Tai-Pan

Last night on Turner Classic Movies, I saw a trailer from the sixties called "Lion Power" about all the big projects audiences could expect from MGM in the months and years ahead. Included among them were clips from "Far From the Madding Crowd" and "Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?", plus mention of "Where Eagles Dare" with Richard Burton (not mentioning Clint Eastwood, as perhaps he wasn't signed yet), "Ice Station Zebra", and "2001: A Space Odyssey" with very early-form artwork of its making. Among the many films mentioned in passing near the end of the trailer was "James Clavell's 'Tai-Pan'", yet no earlier version of the film was ever made. Just how long was this thing in the making, and what casts were potentially involved at different times? It would be interesting to see the planned history of such a movie that took so long to finally get made, bad as it reportedly is.

Very average epic about the birth of the Hong Kong colony , being and overerblown and lousily paced retelling . A disjointed mess set in 19th Century when a powerful lord has to escape from Canton due to "Opium War" and to go a coastal location to be founded the city of Hong Kong . The chief trader , Tai Pan: Bryan Brown , dreams of establishing a colony of commerce to be callled Hong Kong and , eventually , he gets it .

This in an inferior, pretentious epic , whose basis for the film is the James Clavell's novel of the same name, regarding some very free historic events about the origin of the Hong Kong colony, including some really ludricous characters . As a Scottish trader : Bryan Brown and his beautiful mistress : Joan Chen are the main roles in this confusing attempt to dramatize the story of Hong Kong's foundation and development into an important trading port . Along the way the principal plot is mingled with loving conflicts , personal vengeances and ambition for possession of Hong Kong port . It packs love stories , violent confrontation , fights , brief nudism and anything else . The film goes wrong due to too many subplots and roles are badly introduced in a short time to do justice to the much better novel ; Tai Pan . This mixed bag plays like a TV miniseries chopped from seven hours to two . Along with main starring : Bryan Brown, Joan Chen , appearing familiar faces as newcomers : Tim Guinee, Janine Turner , Kyra Sedgwick and veteran support cast as Bert Remsen and John Stanton .

Here stands out the moving and spectacular musical score by the great John Barry, as well as colorful cinematography by prestigious cameraman Jack Cardiff . Shot on location in Hong Kong and considred to be the first American production completely filmed in China . The motion picture was regularly directed by Daryl Duke and it failed totally in the world box office , in spite of the big budget financed by Raffaela de Laurentiis , Dino's daughter. Daryl Duke was a craftsman who usually directed episodes of notorious TV series and occassionally made some movies as "I heard the Owl call my name" , " Payday" , "President's plane is missing" , "Silent Partner" and " The Thornbirds", among others . Rating 4.5/10 , a middlingly made movie .

I agree with other comments that this should have been a miniseries but on HBO not commercial TV. The scenes with the various women would have been destroyed with censorship. I believe that it did give an accurate "feel" to the times and events depicted.

Upon viewing this I immediately ordered the book ( I had ignored it due to some disappointment at Nobel House ). Also bit the bullet and ordered Shogun the miniseries. Mr. Clavell's work s are to be appreciated even in movies that fall short. I do wish Bryan Brown had a better accent but Joan Chen mimicked it perfectly.

The supporting cast both western and oriental were excellent. Also the "few" ships used were great. Now I want Noble House on DVD.

TAI-PAN

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (J-D-C Scope)

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

1840's China: Thrown off the mainland because of his opium dealings, a western merchant (Bryan Brown) sets up home on the island of Hong Kong where he faces conflict from friend and foe alike in the lead-up to colonization.

Hugely derided at the time of its release, this handsome production - based on the novel by James Clavell, and directed by TV specialist Daryl Duke (THE THORN BIRDS) - plays to the gallery at every turn, embracing the book's labyrinthine plot and outrageous melodrama with unashamed fervour, an approach which appears to have sealed its fate at the box-office. The movie opens a little too abruptly, indicating a troubled post-production, but John Briley's busy screenplay (co-written with Stanley Mann) unfolds against a colorful historical backdrop and includes just enough nudity and violence to keep boredom at bay. Brown's performance is compromised by an unconvincing Scottish accent, and he's upstaged by Joan Chen (THE LAST EMPEROR) as the Chinese girl who loves him regardless of his failings, while handsome Tim Guinee (HOW TO MAKE AN American QUILT) is achingly sincere as Brown's naive young son, led astray by villainous merchants plotting his family's downfall. Also starring John Stanton, Russell Wong, Norman Rodway, Kyra Sedgwick and Bert Remsen in supporting roles. Production values strive to capture an epic feel and are largely successful, though no one's ever going to mistake this for "Lawrence of Hong Kong"! Italian makeup maestro Giannetto de Rossi (a regular contributor to the films of Lucio Fulci) provides some occasional flashes of gore, including a brief - but realistic - decapitation near the beginning of the picture.

I found this movie to follow the novel pretty closely, considering of course that the novel is about 900 pages and the movie is only two hours! While not of the same outstanding caliber of adaptation as the Shogun miniseries, it nevertheless manages to generate some excitement and give a flavor for the happenings of that period, during which the colony of Hong Kong was founded.

Joan Chen was especially good as Mai-Mai, and all the other parts were at least adequately cast. The locations, sets and production values were of uniformly good quality. The only thing lacking was enough time to tell a story this long and complex--in such a short production one only has time to hit the high points of the plot. But it was enjoyable nevertheless.