The Last Emperor (1987)

Bernardo Bertolucci does the nearly impossible with this sweeping, grand epic that tells a very personal tale. The story is a dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the emperors of China. It follows his life from its elite beginnings in the Forbidden City, where he was crowned at age three and worshipped by half a billion people. He was later forced to abdicate and, unable to fend for himself in the outside world, became a dissolute and exploited shell of a man. He died in obscurity, living as a peasant in the People's Republic. We never really warm up to John Lone in the title role, but this movie focuses more on visuals than characterization anyway. Filmed in the Forbidden City, it is spectacularly beautiful, filling the screen with saturated colors and exquisite detail. It won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. --Rochelle O'Gorman Amazon.com essential video

Blu-ray edition is not a direct carry over from the deluxe 4 DVD edition

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
January 5, 2009

"Director's Cut" versus "Theatrical Cut"

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. October 31, 2008

Previous reviews incorrect.

The shorter version of the film is the director's preferred version of the film. The longer version was a version he had cut for television distribution, and while its a shame that the extended version will not be included, rest assured that the shorter version is the director's cut of the film. October 11, 2008

Not Director's Cut on Blu-Ray DVD

I agree with the last reviewer. There's gonna be much controversy with this Blu-Ray release because the last release on standard DVD was so spectacular. The Blu-Ray release seems to only contain the 165 min. version as opposed to the 219 min. Director's Cut. It would make sense for Criterion to release both versions with all the extras since they normally contain all the bells and whistles. September 21, 2008

Not everything that shines is gold

I was swept out of my feet when I saw the movie more that 20 years ago. I bought it on VHS format. When it was released on DVD I dumped the VHS and bought the DVD format, then there was a second version of the movie and here comes the sad part. It was the original director's cut of 218 minutes (read 3 hours and 38 minutes). Dump the short version and buy the complete movie. Never regretted it. And what do I see now? The Last Emperor on Blu-ray? Far out! But there's a catch. Despite the bunch of documentaries, bonus material and interviews and so on, and so on, The Criterion Collection's edition on Blu-ray offers us a 164 minutes version of the movie. That's almost an hour less than the Artisan DVD edition I own. I don't get it. If Blu-ray offers us high definition quality and 8 hours of time, why not have the whole movie on Blu-ray DVD? There's plenty of room for whatever else they want to put in. I don't know if director Bertolucci agreed or not on that, but whoever decided to mutilate and desecrate the movie in this edition is a shame and tasteless ignorant (unless it is a mistake in printing the running time information). That's why I rate it only 3 stars. If you ask me for the movie itself, it is a 5 star 2 thumbs up movie not only for the director's superb work, but also for the cast, costumes, photography, locations, script, everything. You want to know what's the movie about? There's more than enough information about it everywhere. Read some of the reviews in Amazon for instance and for the time been buy the 218 minutes DVD edition of the director's cut. September 11, 2008

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