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The Last Emperor - Director's Cut
 
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The Last Emperor - Director's Cut (1987)

Starring: John Lone, Joan Chen Director: Bernardo Bertolucci Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Format: DVD
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)


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The Last Emperor - Director's Cut 3.6 out of 5 stars (99)
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Editorial Reviews

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Everything that was good about the 163-minute theatrical release of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor in 1987 is even better in this new 218-minute director's cut. By contrast, much that was peculiarly distant and lifeless the first time around isn't really better or worse in this edition. Conclusion: the net gains are considerable if you invest time to appreciate Bertolucci's full feeling for the odd story of Pu Yi, China's final monarch. You remember the saga: taken from his mother at the age of three, Pu Yi is brought into the enclosed walls of the Forbidden City to replace the real emperor. There he becomes a pampered prisoner and hollow symbol of an older monarchy that has since given way to a ruthless, 20th century republic. With his pining loyalists beheaded or kept at bay by armed soldiers outside the City's walls, Pu Yi is tutored by an English gentleman (Peter O'Toole) and wed to a kindred spirit (Joan Chen). Eventually cast from his gated paradise, Pu Yi (wonderfully portrayed in adulthood by John Lone) becomes, by turns, a playboy, a dupe to the Japanese, and a victim of China's cultural reforms and re-education programs. This longer cut largely top-loads the film with greater reason to feel compassion for the emperor, with his often wordless sense-adventure in the mysteries that could only be known to one little boy plunged into indecipherable alien decorum, robbed of self-determination and common sense by his infinite privilege. Added scenes (including some in the political rehabilitation camp where Pu Yi is held for a decade) fill out not so much added facts as density of experience. This improved The Last Emperor is richer in soul and a pronounced sense of Bertolucci actually directing this film in the most personal and profound sense. --Tom Keogh

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Customer Reviews

99 Reviews
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 (44)
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 (15)
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 (14)
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 (9)
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (99 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
62 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars DON'T EVEN CONSIDER BUYING THIS MOVIE ON DVD, March 9, 2003
By Nix Pix (Windsor, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
"The Last Emperor" is the Academy Award winning movie about China's last imperial ruler, Pu Yi (John Lone). Taken from his mother at the age of three and raised to believe in his own divinity as absolute monarch, Pu Yi?s marriage to Wan Jung (Joan Chen) is marred by her opium addiction and the tragic death of their only child and heir to the throne. Peter O?Toole appears as Reginald Johnston, English tutor to his majesty in the ways of diplomacy and the outside world. The film presents China?s Forbidden City as allegory for the pampered but caged existence of wealth and the destructive nature of absolute power. Eventually forced to flee his gated paradise, Pu Yi succumbs to the decadence of becoming a playboy, a stooge of the Japanese, and a victim of China's cultural reforms and re-education programs.

The film is a poignant, heart-breaking, tragic and sweeping saga that won, among its other award, the Oscar for best cinematography. But you'd ever guess it by looking at this DVD transfer. The 2:35:1 image has not been anamorphically enhanced and exhibits just about every digital anomaly that one can find on a poorly mastered DVD. There's edge enhancement, aliasing, fine detail shimmering, color smearing, tiling, color distortion, loss of fine details, extremely low contrast levels, disturbing halos and fading of the film?s negative. There are chips, scratches, tears and camera negative jitter. The audio is a rather dismal 2.0 mix. After viewing this travesty it is my sincere hope that whoever was responsible for mastering this DVD will never get the opportunity to be near such equipment again. There are no extras and no reason why anyone should invest in this DVD.
BOTTOM LINE: JUST DO NOT BUY THIS MOVIE! There's nothing to recommend the print used or the mastering employed to bring it to the small screen. If there was room to rate this disc as 'zero' stars I would have done just that. Unfortunately, 'one' is the lowest I could go.

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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking movie that deserves better treatment on DVD, March 28, 2001
By Cainz "cainz" (Lops Angeles, California USA) - See all my reviews
I'll make this review short and sweet. First off, the movie itself is derserving of all its Oscar wins. The acting is superb, the cinematography is breathtaking, and the story is significant if not moving. If you are a movie lover you will certainly appreciate the beauty and power of this film. So why only 3 stars? I simply can't give the DVD more than 3 stars, becuase quite frankly, this movie deserves a better film transfer and better audio on DVD. The picture is sub-par when you compare it to almost all the new DVD releases today, and the sound is a little better, but not by much. Perhaps the studio should revisit this title and clean it up with a loaded new special edition release with a squeaky clean anamorphic picture transfer with DD 5.1 and DTS sound to boast. This DVD's director's cut is also much longer than the original, which in my opinion, doesn't hurt the film at all, but it doesn't improve the film drastically either. So base your buying decision on the following fact: this is a masterpiece movie on a sub-par DVD transfer. To me, the movie was a must have DVD, which was worth the purchase price alone. Afterall, it is still better than VHS.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars technical quality destroys movie, March 8, 2003
By A Customer
I was very much looking forward to see the director's cut of "The Last Emperor". Unfortunately the quality of the DVD is so bad that it's not worth watching. After 15 minutes I shut it off because I could not stand it anymore. Hopefully someone will make a decent transfer of this movie to DVD, otherwise keep your fingers off if you own a projector or a decent widescreen TV.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this one!
If you enjoyed this movie as much as I did you will want it in you DVD library, however, be aware of the fact that there is a Chinese version which is in Mandarin. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Fred in NJ

1.0 out of 5 stars Yeah, what he said.
I agree 100% with Nix Pix. He said it all. I only wish to reiterate here. Amazing film but world's worst DVD transfer. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Corey Gunnestad

4.0 out of 5 stars Wait for the Criterion Editon!
It comes out at the end of February and well worth the wait. Search it out!
Published 21 months ago by A. J. Stavsky

5.0 out of 5 stars The Twilight of the Middle Kingdom
"The Last Emperor" tells the amazing true story of Pu Yi,the Middle Kingdom's last emperor. From its gripping opening sequence in which the young Pu Yi is torn from his mother's... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Amaranth

5.0 out of 5 stars The REAL DEAL!
This is the AUTHENTIC ARTISAN RELEASE of "The Last Emperor". The other DVD listings are for CRAPPY Korean and Chinese Counterfeit R1 Imports. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Disgusted

5.0 out of 5 stars A matter of history
I ordered this movie after visiting China. The location of this film is a wonderful memory of my visit and a beautiful story as well. The condition of the movie is excellent.
Published on October 17, 2007 by E. Stewart

3.0 out of 5 stars China's last emperor, Manchukuo's ONLY emperor
A sweeping story filmed in wonderful style. Even if you aren't interested in Asian history this movie makes Henry Pu-Yi into a human being, not simply a footnote in some history... Read more
Published on September 21, 2007 by James D. Crabtree

4.0 out of 5 stars Long but no "Titanic."
Visually spectacular and perhaps necessarily static, "The Last Emperor" limits the options of all but the most imaginative of directors. Read more
Published on May 11, 2007 by Samuel Chell

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining but probably more fiction than fact
I found this film, yes....long! I was so bored and depressed by the first 45 minutes that I stopped watching it. Read more
Published on April 6, 2007 by R. Swanson

5.0 out of 5 stars Fropm Sun Yat Sen to Mao Zedong
A very strange film about China. To look at the history of this country in the first seven decades of the 20th century through the exclusive eyes of the last emperor who lived... Read more
Published on March 29, 2007 by Jacques COULARDEAU

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