From deep within the fabled film vaults of the Shaw Brothers studio emerges Empress Wu, a period drama directed by Li Han Hsiang, who only a year earlier helmed the classic Huangmei Opera The Kingdom And The Beauty. Released in 1960, Empress Wu stars popular actress Li Li Hua (The Goddess Of Mercy, Between Tears And Smiles), who by that point had already starred in dozens of motion pictures. For this film, she turns in a remarkable performance as Wu Tse Tien, perhaps the most famous woman in all of China’s long and storied history. This legendary lady may have been a concubine, but she eventually rose to the status of surrogate empress during the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century.
Full of political intrigue, the film traces Wu’s life from her formative teenage years all the way up to old age, with everything filtered through the keen eye of Japanese cinematographer T. Nishimoto. This breathtaking, richly ornamented film shows how the beautiful, but cunning young concubine eliminates all her rivals, including the actual Empress (Chang Chung Wen), as she takes over control of the nation due to the fact that her husband, Emperor Kao Tsung (Chao Lei, from The Story Of Sue San and Beyond The Great Wall), is suffering from a strange physical illness. At the 2nd Golden Horse Awards in 1963, the film took home an Honorable Mention for Drama. Also starring Ding Nung (The Bride Napping), Lo Wai (The Golden Buddha), Chiao Chuang, Lo Chi, Hu King Chun, and Kao Pao Shu, Empress Wu is one Celestial release that no Shw Brothers completist should do without!.
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