Rating: 
Summary: DON'T EVEN CONSIDER BUYING THIS MOVIE ON DVD
Review: "The Last Emperor" is the Academy Award winning movie about China's last empirial ruler. It's a poignant, heart-breaking, tragic, sweeping saga that won, among its other award, the Oscar for best cinematography. But you'd ever guess it by looking at this transfer. The 2:35:1 image is not anamorphically enhanced and exhibits just about every digital anomoly that one could hope to find on a poorly mastered DVD. There's edge enhancement, aliasing, fine detail shimmering, color smearing, tiling, distortion, loss of fine details, pathetically low contrast levels, disturbing halos and faded film negative cuts with chips, scratches, tears and camera negative jitter abounding. The audio is a rather dismal 2.0 mix. This is just one nasty piece of work all around. I hope whoever was responsible for mastering this DVD never gets near the equipment ever again. They simply don't know what they're doing. NO EXTRAS - as if after all that, any would make a difference. 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.
Rating:
Summary: technical quality destroys movie
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Historic Epic....Cinematic History....
Review: 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
Rating: 
Summary: The Long Emperor
Review: 1987's The Last Emperor is the vast and sprawling epic about the life of Pu Yi, who was the last emperor in China. Pu Yi ascended to power at the age of three and is taken to be raised behind the walls of the Forbidden City. He is tutored by an Englishman, Reginald Johnston (Peter O'Toole), who is respectful yet not afraid to admonish the boy emperor and they develop a bond. Pu Yi also develops a bizarre attachment to his wet nurse. Pu Yi is nothing more than a symbol and figurehead and he is the last vestige of the old way of life in China. Outside the walls of his city, China is changing and he eventually becomes a victim of the cultural changes and reforms that occurred in the first part of the 20th century. John Lone portrays Pu Yi as an adult and Joan Chen is Wang Jung, who is his arranged wife, but they grow to truly love one another. Both actors are very good in their respective roles. The film was long upon in its initial release, coming in at just under three hours, but this new director's cut adds almost another hour of additional footage. Bernardo Bertolucci is the film's director and he crafted a magnificent looking film, with expansive sets and ornate sets, but the film is slowly paced and the additional hour only makes it much more tedious. It is a good film, but not one that deserves the nine Oscars it took home in 1987. It is type of picture the Academy loves and they awarded it Best Picture and Mr. Bertolucci took home best director.
Rating: 
Summary: Better in the longer version...
Review: I have to admit that, when I first saw this film, I was bored. I was even more disappointed when it won every Oscar. Unfortunately, this film was not presented as Bertolucci intended. The DVD fills in the holes, and is actually a valid history lesson. It's worth your attention. I still don't understand it's Oscar for Editing; the "fight" scene in "Fatal Attraction" is still used in film schools as a masterpiece of editing, and it should've won, at least in that category. I have a new respect for the film, and, as epics go, it's among the best. Bertolucci is best known for close-ups and intimacy; he was certainly in touch with his material. The extended version is the one to see, but be sure you have a lot of time, with no distractions. You'll find it quite compelling. I do have some problems with other Oscars it won: Best Sound (do you remember the thunderstorm in "The Witches of Eastwick"?); Best Cinematography (remember the vast panoramas in "Empire of the Sun"?); Best Music (Morricone's intense score in "The Untouchables"). The Academy seems to give all awards to one film that impresses them; the old farts don't seem to consider their options. It deserved the Best Picture Oscar for it's artistic integrity, though "Moonstruck" was far more entertaining. Decide for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Artisan's extremley brutal terror to this great movie
Review: The company should be accused for savage atrocity in spoiling the masterpiece in the visaul aspect. They must reissue correcting the visual quality. It's a terror to the customer who buy it in good faith... They should apologize or recall it!
Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Even though I knew little about Chinese history when I first saw this, I was captivated by this story. Later on after I took a course in Chinese history, I had to see it again and I took even more from the movie. If you want to see a well-made, relevant and fascinating story, The Last Emperor will satisfy you.
Rating:
Summary: Did you watch this movie?
Review: Do you know about chinese Dynasty? This movie is about chinese the last Dynasty (Chung)'s The last emperior 'FUI'. I have read book about him, and I did watch this move. I'm Korean. So china is very close to us. Anyway I'm gonna tell you one thing. Whatever your reasons to watch this movie, You're gonna love this movie. No you must be love this movie! Have fun in this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning masterpiece
Review: I believe that approaching such a monumental film as Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" to write a review is akin to attempting to climb Mt. Everest, so huge and overwhelming is the task. With that in mind it is best just to view the film from what appeals to you about such a painstackingly researched, elaborate production that was years in the making. With every screening of this masterpice of the 1980's I am inspired to travel to China again to enjoy all the rich history and culture that is so beautifully captured in this visually stunning and very emotional true story of Pu Yi the last emperor of China. Winner deservadly of 9 Acadmey Awards the film is by far the very best production that Bertolucci has undertaken and what a mammoth task that is indeed. The story follows the life of China's last tragic emperor from age 3 till his death in the 1960's. This period is not only a large period of time in any one person's life but it also includes some of the most important changes to occur in China's long history in its move from an ancient absolute monarchy to a modern day People's Republic with all the upheavals that that intails. The look of "the Last Emperor" is unsurpassed for a modern motion picture with its stunning recreation of the Chinese court within the Forbidden City. The use of the actual locations in Beiijing, the location photography,and the attention to detail in costumning, ceremony and characterisation will leave you speechless and the great thing is that in almost all instances the production has stuck closely to historical fact (as much as is possible in any motion picture that has to tell a story in a certain amount of time) I admire "the Last Emperor" as a stunning piece of entertainment and as a fascinating history lesson and insight into a world now sadly vanished forever. Apart from the visuals which really are the crowning glory of this production it is the actors themselves who deserve special merit here. It would have been easy for all of them to be totally overwhelmed by the sheer weight of this production however they are as memorable as any other part of "The Last Emperor". The 3 actors who play Henri Pu Yi at various stages of his life are perfect and each in their turn, as the Emperor grows older bring great conviction to their parts. John Lone is simply wonderful in his playing of the adult Pu Yi who experiences so many horrific happenings in his sad life once he is no longer emperor. He is what I would call an instinctive actor and so much of his playing is done with his eyes or with a brief smile. His is a masterful capturing of a man essentially with no purpose or place in his own life . His scenes in the
re-education centre and in his later life as a humble gardener in the public gardens of Beiijing are very memorable and his is the main character to carry this immense story through its second half. Another stunning performance is delivered by the very beautiful and highly talented Joan Chen. She is an actress I know unfortunately very little about but some of the most memorable moments in "The Last Emperor" belong to her. In the course of the film she develops from a naive young bride especially chosen to be the wife of the emperor of China, through to a disillusioned and neglected Empress , to a puppet consort and veritable prisoner of the Japanese, to a tragic opium addict who has her child murdered and ends up insane. Chen's is a most stunning performance and her scenes where she warns Pu Yi that the Japanes are using them for their own evil intentions are extremely powerful. Who can forget her scene at the reception in Manchuria were she begins eating the Orchid blooms out of a sense of hopeless situation she has found herself in ? This disturbing visual image will stay in your mind for a long time. As a winner of 9 Academy Awards I feel both Lone and Chen should have won for their playing of the last tortured consorts of Imperial China. The supporting roles are equally well cast with Peter O'Toole making a memorable if not entirely accurate Reginald Johnston the last emperor's tutor and confidante. His subtle underplaying brings alive his sense of awe at the world he has found himself in , so different to anything he has ever experienced before in his native Scotland. Also memorable are Lisa Lu in the brief role of the infamous Empress Dowager who is responsible for selecting Pu Yi as emperor,the various actors portraying Pu Chieh the emperor's younger brother and Maggie Han who is stunning as Eastern Jewel, the traitor to Pu Yi's cause who is responsible for also ruining the Empresse's life through an opium addiction. All these actors and those that make up the rest of this film add to the rich tapestry of characters that unfold throughout the films long running time. It is because of these well cast individuals that the films length seems to always fly by in half the time. Viewing "The Last Emperor" is a moving and very memorable experience. Even if you are not a history buff you will be guaranteed a great viewing experience filled with stunning visuals, a tragic but compulsively interesting story and a set of actors ideally cast. It remains even after all these years one of my absolute favourites and I never fail to enjoy some new aspect of this extraordinary work of art. You are guaranteed a memorable view of one nation's recent tragic history. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Great film get trashed on DVD
Review: THE LAST EMPEROR -- Bertolucci's better works, haunting, majestic, wrenching, grandiloquent, you know, you are here not just to check out the cool cover. I am afraid the DVD edition by Artisan is one of the worst transfer ever put on our favorite high resolution format. The video quality looks straight out of Thailand sweatshop and at times looks even worse than a bootleg VHS. Advice to stay away.
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