THE LAST EMPEROR : PROMOTIONAL DVD from the TIMES NEWSPAPER .

THE LAST EMPEROR

The story of Pu Yi, who ascended to the Imperial Throne in China at the age of three and became the country’s last Emperor. Although it is 160 minutes long and shot with breathtaking scope and sumptuousness, Bernardo Bertolucci's film is a story about claustrophobia. Pu Yi is a prisoner in the palace he rules over. Outside, real power changes hands with each coup d'etat. Pu Yi grows to manhood, is tutored by a Westerner (Peter O'Toole), and marries a gorgeous princess (Joan Chen). However, the adult Pu Yi (John Lone) is destined for a communist re-education camp when the war is over. From start to finish, Pu Yi is a passive antihero who can never come to grips with the idea that the absolute power conferred on him as a child was only a mirage. The mistakes Pu Yi made trying to realise that power--especially collaborating with the Japanese during the war--provide Bertolucci with the chance to explore his familiar theme of collaboration and its moral consequences (as he did in THE CONFORMIST and 1900). In the end, Pu Yi seems to have reached a kind of peace, and the terrible waste of a special man's life disappears into a drab, grey-clad Beijing.

RUN TIME: 156mins

CLASSIFICATION...15

THIS PROMOTIONAL DVD WAS ORIGINALY GIVEN AWAY WITH COPIES THE TIMES NEWSPAPER

COMES IN A CARD SLEEVE

REGION 2 Europe, Japan, South Africa, and the Middle East, including Egypt.

International bidders welcome but please make sure your equipment will play region 2 DVDs before bidding.

VERY GOOD

Tested - Plays Well.​

GRADING INFORMATION

MINT Not a word to be used lightly. All DVDs will be damaged to some extent when they are used, even when great care is taken putting the disc in or taking the disc out of the player. I will only use this word to describe a disc I have reason to believe has never been used, this will usually mean it will be described as new but the word mint is there just in case I need it.

EXCELLENT A disc that looks like it has never been used even though I know it has. Perfect, scratch free condition.

VERY GOOD As previously stated, all DVDs will be damaged to some extent when they are used, this usually means that the DVD has rubbed against the tray in the player causing light surface scratches or rub marks. These rarely have any effect on play, in fact any DVD that does have these marks will have been fully tested before it is allowed into the VERY GOOD grade. The best way to describe it is, if you found the DVD in a second hand shop or on a market stall and you checked the disc before buying, you would see the marks but you wouldn't have any doubts about the discs ability to play. A plus or minus sign (+ or -) indicates how close the disc is to being in the higher or lower grade.

GOOD If you found the DVD in a second hand shop or on a market stall and you checked the disc before buying, you would hesitate before buying a DVD with a GOOD grade without first checking what the returns policy was. It looks like it will play but you wouldn't like to guarantee it. Rest assured, all DVDs that I put in the GOOD grade will have been fully tested and be guaranteed to work perfectly (and the return policy ain't bad either). A plus or minus sign (+ or -) indicates how close the disc is to being in the higher or lower grade.

ACCEPTABLE Looks like it won't play but will have been fully tested and is guaranteed to work perfectly.

POOR Everything else. I'll probably throw it in the bin, but if there is a reason I think this might still be of interest to someone I'll explain the problems and the reasons for bothering with it in the listing.