Product Details

• Actors: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor Wong
• Directors: Bernardo Bertolucci
• Writers: Bernardo Bertolucci, Enzo Ungari, Henry Pu-yi, Mark Peploe
• Producers: Franco Giovale, Jeremy Thomas, John Daly
• Format: PAL
• Language: English, Japanese
• Region: Region 2 (Read more about DVD formats.)
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Optimum
• Run Time: 163 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: B000216XSA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #49,773 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Last Emperor" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

United Kingdom released, PAL/Region 2 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital Stereo ), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: 2-DVD Set, Commentary, Documentary, Interactive Menu, Making Of, Special Edition, Trailer(s), Uncut, SYNOPSIS: The Last Emperor is the true story of Aisin-Gioro Pu Yi, the last ruler of the Chinese Ching Dynasty. Told in flashback, the film covers the years 1908 to 1967. We first see the three-year-old Pu Yi being installed in the Forbidden City by ruthless, dying dowager Empress Tzu-Hsui (Lisa Lu). Though he'd prefer to lark about like other boys, the infant emperor is cossetted and cajoled into accepting the responsibilities and privileges of his office. In 1912, the young emperor (Tijer Tsou) forced to abdicate when China is declared a republic, is a prisoner in his own palace, 'protected' from the outside world. Fascinated by the worldliness of his Scottish tutor (Peter O'Toole), Pu Yi plots an escape from his cocoon by means of marriage. He selects Manchu descendant Wan Jung (Joan Chen), who likewise is anxious to experience the 20th century rather than be locked into the past by tradition. Played as an adult by John Lone, Pu Yi puts into effect several social reforms, and also clears the palace of the corrupt eunuchs who've been shielding him from life. In 1924, an invading warlord expels the denizens of the Forbidden City, allowing Pu Yi to 'westernize' himself by embracing popular music and the latest dances as a guest of the Japanese Concession in Tientsin. Six years later, his power all but gone, Pu Yi escapes to Manchuria, where he unwittingly becomes a political pawn for the now-militant Japanese government. Humiliating his faithful wife, Pu Yi falls into ba...The Last Emperor (Theatrical and Director's Versions) ( L' Ultimo imperatore ) ( Modai huangi )

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Last Emperor as seen through the eyes of Bernardo Bertolucci, November 23, 2011

By 

Harald Jan "Haroldsworld" (Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Emperor (DVD)

The film "The Last Emperor", as seen through the eyes of the talented Italian film maker Bernardo Bertolucci, is not an accurate presentation of Pu Yi the last Emperor, and was never meant to be. Bertolucci's film has all the temperament and grandness of an Italian made Opera performed at La Scala. It is HIS film, just as much as the films made by another famous Italian film director Federico Fellini are HIS way of telling a story through his own eyes. In September 2003 I came to Shenyang, the industrial hub in North East China, in earlier times called Mukden, in Manchuria. I had come specifically to visit the Imperial Palace, the residence of the real last Emperor Pu Yi. But, being the flamboyant Italian Latino Bertolucci was, he decided to move the whole film set to Beijing where the Imperial Palace and the Forbidden City, its roofs and gardens where even more grandiose than the Imperial Palace in Shenyang (Mukden). For me it was a great pleasure to be there and walk through the yards and buildings with its Imperial yellow colored stone roofs. I 1977 I made a research tour to Rome's famous film making place "Cinecitta". It lays some kilometers outside the Capital. There, for the first time I could see with my own eyes the film set of Federico Fellini's epic film "Rome" and "Satyricon", the latter being made some years before; some of the film set still standing there to be admired. The film by Bertolucci is a master's piece of work, a director with exceptionally high quality standards with regards to visualization and drama. People interested in the history of Manchuria and the Second Japanese-Chinese war as well as Pu Yi must see this film. I also recommend reading the book about the last Emperor, which one can find here on Amazon.