The Emperor and His Brother
1981 1h 41m movie Film Hong Kong

The Emperor and His Brother

書劍恩仇錄

Synopsis

書劍恩仇錄

A young boy betrays his family who hides a refugee and tells the pursuer where the hiding-place is – just because he wants a valuable telescope for reward. His father decides to kill the boy in order to restore the honor of the family.

Titles With Overlapping Themes

Films and series that share thematic tags with The Emperor and His Brother. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.

Other Titles From Shaw Brothers

Action + Drama in Hong Kong

136 Hong Kong titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding The Emperor and His Brother itself).

The 1980–1982 Hong Kong Window

In the crowded 1980-1982 Hong Kong release window, The Emperor and His Brother sits at #35 of 45. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.

  1. Blade Runner
    #1

    Blade Runner

    ★ 7.9 · 1982
  2. Buddha's Palm
    #2

    Buddha's Palm

    ★ 7.9 · 1982
  3. Boat People
    #3

    Boat People

    ★ 7.6 · 1982
  4. The Miracle Fighters
    #4

    The Miracle Fighters

    ★ 7.4 · 1982
  5. Dreadnaught
    #5

    Dreadnaught

    ★ 7.4 · 1981
  6. Killer Constable
    #6

    Killer Constable

    ★ 7.1 · 1980
  7. The Prodigal Son
    #7

    The Prodigal Son

    ★ 7.0 · 1981
  8. The Young Master
    #8

    The Young Master

    ★ 6.9 · 1980

The 1980s Hong Kong Landscape

Catalog density by release year across the 1980s in Hong Kong, 151 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Emperor and His Brother premiered alongside 17 others.

'8014'8118'8213'8314'8415'857'8615'8716'8819'8920

Position in Catalog

Released alongside 17 other Hong Kong films in 1981.

The 157th Hong Kong title from Hong Kong we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1955).

Our Hong Kong catalog contains 836 titles in total (828 films).

Audience Engagement

13
Reviews
21st
Review-volume percentile
49th
Popularity percentile

13 audience reviews — more than 21% of Hong Kong films in our index.

Popularity sits at the 49th percentile among Hong Kong films.

Thematic Fingerprint

Tags on The Emperor and His Brother, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.

Distinctive themes · rare across catalog
  • chinese emperor · 5
Recurring themes · common across catalog
  • 18th century · 14
Mainstream tags · widely used across catalog
  • martial arts · 369
  • based on novel or book · 288
  • wuxia · 35

Reception Benchmarks

5.7
TMDB Rating
13
Audience Reviews
Mixed
Critical Tier

Ranked #662 of 836 Hong Kong films indexed here (21st percentile by TMDB audience score).

Rating is -0.6 points below the Hong Kong average of 6.3/10.

Among Hong Kong Action productions specifically: #428 of 516 (top 83%).

Production Details

Primary CountryHong Kong
Original LanguageChinese
Production CompaniesShaw Brothers
Runtime1h 41m
Release DateJuly 19, 1981
IMDbtt0083072