Other Titles • The Emperor's Club • The Palace Thief (2002)
Synopses for The Emperor's Club (2002)
1.
Comparisons to Dead Poets Society are inevitable, but The Emperor's Club achieves a rich identity all its own. In the honorable tradition of great teacher dramas like Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Kevin Kline is well cast as Mr. Hundert, longtime teacher of classics and assistant headmaster of St. Benedict's Academy for Boys. There he encounters a defiant student and senator's son (Emile Hirsch) who desperately needs--but ultimately rejects--Hundert's lessons on leadership, integrity, and the shaping of character. Adapted from Ethan Canin's short story "The Palace Thief," the film is conventional to a fault, its flashback structure unfolding in Hollywood shorthand. But its noble sentiments remain potently intact, allowing Kline a performance of great emotional nuance while imparting lessons of universal value. "This is a story with no surprises," as Hundert says, but The Emperor's Club may surprise you with its admirable portrait of a life well lived. --Jeff Shannon
(37 votes)
2.
At St. Benedict's prep school, the boys are disciplined, mannered, and ready to learn. But when a bad apple enters the classroom of the well-respected Mr. Hundert (Kevin Kline), chaos ensues. Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch, DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS) is a kid with a chip on his shoulder and a powerful senator for a father. He is a shock to the system of Mr. Hundert, whose firm moral standards and unshakeable integrity are genuinely challenged by Sedgewick's eye-rolling, rule-breaking, uncaring insubordination. Determined to change Sedgewick, "mold him," and bring out the strong and true character that he believes to be at the core of every student, Mr. Hundert makes Sedgewick his priority. However, their bond will remain a thorn in Mr. Hundert's side for years thereafter, even beyond his retirement.
Based on a short story by Ethan Canin, and directed by Michael Hoffman, THE EMPEROR'S CLUB uses crisp photography and convincing performances to communicate this wholesome tale of honor, morality, and trying to do what's right at all costs.
(29 votes)
3.
Arthur Hundert (Kevin Kline) is a dedicated and inspiring Classics professor who has devoted his life to teaching at an elite boys' prep school. When a new student, Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch), the headstrong son of a powerful senator, joins his class, Mr. Hunder's life is inexorably altered. It is a clash of wills and personalities as these two people seemingly battle for the hearts and souls of the other students at St. Benedicts.
Spanning 20 years, the story resumes when Bell, now a powerful and influential businessman, brings the retired Professor back into his life and world. At a reunion of his students, Hundert is faced with the fear that he may have failed the most important challenge of his life - to have been a great teacher.
(28 votes)
4.
Kevin Kline stars as William Hundert, a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to a close student-teacher relationship, but results in a lesson for Hundert that will still haunt him a quarter of a century later.
(28 votes)
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