Great concubine

The plot of the film is based on the story of love and death of Yang Yuhuan, the concubine of Emperor Ming Huang , better known under the title Yang Guifei (literally. "Precious wife / concubine (emperor) Yang" ), one of the " Four Great Beauties of China ."

The positive , but weak-willed emperor, carried away by love for his beloved concubine, actually gave up the country's government to the corrupt senior minister . Having got to the court, like most of his relatives, thanks to the master’s love for his second cousin, he proved himself to be an extremely greedy and power-hungry man and a mediocre commander. His actions caused a war with neighbors, a rebellion of the northern troops of the state (the delivery of a message about which the minister’s activities also called for investigation was “safely prevented”), destruction and famine in many areas of the country.

When the An Lushan rebellion approaches the capital , the court, led by the emperor and accompanied by the guard, has no choice but to flee in the direction of Sichuan province . However, Yang Guozhong’s reluctance or inability to provide for the army, repeated not for the first time, leads to the riot of the imperial guard, which literally tears him apart, after which he declares the main source of evil the reason for his falling into power - the imperial concubine.

Having met barely restraining soldiers on the porch of the palace, Yang Guifei agrees to die, provided that the troops again defend the sovereign and make every effort to suppress the rebellion. Taking a short reprieve, she returns to the uncertainly feeling emperor, calms and soothes him. Having again left the palace for the backyard, regal Yang Guifei, between the guards who knelt before her, approaches the pear tree with a loop of silk scarf thrown over the branch ... ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

• Company: Shaw Brothers
• Producers: Shao Renlen , Zhou Duven
• Director: Li Hanxiang
• Director group: Kao Li , Wang Yueting , Cao Nianlong , Sam Hou
• Screenwriter: Wang Zhibo
• Composer: Wang Chun
• Grim: Fang Yuen , Chan Hou
• Operator: Ho Lanshan ( Tadashi Nishimoto )
• Sound Recording: Kuan Hu
• Installation: Jiang Xinglong ^[1]

• Duration: Time = 100 min (initial) ^[1] , 72 min ( Celestial Pictures DVD) ^[2]
• Format: Color (Eastmancolor), aspect ratio 1.37: 1, mono sound
• Location Locations: Fukui , Japan ^[5]
• Language: Chinese Putonghua
• Premiere dates: May 31, 1962 (Hong Kong), June 1966 (USA)

• The film is a remake of the 1955 Japanese film Yōkihi , the shooting of which (even before the founding of the most famous Hong Kong film studio Shaw Brothers ) was produced by Shao Renlen, who performed the same function for this film. Unlike its predecessor, the film does not cover the rise of Yang Yuhuan to his position (in the historical or alternative version), but focuses on the end of her life already in the guifei position.
• Actors who played the roles of a romantic couple of the film (Li Lihua and Yan Jun) were spouses in real life ^{[6] [7]}

15th Cannes Film Festival (1962)

• Technical Grand Prix ( Vulcain Prize )
• Nomination for the Golden Palm Branch ^[8]

1st Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (1962)

• Incentive prize for dramatic feature films (“second degree” / nomination / shortlist for the prize for the best film)
• Best Editing - Jiang Xinglong
• Best Sound - Kuan Hu ^{[1] [2] [9]}

• The Magnificent Concubine on the Internet Movie Database
• Vadim Erlichman. “Love that ruined the empire” // Around the World magazine, heading People and Fates. - August 2006. - No. 8 (2791) . - ISSN 0321-0669 .