The Last Emperor (Umbrella Entertainment
DVD/Region Four/4/PAL Format)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: A- Film: A-
PLEASE
NOTE: This
DVD can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can
handle Region Four/4/PAL format software, and can be ordered from our friends
at Umbrella Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the
review.
Despite
winning 9-Academy Awards in 1987 very few people are familiar with Bernardo
Bertolucci’s biographical film The Last
Emperor, which is as shocking as it is disappointing. Although, the available of this film as been
questionable on various formats over the years, but in the U.S. the film has
finally been released in a special edition by Criterion, and in Australia this
Umbrella Entertainment region 4 PAL format 2-disc set is available. It would seem that Umbrella is releasing many
of the catalog titles as if they were Criterion issues, but hopefully that is
not the case here.
The story
involves the last emperor of China named Emperor Pu Yi/Henry and chronicles his
life as tradition meets modern day changes and it’s often sad as we see customs
and traditions get thrown to the wind by certain ‘progress’. The film runs a lengthy 160-minutes in it’s
theatrical version, which is on disc one in this DVD set, however, the even
longer and more complete version is available on disc two and runs a distance
of 219-minutes and feels like a more resolved version and it’s obvious that
this was what Bertolucci wanted as his final vision and version of the
film.
It should
be noted that this film was shot in 35mm Technovision and then blown-up in some
theaters with prints on 70mm with a 2.20 X 1 aspect ratio, this DVD set is more
approximately displayed at 2.35 X 1 with the PAL format transfer having a sharp
appearance, but disappointingly soft with colors that seem smudgy and
dull. I was really surprised by how bad
the picture quality was considering how good most of the Umbrella Entertainment
transfers are, although I have not seen the Criterion release here in the U.S.
for comparison, but I would be interested to see if this film has more to offer
on DVD than what is here. I’ve seen this
film numerous times on regular TV and this is an upgrade over that, but still
lacks depth, detail, and color correction.
Equally weak is the Dolby 2.0 mix, which is probably the same as the
Criterion set though. I’d be curious to
compare these two releases, but I think that the 4-disc Criterion set is more
accurate in color reproduction overall and has more supplements.
This
release is no slouch though with the extras as it not only includes both cuts
of the film, but has audio commentary (I suspect the same as the Criterion),
plus a 63-minute making-of segment and Postcards
from China, which has commentary with Bertolucci to accompany this
segment. The theatrical trailer is also
available here. If you’ve discovered
this film, also check out Martin Scorsese’s underrated, under-seen, and
underappreciated film Kundun (1997).
As noted
above, you can order this import exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nate Goss
