Empire of the Sun

Year:

1987

Duration:

153 min

Genres:

Drama | History | War

IMDB rate:

7.8

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Awards:

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 9 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1987-12-25

Filming Locations: Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Earnings

Budget: $38,000,000

Opening Weekend: $1,314,509 (USA) (13 December 1987)

Gross: $22,238,696 (USA)SEK 7,027,453 (Sweden)

Cast

Actor

Character

Christian Bale

Jim

John Malkovich

Basie

Miranda Richardson

Mrs. Victor

Nigel Havers

Dr. Rawlins

Joe Pantoliano

Frank Demarest

Leslie Phillips

Maxton

Masatô Ibu

Sgt. Nagata

Emily Richard

Mary Graham, Jim's mother

Rupert Frazer

John Graham, Jim's father

Peter Gale

Mr. Victor

Takatarô Kataoka

Kamikaze Boy Pilot (as Takatoro Kataoka)

Ben Stiller

Dainty

David Neidorf

Tiptree

Ralph Seymour

Cohen

Robert Stephens

Mr. Lockwood

Zhai Nai She

Yang

Guts Ishimatsu

Sgt. Uchida

Emma Piper

Amy Matthews

James Walker

Mr. Radik

Jack Dearlove

Singing Prisoner

Anna Turner

Mrs. Gilmour

Ann Castle

Mrs. Phillips

Yvonne Gilan

Mrs. Lockwood

Ralph Michael

Mr. Partridge

Sybil Maas

Mrs. Hug

Eric Flynn

British Prisoner

James Greene

British Prisoner

Simon Harrison

British Prisoner

Barrie Houghton

British Prisoner

Paula Hamilton

British Prisoner

Thea Ranft

British Prisoner

Tony Boncza

British Prisoner

Nigel Leach

British Prisoner

Sheridan Forbes

British Prisoner

Peter Copley

British Prisoner

Barbara Bolton

British Prisoner

Francesca Longrigg

British Prisoner

Samantha Warden

British Prisoner

Kieron Jecchinis

American Prisoner

Michael Crossman

American Prisoner

Gary Parker

American Prisoner

Ray Charleson

American Prisoner

Burt Kwouk

Mr. Chen

Tom Danaher

Col. Marshall

Kong-Guo-Jun

Chinese Youth

Takao Yamada

Japanese Truck Driver

Hiro Arai

Japanese Sergeant - Airfield

Paul McGann

Lt. Price

Marc de Jonge

Frenchman

Susan Leong

Amah

Nicholas Dastor

Paul

Edith Platten

Paul's Sister

Shirley Chantrell

Chinese Cook at Detention Centre

John Moore

Mr. Pym

Ann Queensberry

Mrs. Pym

Sylvia Marriott

Mrs. Partridge

Frank Duncan

Mrs. Hug's Father

Ronald Eng

Mr. Chen's Aide

Za Chuan Ce

Shopkeeper

Shi Rui Qing

Shopkeeper

Lu Ye

Merchant

Guo Xue Liang

Merchant

Ge Yan Zhao

Merchant

Nina Armstrong

Nina (uncredited)

J.G. Ballard

Guest at Masquerade Party (uncredited)

Ken Enomoto

Jpn Soldier / cut out (uncredited)

Paul Reynolds

Refugee (uncredited)

Rochelle Rose

British Prisoner (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

Col. Marshall (Tom Danaher) was a Marine night fighter pilot in the Pacific in WWII and was credited with shooting down the last Japanese bomber of the war. He also flies one of the Japanese "Zeros" in the movie.

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Eric Flynn, who plays a British POW, was actually a POW as a child in a Japanese camp.

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Some of the "Mustangs" and "Zeros" in the background during the attack of the airfield were radio controlled models with a wingspan of 12 feet. If one looks thoroughly, a "Mustang" passing from right to left, trailing smoke, has no undercarriage doors. That is one of the models. The "Zero" exploding in mid-air is, of course, also a model. Six "Mustangs" and six "Zeros" were built by "Model Effects".

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Goofs

When the truck leaves the hangar for the Suchow Internment camp, it does not have a frame for the rear covering. When they arrive at Suchow, the frame is clearly present.

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When Jamie first approaches the crashed Zero at the costume party the rudder on the tail is straight. When his model plane disappears over the hill and he gets out and goes after it, the rudder on the Zero is all the way to the left. However in between these two shot's he's shown sitting in the wrecked aircraft playing with the controls, it's likely he's pressed the rudder pedals.

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In the establishing shot of the film's final scene, set in the glasshouse, the top deck of a modern British double-decker bus can be seen moving along behind a wall in the background at top right.

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Quotes

Jim: I can't remember what my parents look like.

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Basie: Oh, buying and selling, Frank. You know. Life.

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Jim: Bastard! He gave me a mango!

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Faq

Q

Did Basie really intend to take Jim along if he escaped?

A

No, Basie hadn't ever intended to. Jim is still young and impressionable so promising him was easy. However, taking along a young teenager would have made things difficult for Basie's escape. Basie & his accomplices would likely have to travel a long distance & face hard conditions -- lack of food, water, shelter -- and Basie knew that Jim wouldn't be up to the challenge like one of the older POWs or American servicemen would be. So he left Jim behind.

Q

Was Jim's purpose in going outside the wire of the camp really to lay the snare traps for Basie?

A

No. The story about there being pheasant beyond the barbed wire surrounding the camp & Basie making traps was a ruse. Basie wanted to see if the area between the camp and the airfield had been laced with land mines to keep the prisoners from escaping. Remember, one of Basie's plans throughout the second half of the story is his desire to escape. Jim was a part of the plan to find an escape-route through the wire and the marsh beyond it.In an earlier scene, a small band of Chinese people run into the POW camp and start stealing from one of the prisoners' gardens. When they run back out after being shot at by the Japanese, one of them dies from an explosion. One of the American POWs tells Basie that the man stepped on a mine. Basie is unconvinced, saying that one of the Japanese soldiers threw a grenade.The whole scene & the lead-up with the pheasant story serves to reinforce what we've known about Basie all along: that he can be cold and callous in his desire to survive the war.

Q

How old is Jamie/Jim supposed to be in this film?

A

His precise age is never given but we can probably estimate his age at the beginning of the war (1941) to be 10-12 years. That would make him 14-16 by the end of the war. Jamie (1941) does seem very mature for his age because he's gone to a fine prep school in Shanghai. By the end of the war, he has obviously matured significantly due to his experience of scrounging and surviving in the POW camp.

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