13-year-old Christian Bale starred in this J.G. Ballard tale about a young prisoner in WWII China
... Based on J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel, tells the story of 
a boy,... [DOC] [TLE] BOY IN 'EMPIRE' CALLS ACTING 'REALLY GOOD FUN' - NYTimes ... [PAR] Dec 16, 1987 ... LEAD: When Christian Bale auditioned for Steven Spielberg's ''Empire of the ...