STUDIO: Criterion
RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2008
STARRING: Peter O'Toole, Victor Wong, John Lone, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Joan Chen, Ying Ruocheng, and Dennis Dun
WRITTEN BY: Bernardo Bertolucci and Mark Peploe
DIRECTED BY: Bernardo Bertolucci
FEATURES: Theatrical Version with Audio Commentary featuring director Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Mark Peploe, and composer/actor Ryuichi Sakamoto
Theatrical Trailer
218-minute Television Version
"The Italian Traveler, Bernardo Bertolucci" - a 53 minute film
Preproduction Video Images
"The Chinese Adventure Of Bernardo Bertlucci" - 45 Minute Documentary
66 minute BBC Documentary
Interview with Bertolucci from 1989
Interview with Composer
New Interview with cultural historian
A Booklet featuring an essay by David Thomson and interviews

After years of giving films the digital red carpet treatment, Criterion remains the gold standard of DVDs. If you're just getting started with your collection of their incredible releases, you couldn't do better than the recently-released four-disc edition of The Last Emperor, the best DVD release of the year to date. Every studio releases what they like to advertise as "Special", "Collector's", or even "Ultimate" editions but you haven't really received the gold standard in the world of DVD until your film has the Criterion label on it. These are the five-star restaurants of the DVD world - they just handle movies on a different level in every arena, from the big things like supplements and technical transfers to the little things like gorgeous box art that makes them stand out in your collection.

The Last Emperor, which won nine Academy Awards two decades ago, including Best Picture, is a challenging, multilayered epic, the kind that you just don't see all that often any more. There Will Be Blood might have been epic, but the expansive historical pieces that used to sweep the Oscars don't have the industry support they once did, which makes The Last Emperor feel even more like a classic than it did a decade ago, when I first saw it again. Master Bernardo Bertolucci directed the tale of Emperor Pu Yi, who took the throne of China at the age of three in 1908. For the next few decades, China would go through an amazing amount of cultural and political upheaval and 'the last emperor' would have to reconcile the changing times with the established history of his country. With stunning cinematography by Vittorio Storaro and some of the best design (costume, production, or otherwise) of the last two decades, The Last Emperor is a gorgeous film that has held up as both a visual experience and a riveting character study of a man literally at the crossroads of his country's past and future.

There are hundreds of Criterion DVDs that you could start your collection with but The Last Emperor is one of the best. First, the breadth of the box set has to be admired. Not only do you get the theatrical version of the Best Picture winner in gorgeous 2:00:1 anamorphic widescreen, but the second disc includes the television version of the film that runs over 40 minutes longer. The Criterion Blog details why the latter version exists and which one is the true 'director's cut', saying, "Not long after we began corresponding, Storaro came to New York, and when we met he explained the story behind the two different cuts. The filmmakers had been required to deliver a four-hour television version as part of their original deal. They delivered four 50-plus-minute episodes, accounting for the 218-minute length. Gabriella Cristiani, the editor, and Bertolucci then continued editing until they had the picture they wanted. The film screened in movie theaters in 1987--and which swept the Oscars--is Bertolucci's final cut."

Both versions of the film look and sound amazing, but don't take my word for it. Check out the screen shots assembled by DVD Beaver and you'll see just how much more vivid and detailed the picture is on the Criterion than the previously released editions. The new The Last Emperor would be worth the purchase price even if it was solely the all-new, restored high definition digital transfer of the film on the first disc. It was supervised by Storaro himself and it's simply stunning and it will certainly make you look at your other DVDs differently. The first disc also includes a commentary featuring director Bernardo Bertolucci, producer Jeremy Thomas, screenwriter Mark Peploe, and composer-actor Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The final two discs of the four-disc collection contain the supplements, every single one of which should be interesting to fans of The Last Emperor. As with most Criterion Collection discs, there's not a single throwaway special feature. Don't expect a 'gag reel'. The third disc starts with a featurette that explores the geographic influences of the film and moves on to preproduction images from Bertolucci himself and two nearly-hour-long documentaries about the making of the movie. The fourth disc continues the analysis from different perspectives than directly behind-the-scenes, including a BBC documentary about Bertolucci, an interview with the director post-Oscar sweep, and a new interview with composer David Byrne. If that's not enough, the box set includes an almost-hundred-page booklet about the film.

There are only two possible complaints that could be leveled at The Criterion Collection version of The Last Emperor. First, the version that played in theaters and won a wheelbarrow-full of Oscars was screened in 2:35:1 aspect ratio but Storaro came in to work on this version and reframed it in 2:00:1, the version he felt was more appropriate. Once again, the Criterion Blog notes, "This master was made in Rome under Storaro’s direct supervision, with Bertolucci’s approval. When we asked Storaro about the framing of the film, he unhesitatingly told us that the correct aspect ratio for The Last Emperor was 2:1, even though the film was commonly projected at 2.35:1. He told us that The Last Emperor was the first film he shot specifically for 2.0 framing, and Bertolucci backs him up." Personally, I agree with the film enthusiasts that believe a film should always be available in the form it was seen in theaters, free of deleted scenes or reframing, even if that original framing might have been 'incorrect'. It would have taken a fifth disc and Storaro might not have been happy, but true hardcore film buffs, the kind who are going to buy a Criterion Collection edition of The Last Emperor, might have appreciated a 2:35:1 version of the film for comparison.

Finally, one could ask how much is too much with a film like The Last Emperor? The film really does speak for itself and when you see the new transfer and listen to the commentary, how many people are going to spend the significant time with the two discs of supplements and the nearly four-hour television version? But that's a silly complaint. It's there for the people who want it. And for those of you that don't, you can just watch the movie itself. Either way, you won't regret it.