READ THIS FIRST: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!
Laserdisc Title: "THE LAST EMPEROR"
Edition: Fullscreen Edition (Triple-Disc Set)
Directed By: Bernardo Bertolucci
Starring: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'toole, Ruocheng Ying, Victor Wong
Special Features: ---Full Feature Format (CAV) Standard Play (CAV) Format - All laserdisc functions are available including freeze frame, slow and fast motion, random access--- Production / Year: 1987 Hemdale Film Corporation
Running Time: 164 Minutes / Color
Audio Format: Digitally Mastered, Hi-Fi, Dolby Surround, Stereo, CX Encoded
Video Format: NTSC, CAV (Standard Play)
Miscellaneous Features: Rated PG, Closed Captioned
Distributed By: Nelson Entertainment
Catalog / Spine Number: 77506
Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Excellent - Hardly noticeable to very minor hairline surface swirls, if any
Jacket: Excellent - Original outer plastic shrink wrap still partially intact
Synopsis:
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 Forbuyden 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. This film tells the story of Pu Yi, the last Emperor of China. It is a long, quiet, detailed film, that focuses on how Pu Yi was molded to completely not fit in with the times and the needs of China. He is a virtual bank-vault of contradictions. What if you are the Emperor of a country that no longer wants an emperor? What if you are raised being repeatedly told that you can have anything you want, but you are also a prisoner in your own home and not even allowed to be with your family? What if you are worshipped and doted upon a household of servants, who are actually parasites living off their royal duties? What if you are told you are being given a full education, but are never allowed to interact with other children, taught how to ride a bike, or allowed to see what is beyond the walls around you?
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