The Day That Shook The World (1975)

On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Christopher Plummer) of Austria and his wife Sophie (Florinda Bolkan) were assassinated by a Bosnian Serb student (Irfan Mensur). It was this event that led to the outbreak of WW1. The film follows both the Archduke's final days and the students (there were six assassins in total) endeavors leading up to the assassination. Directed by Veljko Bulajic, one wouldn't think that such an important historical event would result in such a dull movie. The scenes involving the Archduke and his wife are fairly interesting but the scenes with the students fall flat. The film attempts to humanize the assassins but they come across as bland and not too bright. Surely, such dedicated terrorists (or revolutionaries if you prefer) would be more complex than the wholesome kids here. The production values are good and among the actors, Florinda Bolkan gives the strongest performance. With Maximilian Schell, Rados Bajic and Ivan Vyskocil.