Tai Pan [DVD]

After the miniseries which I believe is by the same writer with Pierce Brosnan was on TV I believe it was called the Noble Nouse this movie came out putting the two together in my head the stories where interconnected within the history of both the movie and the miniseries but haven't seen either of them in a long time I went on a search for them every couple of years to see if they came out on DVD and they finally did I bought both of them and was not disappointed with either one.But if you're going to get both of them which I do recommend you have to remember the TV miniseries was filmed in the style of the TV miniseries of the time where this movie is more of a grander an epic scale Movie that takes place 100 or so years beforeSo if you're a fan of the grand TV miniseries of the 70s 80s and 90s and into the gritty looks into past centuries type of movies this is a movie for you.I'd also look up the writer of the novels you might find more of his stuff in movie or TV form that you're interested in or even the written versions of this work

not a great film but a good film, epic story, enjoyable cast

The best reason I can give to purchase this D.V.D. is that it is the only option available!!! I am a big James Clavell fan & have read most all of his books, I do not rate the movie's made based on his book's, on the standard of having all of the information that was in the book that's not in the movie. Rather I rate the movie's on how well they capture the essence of the book's. I just got done purchasing " Sho-Gun", "Tai- Pan", " Noble House", & " King Rat" & I am very happy with every D.V.D. except " Tai-Pan"!!! I purchased these D.V.D.'s to replace my V.H.S. collection but I must keep my V.H.S. version of " Tai-Pan" because my V.H.S. has all 127 minutes of the movie & is equal if not superior in quality to the D.V.D. I just purchased that is missing much of the ending ...in fact my V.H.S. version ends with a modern day Hong Kong making it a great segue into " Noble House"!!! I am not a patient man so I purchased this D.V.D. despite all the reviews stating it was missing film footage & hoped the product had been updated since the reviews stating it was cut short & in poor quality! That's on me! I will have " Tai-Pan" still in my wish list waiting to see the restored version, rated R, & 127 Minutes in length!!! It is obvious by the many reviews that even the full length version could have been longer...I agree. I also feel that this in its full length version is a great movie & I don't understand why so much of the movie was lopped off!!! It's not like they lopped off a minutes worth of pan out visual screen shot ...they lopped off very important dialogue, that gives the film a very important uplift emotionally for the viewer. The way they butchered the ending makes the whole action adventure, & struggle's & strife of the main character empty & confusing with to many loose strings!!! So I will hang on to my V.H.S. & hope that some future anniversary issue will be giving the proper treatment this great story deserves, complete with extras!!!

Great movie, the lesson for me is to be yourself, on guard and ready to fight the ones who would kick you and bring you down no matter how high you ascend. And sometimes you have to get PHYSICAL to do it.

I purchased this in early 2020 and was not impressed when I first watched this after it arrived. I gave it another shot last night, and it was painful to get through. The production values were crude to the point of seeming childish. Worse, I had recently watched Noble House, and the contrast between this and the excellent acting and cinematography of that production versus this is the difference between night and day. Had this been at the same level of production quality and acting I could have forgiven the editing out the missing scenes from the original release of this film. But it, in my opinion, falls short of what good film making is. And while it attempts to do Clavell's novel justice, it falls there too (and would even had the missing minutes been included.) I regret that I cannot recommend this film, abridged version or even the complete one, based on the aforementioned flaws.

Though not at the level of Shogun or Noble House, this movie is a good telling of Taipan. Just as the book was not as easy to read, due to the heavy Scottish dialect in which it speaks, this movie seems more difficult to follow as well. There seems to be a rush to introduce the characters, who parts don't 'flesh out'. A lot of the book seems to be lost, as little explanation is given to some of the characters more bizarre behavior.I did enjoy this movie, because I read the book first and could mentally fill in the gaps in the characters' stories. However, this movie does not compare well to the other books and their movie counterparts in this oriental series by the great writer, James Clavell. Perhaps, it needed to be longer to truly tell the tale...or maybe not.

good movie; but GREAT BOOK!!! i suggest that you see the movie, and then read the book.. if you read first, the movie will be a bit dissapointing.. not really a fault; but there's simply no way the entire book can be put on film, it'd have to be 12 hours long!!! one note: the movie has joan chen as may-may.. honestly, she might be the cutest girl ever!!!! i read the book at least once a year, and when i go to bed at nite, i invariably dream that i'm in hong kong with the characters in the book!! sound nuts?? perhaps; but i absolutly LOVE IT!! i wish the same experience for YOU!!! and, don't forget: clavel wrote other books that are kind of a sequel to tai pan... read them all!! he wrote 6 before he died.. all were great!

the story line was reasonably true to the book along with some relationships that may have been risque to portray at the time. Having Bryan Brown (a fair dinkum Aussie) using a fairly broad Scots accent was initially distracting.

The book by James Clavell is an excellent International Best Seller. It is a wonderful and intriguing story. Sadly this DVD is an embarrassment which has not managed to transfer from a book to the screen. It does not convey the excitement which is in the book. It is not in the same league as Shogun, but should be. It has a good opening with music and you then hope for that standard to be kept up, but sadly it falls away into total boredom. I felt sorry for the actors who seemed to be acting in a Village Panto.A great story totally ruined by poor scripts and filmwork.If you must watch this film, it will probably be shown at about 4AM on TV.Save your money and watch Shogun again.

Read the book and avoid this movie. The story is far far lame and doesn’t explain the pirates role and the connection with BRITISH EAST INDIA COMPANY.

A good film, but with such a short time available, inevitably misses most of the nuances and intrigue of the original book. Recommend reading the book/kindle to get the full flavour of Clavell's world. UPDATE - On 2nd watching, down rated from 5 star (outstanding/excellent) to 4 star (very good/good). Still recommended.

I purchased this dvd for a friend and haven't been able to give the customer feedback until now. My friend was delighted with the quality of the film, he said it was excellent. So thank you to the company I purchased it from.

The book I have to read also but the film is beautiful and shows how people change and are different in the past as specially when west meets east. The end shows that the son nows what the father wanted.