The 1957 version stars Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer, Raymond Massey, Diana Wynyard, Basil Sydney, Judith Evelyn, Isobel Elsom, Lorne Greene, Nancy Marchand, David Opatoshu, Suzy Parker, Nehemiah Persoff, Pippa Scott, Monique van Vooren, and Lilia Skala.

[2] The New York Times wrote that "a more pallid or elementary version of Mayerling would be difficult to imagine.

Although the program cost more than $500,000 — at a time when the per capita income of Americans was about $2,000 — the kinescope budget was a paltry $1,500.

Kinescopes have such poor quality that for many years they were thought to be unusable for modern video and television.

However, advances in digital technology have made it possible to master Mayerling from the original kinescope negative and print materials in high definition, which mysteriously brings out more details than could be seen with the naked eye watching the television broadcast.