Princess Yang Kwei-fei

In eighth-century China, the emperor Xuanzong shuts himself into music and mourning after his wife's death. The Yang family at court see an opening: if they present the emperor with a consort they can consolidate their influence. They find a distant relative working in the kitchens and prepare her. Yang Kwei-fei enters the palace and the emperor genuinely attaches to her. But the power her family builds at court eventually destroys them both. Kenji Mizoguchi's film was a co-production between Daiei in Japan and Shaw and Sons in Hong Kong. It is one of his two colour films, the other being Tales of the Taira Clan from the same year. He builds the epic through poetry rather than spectacle: the battle scenes are short and the court scenes long and still. Machiko Kyō plays Yang Kwei-fei and Masayuki Mori the emperor. On release it was received coldly both in Japan and abroad; the Chinese subject surprised Mizoguchi's audience and the expectation of spectacle went unmet. Who it's for: Anyone interested in Mizoguchi, period epics, and classic Japanese films in colour. Who it's not for: The pace is very slow and there is little dramatic tension. It is not counted among his strongest works.