Princess Yang Kwei-fei

Princess Yang Kwei-fei

1955 · 92 min · ★ 6.7 · Romance, Drama, History

In 8th-century China, the Emperor grieves the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their court influence. General An Lushan finds a distant relative working in their kitchen, whom they groom to present to the Emperor. The Emperor falls in love and she becomes the Princess Yang Kwei-fei. The Yangs are then appointed important ministers, though An Lushan is not given the court position he covets.

Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi · Written by Matsutarō Kawaguchi

Your Rating

Cast

Machiko Kyō Princess Yang Kwei-fei
Masayuki Mori Emperor Xuan Zong
So Yamamura An Lushan
Eitarō Shindō Kao Li-hsi
Eitarō Ozawa Yang Kuo-chung
Haruko Sugimura Princess Yen-chun
Yōko Minamida Hung-tao
Bontarō Miake Chen-Hsuan-li
Tatsuya Ishiguro Li Lin-fu
Kinzō Shin Servant
Osamu Maruyama Li Kuei-nien
Isao Yamagata Yang Hsien

Make it a double feature

3h 36m together

Princess Yang Kwei-fei

Sansho the Bailiff

Both from Kenji Mizoguchi.

More from Kenji MizoguchiSee all →

A Man of the Arts

A Man of the Arts · 1941

A Man of the Arts

Follows the life of an illegitimate son of a kabuki actor.

Sansho the Bailiff

Sansho the Bailiff · 1954

Sansho the Bailiff

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.

Ugetsu

MovieFantasyDrama

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

Chikamatsu Monogatari

Chikamatsu Monogatari · 1954

Chikamatsu Monogatari

MovieDramaRomance

When the wife of a 17th-century Kyoto scrollmaker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find themselves truly falling for one another.

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum · 1939

The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum

MovieRomanceDrama

In late 19th-century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that the praise he receives is only due to his status as his father's heir. Devastated, he turns to Otoku, a servant of his family, for comfort, and they fall in love. Kikunosuke becomes determined to leave home and develop as an actor on his own merits, and Otoku faithfully joins him.

The Life of Oharu

The Life of Oharu · 1952

The Life of Oharu

During the Edo Period, a noblewoman's banishment for her love affair with a lowly page signals the beginning of her inexorable fall.

Street of Shame

Street of Shame · 1956

Street of Shame

Follows five sex workers employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation debates the passage of an anti-prostitution law.

A Geisha

A Geisha · 1953

Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.

The Woman in the Rumor

The Woman in the Rumor · 1954

The Woman in the Rumor

After living a traumatic experience in Tokyo, Yukiko returns to Kyoto, where Hatsuko, her mother, runs a brothel, which upsets Yukiko very much.

Miss Oyu

Miss Oyu · 1951

MovieDramaRomance

Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective marriage partner, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of her husband's family. Oyu convinces Shinnosuke and Shizu to marry so that she can remain close to Shinnosuke.

Utamaro and His Five Women

Utamaro and His Five Women · 1946

Utamaro and His Five Women

Utamaro, a great artist, lives to create portraits of beautiful women, and the Tokyo brothels provide his models. A world of passion swirls around him, as the women vie for lovers, and, occasionally, his art gets him into trouble.

Women of the Night

Women of the Night · 1948

Women of the Night

In early post-war Osaka, three women—war widow Fusako, her Korean expat sister Natsuko, and Kumiko, Fusako's sister-in-law—descend into prostitution, all for their individual reasons.

Sisters of the Gion

Sisters of the Gion · 1936

Sisters of the Gion

A geisha in the Gion district of Kyoto feels obliged to help her lover when he asks to stay with her after going bankrupt and leaving his wife. However, her younger sister opposes this, thinking that they should both find wealthy patrons to support them.

Victory of Women

Victory of Women · 1946

Victory of Women

MovieDramaHistory

Representing a destitute mother in an infanticide trial, a female lawyer attempts to convince a conservative prosecutor of the benefits of Japan's democratized post-war legal system.

The Love of the Actress Sumako

The Love of the Actress Sumako · 1947

The Love of the Actress Sumako

Stage director Shimamura, who is bringing western theatre to Japan, falls in love with outspoken actress Sumako Matsui, and leaves his family to be with her, while trying to keep his Art Theatre solvent.

The 47 Ronin

The 47 Ronin · 1941

MovieDramaHistory

In the early 18th-century, Lord Takumi-no-kami Asano, feuding with Lord Kira, tries to kill his opponent in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Asano to seppuku and deprives the palace and lands from his clan, but does not punish Kira. Asano's vassals leave the land and his samurais become ronin and want to seek revenge against the Lord's dishonour. But their leader Kuranosuke Oishi seeks to restore the Asano clan with his brother Daigaku Asano. One year later, the Shogun refuses, and Oishi and 46 rōnin are out for revenge.

More Like This

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl · 2008

The Other Boleyn Girl

MovieDramaRomance

A sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.

The Man in the Iron Mask

The Man in the Iron Mask · 1998

The Man in the Iron Mask

MovieAdventureAction

Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis, Athos and Porthos, have fought together with their friend, D'Artagnan. But with the tyrannical King Louis using his power to wreak havoc in the kingdom while his twin brother, Philippe, remains imprisoned, the Musketeers reunite to abduct Louis and replace him with Philippe.

House of Flying Daggers

House of Flying Daggers · 2004

House of Flying Daggers

MovieAdventureDrama

In 9th century China, a corrupt government wages war against a rebel army called the Flying Daggers. A romantic warrior breaks a beautiful rebel out of prison to help her rejoin her fellows, but things are not what they seem.

Sissi

MovieComedyDrama

The young Bavarian princess Elisabeth, who all call Sissi, goes with her mother and older sister Néné to Austria where Néné will be wed to an emperor named Franz Joseph, Yet unexpectedly Franz runs into Sissi while out fishing and they fall in love.

Sissi: The Young Empress

Sissi: The Young Empress · 1956

Sissi: The Young Empress

MovieDramaComedy

Sissi is now the empress of Austria and attempts to learn etiquette. While she is busy being empress she also has to deal with her difficult new mother-in-law, while the arch-duchess Sophie is trying to tell the emperor how to rule and also Sissi how to be a mother.

Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress · 1957

Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress

MovieRomanceDrama

After a wonderful time in Hungary Sissi falls extremely ill and must retreat to a Mediterranean climate to rest. The young empress’ mother takes her from Austria to recover in Madeira.

The Man in the Iron Mask

The Man in the Iron Mask · 1977

The Man in the Iron Mask

MovieHistoryAdventure

Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis, Athos and Porthos, have fought together with their friend, D'Artagnan. But with the tyrannical King Louis using his power to wreak havoc in the kingdom while his twin brother, Philippe, remains imprisoned, the Musketeers reunite to abduct Louis and replace him with Philippe.

The Emperor and the Assassin

The Emperor and the Assassin · 1998

The Emperor and the Assassin

MovieHistoryDrama

In pre-unified China, the King of Qin sends his concubine to a rival kingdom to produce an assassin for a political plot, but as the king's cruelty mounts she finds her loyalty faltering.

Queen Margot

Queen Margot · 1994

MovieDramaHistory

Paris, Kingdom of France, August 18, 1572. To avoid the outbreak of a religious war, the Catholic princess Marguerite de Valois, sister of the feeble King Charles IX, marries the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Elizabeth: The Golden Age · 2007

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

MovieDramaHistory

When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd adviser must act to safeguard the lives of her people.

Elizabeth

Elizabeth · 1998

MovieDramaHistory

The story of the ascension to the throne and the early reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, the endless attempts by her council to marry her off, the Catholic hatred of her and her romance with Lord Robert Dudley.

Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot · 2000

MovieDramaComedy

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Battleship Potemkin

Battleship Potemkin · 1925

Battleship Potemkin

MovieDramaHistory

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre.

Curse of the Golden Flower

Curse of the Golden Flower · 2006

Curse of the Golden Flower

MovieActionDrama

During China's Tang dynasty the emperor has taken the princess of a neighboring province as his wife. She has borne him two sons and raised his eldest. Now his control over his dominion is complete, including the royal family itself.

White God

White God · 2014

13 year old Lili fights to protect her dog Hagen, and is devastated when her father sets Hagen free on the streets. Still innocently believing love can conquer any difficulty, Lili sets out to save her dog. Failing in his desperate efforts to find his beloved owner, Hagen joins a canine revolt leading a revolution against their human abusers.

Raise the Red Lantern

Raise the Red Lantern · 1991

Raise the Red Lantern

In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter