks all the romanticism--which is good, since the real story of the couple is, in fact, quite romantic and sweet. Watchable but not a lot more.

Andres Salama In one of her first movies, Romy Schneider shines as young queen Victoria of Britain, as she is suddenly put into the throne at the age of 18, learns to govern despite the machinations of the politicians, and eventually romances and marries Prince Albert of Saxony. Kitschy and campy (though surprisingly faithful to the real events), this romantic piece is irresistible. Seeing this movie about British royals spoken in German adds to its quaint charm. On that front, one wonders why an Austrian movie was made about an English queen; but then one remembers that in 1954, Austria was still under occupation by allied troops, including British ones. Maybe this was one of the reasons for the existence of this film.