Customer Reviews

The Last Emperor

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

When I was informed that the Blu-ray of the deluxe 4 disc Criterion edition would be missing the extended cut of 218 minutes, I sent an e-mail to Criterion to confirm this information. I have included my e-mail and the response I received from Jon Mulvany at Criterion. I hope this helps in your decision if you are planning to upgrade to the Blu-ray.

Dear Jon,
I have long been a fan of your company and the fine treatment it gives to movies. I originally purchased one of my all time favorite movies, The Last Emperor earlier this year when it was given the deluxe 4 disc treatment, I was thrilled with all of the extras that were included. I was most impressed that both versions of the movie were included for me to chose from. When it was announced that it was coming to Blu-ray, I sold my copy and was waiting to upgrade. I was! I have learned that the 165 min. version is the only one that will be included on the Blu-ray and not the 218 min (my preferred version) cut. WHY, WHY WHY? I am sad to say, that if this is indeed really true, I will not be upgrading to the Blu-ray version since this would in fact be considered a step down from the standard DVD edition. Why give us a great product initially, but then short change us on the Blu-ray upgrade, How sad!!!

Michael Ruiz

Jon's reply is as follows:

Hi Michael,

When we made the special edition dvd of The Last Emperor, we pulled out the stops. The film won nine Academy Awards - from best picture and director to production design and editing. On top of that, it was the first international film of this scale produced in China, and that story in and of itself was extraordinary. In short, all aspects of the film merited attention and discussion. In addition to the director's cut of the film -- the original theatrical version -- we gave an entire disc to the longer Italian television version of the film for comparison. We also included an elaborate bound book and slipcase to hold the four disc set. Although the set was expensive, at $59.95, it was as close to definitive as we could make it, and we felt it offered good value.


When it came time to make the Blu-ray edition, we felt strongly that a single-disc edition containing all the added content of the four-disc version would offer our customers the best version of the film, the best value, and the best user experience. Having addressed the myth that the television version is the director's cut with our DVD box set, we didn't feel that including it as an extra Blu-ray disc was worth the added cost to the customer. Similarly, because the Blu-ray market place is still much smaller than the market for DVDs, the cost per copy of printing Blu-ray sized perfect-bound books would have driven the price of our edition up to a level we considered prohibitively expensive for consumers.


We also know that many or our customers already own the current dvd set. For them we are offering an upgrade program that will allow them to have the director's preferred version of the film on Blu-ray, while keeping the rest of the original package. Just send in your disc 1 and we'll send you the blu-ray disc for a $20 (+ $5 shipping and handling) replacement fee. If you are determined to have all the content of the DVD edition as well as the Blu-ray disc content, you could always go that route -- buy the DVD set and trade in disc 1 for a Blu-ray. In the end I think the cost would still be less than we would have had to charge to make an all Blu-ray version of our original edition.


I hope this helps you understand our thinking. Thanks, as always, for your support of Criterion.


Sincerely,


Jon Mulvaney

This review is not so much a review of the movie or this release in particular. It would seem that there will be no shortage of glorious reviews of this movie and I would just be adding my voice to the gale winds of appraise. I write this to clear up the common mis-perception that the longer cut of this movie is a director's cut.

The previously released longer cut of The Last Emperor which was released on DVD and subsequently labeled as a "Director's Cut" is in fact a longer, made for television mini-series version that was made to satisfy a particular distribution/production deal. Bertolucci himself has gone on record to say that the actual version of the film that he envisioned is the one that went out to theaters, thereby making the shorter "Theatrical Cut" the actual director's cut.

Being the huge fan of this movie that I am, I can't help but want more of this movie, but I'd be lying if I said that the shorter version isn't great just as it is. The movie does not lose any of its magic without the added content. I've given this review a 4 star rating because of the completist in me. If there are two versions of a movie out there. I would enjoy the option of playing the version that I want. Criterion did so with their DVD release, but failed to do it with their Blu-ray release. Welcome to double-dip country. As of this writing, I still have not determined if I shall fall prey to their marketing ploy since I have been waiting so long for a good transfer of this film.

This is not a rating of the film, which is excellent, but of this particular edition.

Unfortunately Criterion fell into the same trap that the producers of the previous "Apocalypse Now" DVDs did. They allowed Vittorio Storaro, the original cinematographer, to tamper with the widescreen image. Storaro has been on a crusade for the last few years to advocate 2.00:1 as the most desirable widescreen aspect ratio. This is fine if applied to new productions but, disastrously, he wants to demonstrate his passion for this by going back and chopping up movies he worked on in years past. Despite whatever care he may have taken in this project, it is painfully obvious in many scenes that some of the screen image has been cropped from the sides. I compared this to the scenes in their original ratio of 2.35 and there is significant information missing. In tight scenes inside cars you often lose portions of people seated on either side of the picture. The worst for me, though, was what happened to a couple of the breathtaking scenes where the child emperor is viewing the large assembled crowd of his subjects. In the original framing you can see the complete perfectly symmetrical formations filling the screen and perfectly tapering off right at the edges of the picture. In this version chunks of that image are chopped off on either side and a lot of the power and beauty of the scene is diminished.

I had been eagerly anticipating this release but the butchering of the image took all of the joy out of it for me. Even though other aspects of the package such as the extras are very nice and well done, I ended up selling off my copy
I'm surprised and disappointed that Criterion let something like this happen.

Fortunately the new Apocalypse Now blu-ray has corrected the previous poor decision and is restoring that movie to its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio. I just hope that Criterion, or someone, will do the same thing somewhere down the line and give us a proper release of The Last Emperor.
It's been frustrating since the previous Artisan DVD was in the proper aspect ratio but the transfer itself was horrible. The visual quality of this transfer is a huge improvement but the picture is chopped. You just can't win

Sadly, Criterion's Blu-Ray edition of THE LAST EMPEROR has a quality control problem severe enough to note here. The DTS surround track has been incorrectly mastered in monaural for the first couple of hours into the picture. Hopefully Criterion will correct the problem on subsequent prints, otherwise their standard dvd version is the one to own for now.

The one bad apple in The Criterion Collection Blu-ray releases. There is hardly any difference between the blu-ray edition and the SD DVD edition. All the special features in the SD DVD you get in the blu-ray in a digipak (a really crappy one at that), however, you do not get the extended edition of the movie that came in the SD DVD. The one saving grace is that on amazon the Blu-ray is cheaper that SD DVD. I recommend that you pay a few dollars more for the SD edition which comes in a really nice digipak and a better booklet thats on the blu-ray.

The news is that the transfer was approved by the cinematographer - what was he thinking?!?! Despite the crappy blu-ray transfer, the aspect-ratio is not what was in the original release.

By the way, the movie is great and you will enjoy it

I recently purchased this edition of "The Last Emperor" and was disappointed. Disappointed not in the brilliant visual presentation in Blu-ray but in the audio design!! On the jacket it says that it is Stereo surround but when I listen, it's basically monaural sound with all of it emanating from the center, not left or right or rear surrounds, but dead center. Also the aspect ratio is 2:00 and it's stated that it's from a 35mm source well that is a surprise!! Although the picture is an improvement over the grainyness of the tape, DVD and laser disc versions of this film--why couldn't this renowned company acquire a 70mm print since it's ratio is 2:00!? I almost feel like writing Criterion and addressing this problem. It doesn't bug me that this is the theatrical rather than the longer Director's cut that was released to Italian TV since I've already seen this version on a Japanese laser disc--it's the audio design that needs to be addressed!! So 4 stars for the visuals, but only 1 for the audio (the surround doesn't kick in until the last 45 minutes of this film!!).

I saw "The Last Emperor" a few years back and the movie has staid with me in many a positive way. I was truly amazed at the quality of the sets, the costumes and and the color throughout the movie. I had the feeling that we were seeing scenes shot in the Forbidden City itself. The tale is one that deserved telling because it gives us the story of China in the 20th Century.

The prime focus of the story, obviously, is the last emporer of China, Pu Yi. We are given ample time to see the Old China through the many facets of his seclusive life in a setting of grandeur. Every aspect of every scene shown reinforces the imagery of a world of imperial power totally seperated from the hundreds of millions subjected to his rule. When rebellion reached the gates, it was time to take the best offer and leave. However, a grandiose lifestyle dating back to one's earliest memory is not replaced by a modest town house. We watched the dethroned emporer drift into an aimless life of spoiled affluence. During the Japanese invasion, the conquering army installs Pu Yi as a sort of puppet emporer to give a semblance of authority to their control. Ultimately, Pu Yi falls victim to the Communist regiem that fells no need to treat the fallen emporer any different form any othe Chinese individual in need of re-education. In a sense, Pu Yi comes to represent everything wrong with the Old China and everything wrong with the New China. All of this takes place with occassional shifts in time between past and present.

The question arises as to what category this movie fits into; an historical drama or a morality play on how the mighty have fallen. In a way it is a combination of both. The visual experience of history in "The Last Emporer" is often breath-taking and the contemplation of the life of Pu Yi impacts us in a similar manner. Yet we may come away asking ourselves just what is the message of this nearly three-hour movie. I, for one, was not able to immediately answer that question. However, it seems that everything I have read or viewed about 20th Century China since has brought me back to "The Last Emporer". As I looked up this movie to write this review, I discovered that Bertolucci has released a "director's cut" edition of "The Last Emporer" that has added an other hour to the movie. This movie impressed me so much that i will just have to get that edition to see what I missed. What I got the first time around was simply outstanding.

This review refers to the Director's Cut Widecreen VHS edtion of "The Last Emperor"......

To start with, I just want to give a nod to all the reviewers who have reviewed the DVD edition of this film. This film, being such a great piece of cinematic history, was on my list of upgrades from VHS to DVD. After reading the reviews I discovered I was better off to hold on to my VHS for a while, so I pulled it out to give it a view.I found that this VHS edition which is in widescreen and IS the Director's cut was more than satisfactory.(although not the crystal clear picture you might expect from a good quality DVD). Hopefully a new release of DVD is in the works.Please read those reviews if you are thinking about the DVD.

"The Last Emperor" is a film of epic proportions, told in the form of flashbacks. Pu Yi(John Lone) a prisoner at the Foo Shoe Detention Center, brings us his life story through the form of a forced "confession". From the time he was three years old in 1908, and was chosen as the next emperor of China's "Forbidden City", to his death as a humble gardner in 1967, this unique story is one to behold.

As a child he is pampered and groomed to be the "Lord of Ten Thousand Years". He can do no wrong, others are punished for any mischief he might get into.As a young adult he is sent a British tutor,Reginald Johnston(Peter O'Toole) who will become his mentor until well into adulthood. He is never allowed out of the Forbidden City, even when he learns of the political upheaval going on in the outside world. He marries kindered spirit Wang Jung(Joan Chen). Eventually they are forced out of the palace, and must adjust to life in the world, including the arrival of WWII. Knowing no other way than how he lived inside the walls of his kingdom, he becomes a "puppet" emperor for the Japaneese in the newly proclaimed region of "Manchukuo". Wang Jung has difficulty adjusting to their new life and falls into a deep depression and resorts to opium to relieve her fears.Then ten years in the detention camp where he still does not seem to be able to cope on his own.And finally his transformation from an absolute monarch to a humble gardner.

The film is a magnificent piece of storytelling. Among the many international awards it recieved(too numerous to name), it was also honored with nine Academy Awards. Including Best Picture(1987), Best Director(Bernardo Bertolucci),Cinematopgraphy(Vitto Storaro) and Costume Design(James Acheson).The filming was actually done in "The Forbidden City", as well as locations in Bejing, Dalian and Manchuria.Bertolucci brings to us all the splendor and heartbreak of one man's historic journey through life.

The film runs over three and a half hours(2 tapes) with the over one hour of new footage added in this director's cut. You will not want to miss one second of it. A true masterpiece...enjoy....Laurie

also recommended;
Edward the Seventh

Gandhi

I must add my voice to those who are disappointed in the video and audio quality of this Blu-Ray release. When my fiancee and I sat down to watch this movie, she remarked, "Wow, this is beautiful photography. I bet it will look even better when we get it on Blu-Ray" . . . to which I had to reply sheepishly that this *is* the Blu-Ray.

I should have read the customer reviews here before purchasing this disc. Instead, I relied on the usual superior standards of Criterion releases to guide my purchase decision. Now that I learn that this release omits a lengthier cut of the film that's been included in previous versions as well . . . I'm just mystified that Criterion put their stamp on this disappointingly murky print of an otherwise beautiful and haunting work of cinema. I'll be checking the reviews for all further Criterion purchases now.

This is one of the worst Blu-Ray releases I have seen. There is so much grain in 98% of the movie that Criterion should be disgusted with their blatant opportunism.

I guess I won't be buying any of Criterion's Blu-Ray releases in the future until I see a Blu-Ray review confirming whether or not Criterion chose to release a DVD version on Blu-Ray or actually mastered a new version from the original film itself.

Don't waste your money on this garbage release!! Especially if you already own the DVD version which actually has less grain/noise. The small amount of added details in the occasional close up scenes do not even come close to making up for the distraction caused by the sheer volume of grain/noise. If you have a decent video setup at all, you will find yourself constantly distracted by the noise particles all over your screen.

Shame Criterion! Shame! You owe everyone who bought this a full refund or a rerelease. Even the original Blu-Ray releases of Stargate and 5th Element weren't as annoying, because at least they had the excuse of inadequate time to get the early Blu-Ray releases out, and after the fact they allowed us to send in our initial release versions for re-mastered copies of the films after the fact. Criterion has no excuse, they need to rerelease this properly and give everyone who bought a copy a chance to send it in for an exchange...