The Last Emperor (1987) Starring John Lone Informs Us "It's Lonely At The Top"

Rating: 5/10 (20 January 2011)

The Last Emperor (1987) starring John Lone, Joan Chen, and Peter O'Toole won the "Best Picture" Academy Award for 1987, and is a curious departure from movies which usually win that honor.
The movie is about China and a man chosen by the Chinese Empress Dowager in 1908 to be the next Emperor of China (the little boy named "Pu Yi" was one of many princes the polygamous and dead former Chinese Emperor left behind, and was not the son of the Empress Dowager).
The toddler aged little boy begins his life in the monster royal palace in Peking (later renamed "Beijing") in a royal building complex called the Forbidden City, and grows to early manhood there.
China becomes a Republic in 1911, and the Chinese Monarchy ends, but the young Emperor is allowed to continue life in the Forbidden City into his early manhood in the 1920's when he and his two young wives are evicted by the unstable, warlord dominated, constantly changing government system which had replaced the monarchy.
The young evicted monarch and his wives keep their considerable fortune, and move to a coastal city in China and live "the good life" as rich people there until 1931 when the former Manchuria (NW China) becomes a newly named country called "Manchukuo" and the young ex-Emperor of China is installed as the new monarch of the new country.
He remains in that job as Head Of State until the end of World War II, and is taken prisoner by the invading Russians who turn him over to the Chinese Communists who gain control of China in 1949, and keep the former Emperor of China and Monarch of Manchuria (aka Manchukuo) imprisoned for 10 years until he is released in bad health in 1959, only 53 years old, but looking much older, and clearly a broken man.
His final years are spent in Peking (Beijing) where he dies in 1967 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution Chairman Mao organized to delay the invasion of capitalist money into China and the start of China as a huge sweatshop for WalMart and other western business enterprises.
The Emperor had a rich and glamorous life up to 1945, and a hard life from 1945 when the Communists were about to take over China, which they achieved in 1949.
The movie starts out showing the Emperor as a prisoner in 1950, and we see his former expensive "easy living" life in flash backs. The Communists who imprisoned the Emperor throughout the 1950's demanded that the Emperor confess his crimes, sins, shortcomings, etc. etc., and the movie alternates between his time in the 1950's as a prisoner when he recalls his past, and flash backs of his memories of it.
The prison life he lives is dull and gray and awful and ugly. The previous life is colorful and attractive in most ways.
The Last Emperor (1987) starring John Lone is a visual treat since most of the movie centers around "the good old days" of the Emperor's pre-1945 life in the Forbidden City, as a rich civilian in a coastal Chinese city in the 1920's, and as Monarch of Manachuria (aka Manchukuo)from 1931 through 1945.
The colors, particularly the gaudy use of red and gold, are dazzling.
The music score and presentation in the movie are very well done.
The movie is a 1980's Reagan era "rich is best, greed is good" testimonial. The Chinese Emperor lives like Gordon Gekko (played by Michael Douglas) did in Wall Street (1985). Rich and happy.
"I've been rich and I've been poor," Mae West was once quoted as saying. "Rich is better."
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Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Com and choose "Tex Allen" "resume" for contact information, movie credits, and biographical information about Tex Allen.
Tex Allen has reviewed more than 35 movies posted on the website WWW.IMDb.Com (the world's largest movie information database, owned by Amazon.Com) as of January 2011.
These include: 1. Alfie (1966) 29 July 2009 2. Alien (1979) 24 July 2009 3. All the President's Men (1976) 16 November 2010 4. American Graffiti (1973) 22 November 2010 5. Animal House (1978) 16 August 2009 6. Bullitt (1968) 23 July 2009 7. Captain Kidd (1945) 28 July 2009 8. Child Bride (1938) 24 September 2009 9. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) 22 September 2010 10. Detour (1945) 19 November 2010 11. Die Hard 2 (1990) 23 December 2010 12. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) 19 November 2010 13. Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) 26 July 2009 14. King Solomon's Mines (1950) 1 December 2010 15. Knute Rockne All American (1940) 2 November 2010 16. Claire's Knee (1970) 15 August 2009 17. Melody Ranch (1940) 10 November 2010 18. Morning Glory (1933) 19 November 2010 19. New Moon (1940) 3 November 2010 20. Pinocchio (1940) 6 November 2010 21. R2PC: Road to Park City (2000) 19 November 2010 22. Salt (2010) 24 August 2010 23. Sunset Blvd. (1950) 1 December 2010 24. The Great Dictator (1940) 1 November 2010 25. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) 9 January 2011 26. The Man in the White Suit (1951) 5 August 2009
A full list of Tex Allen's movie reviews appearing on WWW.IMDb.Com with links to full texts of reviews is accessible via: http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments
Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen.
Tex Allen's email address is TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com.
See Tes Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)