Director's cut
The Director's cut by Visconti was over four hours long, which the film's distributors deemed as too long. "Ludwig" was then shortened to three hours at the premiere in Bonn on 18 January 1973. The cutback was without Visconti's consent, but the director, who was in bad health after a stroke during filming, was not able to stop it. The depiction of Ludwig's homosexuality caused a controversy, particularly in Bavaria, where King Ludwig was admired by many Conservatives. Among the critics was Bavarian prime minister Franz Josef Strauss, who was also at the film's premiere. The distributors feared controversy and a further 55 minutes were cut from the premiere version, reducing the film to two hours. Scenes with homosexual hints and some of the more philosophical dialogues in the film were cut in order to make the film more popular with mainstream audiences.