SOUTH BANK SHOW, THE: BERTOLUCCI AND THE MAKING OF "THE LAST EMPEROR" (TV)
Summary
One in this weekly arts series. This program examines the making of the Academy Award-winning film, "The Last Emperor," and profiles the film's subject, Pu Yi, who became the emperor of China at age three and ended up as a gardener in Peking. Highlights in this part include interviews with Bernardo Bertolucci, the film's director; Pu Je, the brother of Pu Yi; actors John Lone, who plays the title role, and Peter O'Toole, who plays Pu Yi's British teacher; Jin Yuan, the former prison governor of Fushun; Ying Ruo-Chen, China's deputy minister of culture and the country's leading actor; and the Chinese extras in the film. Interspersed with the interviews are photo stills from Pu Yi's childhood; and rare film footage of the inhabitants of China's foreign concession--the territories in China that Germany granted to Japan under the Treaty of Versailles, the Japanese seizing control of Manchuria, Pu Yi as the chief executive of the new state of Manchukuo, and Pu Yi in Fushun prison. Behind- the-scenes footage of the film is also shown, as well as includes interviews with Jin Yuan, the former prison governor of Fushun, and Bernardo Bertolucci, the film's director. Interspersed with the interviews are photo stills of Pu Yi after his imprisonment in Fushun, and film footage of the Chinese bearing posters of Chairman Mao and copies of his communist manifesto.
Details
- NETWORK: London Weekend Television (United Kingdom)
- DATE: January 17, 1988
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:42
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T88:0502
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Arts documentaries; Film - Production and direction; China in motion pictures
- SERIES RUN: London Weekend TV (United Kingdom) - TV series, 1978-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Alan Benson … Executive Producer
- David Hinton … Producer, Director
- Melvyn Bragg … Host
- Peter O'Toole
- Pu Je
- Bernardo Bertolucci
- Pu Yi
- Ruo-Chen Ying
- Jin Yuan
- Mao Zedong