The Puppetmaster

Watch Trailer Watch Movie

The Puppetmaster

1993

2h 23m

6.6(54 votes)

Drama

War

History

Overview

Master puppeteer Li Tien-lu recalls his life in Japanese-occupied Taiwan during the first half of the 20th century.

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Production Companies

Videos & Trailers

1 video

Cast & Crew

16 members

Acting

Li Tian-Lu

Self

Sound

Lim Giong

Li Tien-Lu

Acting

白明華

Ong Hsiu

Acting

Cheng Kuei-Chung

Young Li Tien-Lu

No Image

Acting

蔡振南

Xu Jinmu

Acting

楊麗音

Lin Laifa

Acting

洪流

Li Huo

Acting

魏筱惠

Unknown Role

Acting

Huang Chien-ru

Unknown Role

No Image

Acting

Kao Tung-Hsiu

Unknown Role

No Image

Acting

Li Hei

Unknown Role

No Image

Acting

Li Wenchang

Unknown Role

No Image

Acting

Liu Wen-pin

Unknown Role

No Image

Acting

I. Toshiro

Unknown Role

No Image

Acting

Tsai Yi-Hua

Unknown Role

No Image

Acting

Tzuo Juwei

Unknown Role

No Image

Similar Movies

8.5

1990

GoodFellas

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

Movie

7.5

1962

Birdman of Alcatraz

After killing a prison guard, convict Robert Stroud faces life imprisonment in solitary confinement. Driven nearly mad by loneliness and despair, Stroud's life gains new meaning when he happens upon a helpless baby sparrow in the exercise yard and nurses it back to health. Despite having only a third grade education, Stroud goes on to become a renowned ornithologist and achieves a greater sense of freedom and purpose behind bars than most people find in the outside world.

Movie

6.9

2006

The Queen

The Queen is an intimate behind the scenes glimpse at the interaction between HM Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair during their struggle, following the death of Diana, to reach a compromise between what was a private tragedy for the Royal family and the public's demand for an overt display of mourning.

Movie

7.9

1962

The Miracle Worker

The true story of the frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness of 7-year-old Helen Keller who, since infancy, has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch, the only tool they have in common, and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.

Movie

7.4

2002

Frida

A biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.

Movie

7.9

2006

The Pursuit of Happyness

A struggling salesman takes custody of his son as he's poised to begin a life-changing professional career.

Movie

7.4

2007

La Vie en Rose

From the mean streets of the Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York's most famous concert halls, Edith Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in her grandmother's brothel, Piaf was discovered in 1935 by nightclub owner Louis Leplee, who persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness. Piaf became one of France's immortal icons, her voice one of the indelible signatures of the 20th century.

Movie

7.6

2005

Cinderella Man

The true story of boxer Jim Braddock who, following his retirement in the 1930s, makes a surprise comeback in order to lift his family out of poverty.

Movie

6.9

2021

To Olivia

In 1962, Patricia Neal and Roald Dahl retreat to the English countryside to bring up their young family. The seemingly unlikely pair find their relationship put to the test by a tragic loss.

Movie

7.6

1982

Gandhi

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

Movie

8.0

2002

Catch Me If You Can

A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.

Movie

8.0

1966

Andrei Rublev

An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.

Movie

5.2

2017

Stars

A story of passion, rivalry, love, and friendship. Jan Banas, acclaimed Silesian football player of the 1960s and 1970s, struggles to makes his dreams come true on and off the field. Stars is the story of a great love between young people torn by passion and ambition.

Movie

5.2

2009

Hilde

A biography of Hildegard Knef, one of Germany's biggest post-war stars.

Movie

7.5

2020

Memories of My Father

In the polarized and violent Medellín (Colombia's 'City of Eternal Spring') of the 1970s, doctor Héctor Abad Gómez is concerned about both his children and children from less favored classes. After a devastating loss in the family, Héctor gives himself to the greater cause of public health programs for the poor in Medellín to the consternation of the city's authorities.

Movie

3.7

2022

Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story

Follows the successful career of Jackson as well as her unique friendship and devotion to Martin Luther King Jr. and her unsung contribution to the Civil Rights Movement.

Movie

6.7

1995

Rob Roy

In the highlands of Scotland in the 1700s, Rob Roy tries to lead his small town to a better future, by borrowing money from the local nobility to buy cattle to herd to market. When the money is stolen, Rob is forced into a Robin Hood lifestyle to defend his family and honour.

Movie

6.6

2016

The Last Man on the Moon

The 1960s was an extraordinary time for the United States. Unburdened by post-war reparations, Americans were preoccupied with other developments like NASA, the game-changing space programme that put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Yet it was astronauts like Eugene Cernan who paved the uneven, perilous path to lunar exploration. A test pilot who lived to court danger, he was recruited along with 14 other men in a secretive process that saw them become the closest of friends and adversaries. In this intensely competitive environment, Cernan was one of only three men who was sent twice to the moon, with his second trip also being NASA’s final lunar mission. As he looks back at what he loved and lost during the eight years in Houston, an incomparably eventful life emerges into view. Director Mark Craig crafts a quietly epic biography that combines the rare insight of the surviving former astronauts with archival footage and otherworldly moonscapes.

Movie

7.0

1988

Bloodsport

An American Army Major goes AWOL to Hong Kong for an outlawed martial arts contest called the Kumite.

Movie

6.7

1988

Camille Claudel

The life of Camille Claudel, a French sculptor who becomes the apprentice of Auguste Rodin and later his lover. Her passion for her art and Rodin drive her further away from reason and rationality.

Movie

Recommended Movies

7.2

2015

Suite Française

France, 1940. In the first days of occupation, beautiful Lucile Angellier is trapped in a stifled existence with her controlling mother-in-law as they both await news of her husband: a prisoner of war. Parisian refugees start to pour into their small town, soon followed by a regiment of German soldiers who take up residence in the villagers' own homes. Lucile initially tries to ignore Bruno von Falk, the handsome and refined German officer staying with them. But soon, a powerful love draws them together and leads them into the tragedy of war.

Movie

7.2

1975

The Travelling Players

A traveling theatre troupe tours the Greek countryside from 1939 to the early 1950s, staging “Golfo the Shepherdess”. As the years pass, its members endure persecution, betrayal, executions, and exile. Their personal stories become entangled with the country’s major historical events, in a seemingly endless cycle of violence and loss.

Movie

7.2

2011

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

Beloved by children of all ages around the world, Elmo is an international icon. Few people know his creator, Kevin Clash, who dreamed of working with his idol, master puppeteer Jim Henson. Displaying his creativity and talent at a young age, Kevin ultimately found a home on Sesame Street. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this documentary includes rare archival footage, interviews with Frank Oz, Rosie O’Donnell, Cheryl Henson, Joan Ganz Cooney and others and offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the Jim Henson Workshop.

Movie

8.0

2018

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

For more than thirty years, and through his television program, Fred Rogers (1928-2003), host, producer, writer and pianist, accompanied by his puppets and his many friends, spoke directly to young children about some of life's most important issues.

Movie

6.2

2012

In the Fog

Western frontiers of the USSR, 1942. The region is under German occupation. A man is wrongly accused of collaboration. Desperate to save his dignity, he faces an impossible moral choice.

Movie

6.1

2002

Ararat

Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.

Movie

6.1

2019

Judy & Punch

In the anarchic town of Seaside, nowhere near the sea, puppeteers Judy and Punch are trying to resurrect their marionette show. The show is a hit due to Judy's superior puppeteering but Punch's driving ambition and penchant for whisky lead to an inevitable tragedy that Judy must avenge.

Movie

6.7

2024

Before Dawn

After leaving his family's sheep farm in the Australian outback, a young man joins his countrymen on the western front of World War I with hopes of helping expedite an end to the bloody conflict. But as war rages on, he is forced to grapple with the brutal realities of trench warfare, including a near-constant battle to keep himself alive—without leaving another man behind. Inspired by the real-life diary entries of local ANZACs, the feature film details the untold story of some of Australia’s greatest military victories.

Movie

6.6

2023

WILL

Two young police officers find themselves torn between collaboration and resistance as they navigate the Nazi-occupied Antwerp during World War II.

Movie

6.6

1977

Drummer-Crab

"Le Crabe Tambour" ("Drummer Crab") is the nickname for the mysterious central character, Willsdorff (Jacques Perrin), an Alsatian, whose doomed, out-of-date career is recalled through the tales of three naval officers currently serving aboard a French supply ship in the North Atlantic.

Movie

6.5

2009

Lebanon

During the First Lebanon War in 1982, a lone tank and a paratroopers platoon are dispatched to search a hostile town.

Movie

7.7

2019

1942: Unknown Battle

WWII 1942: Rzhev, USSR. Stuck in a crucial strategical position, a small company from the Red Army does whatever it takes to fend off the Nazis.

Movie

6.4

2011

The Beaver

Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.

Movie

6.8

1957

The One That Got Away

Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.

Movie

6.6

2021

The War Below

During World War I, a group of British miners are recruited to tunnel underneath no man's land and set bombs from below the German front in hopes of breaking the deadly stalemate of the Battle of Messines.

Movie

6.5

1928

Storm Over Asia

In 1918 a young and simple Mongol herdsman and trapper is cheated out of a valuable fox fur by a European capitalist fur trader. Ostracized from the trading post, he escapes to the hills after brawling with the trader who cheated him. In 1920 he becomes a Soviet partisan, and helps the partisans fight for the Soviets against the occupying British army. However he is captured by the British when they try to requisition cattle from the herdsmen at the same time as the commandant meets with a reincarnated Grand Lama. After the trapper is shot, the army discovers an amulet that suggests he is a direct descendant of Genghis Khan. They find him still alive, so the army restores his health and plans to use him as the head of a puppet regime. The trapper is thus thrust into prominence as he is placed in charge of the puppet government. By the end, however, the "puppet" turns against his masters in an outburst of fury.

Movie

5.9

2018

303 Squadron

After the fall of the September Campaign of 1939, two Polish pilots are forced to fight for their nation in foreign battlefronts.

Movie

6.9

2015

1944

The events of the war in 1944, from the Blue Hills to Sõrve Peninsula. Shown through the eyes of Estonian soldiers who had to pick sides and fight against fellow brothers. Choices have to be made, not only by the soldiers, but also by their loved ones.

Movie

6.1

2008

Stop-Loss

A veteran soldier returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army.

Movie

6.0

2023

Father & Soldier

1917. Bakary Diallo enlists in the French army to join his 17-year-old son, Thierno, who has been forcibly recruited. Sent to the front, they will have to face the war together. While Thierno learns to become a man, Bakary will do everything to bring him back safely.

Movie