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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.85:1, Collector's Edition, Theatrical Version, Trailers
"One of the best movies about movies ever made: (Time Magazine), Woody Allen's The Purple Rose Of Cairo slips through the looking glass of cinematic convention to create a magical, "intoxicating" (Cosmopolitan) comic fable about life, love, illusion and hope. Starring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello and Dianne Wiest, this Academy Award-nominated film showcases Allen "at his most imaginative and compassionate, capturing the magic of the cinema" (Screen International) in all of its bittersweet glory! Lonely Depression-era waitress Cecilia (Farrow) is hopelessly addicted to Hollywood movies. Spellbound by her new favorite The Purple Rose Of Cairo, Cecilia is astonished when the leading man (Daniels) suddenly walks off the screen to meet her. Wooed by his charm, Cecilia finds herself falling for him--until she meets the real actor who plays him. Romanced by both a fictional character and a famous star, Cecilia struggles to locate the shifting line between fantasy and reality, only to discover that sometimes it's just a heartbeat away.
"[A] masterpiece!" Time Magazine
Editor's Note
The film that Woody Allen has said is his favorite of all that he's made, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO unites the competing tendencies in his work towards realism (be it comic, as in ANNIE HALL, or dramatic, as in INTERIORS) and comedic fantasy (such as SLEEPER or BANANAS). Cecilia (Mia Farrow) lives in New Jersey during the Great Depression, which appropriately describes her mood: she works a dead-end job as a waitress that supports her and her abusive, deadbeat husband Monk (Danny Aiello). Her only release is at the cinema, where she repeatedly goes to see a trite romantic adventure called "The Purple Rose of Cairo." But when Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), the lead character of the film, steps off the screen and falls in love with her, Cecilia has to deal with the disjoint between her own life and the glamorous world on the screen. Although the film begins realistically--there is close attention paid to period setting and costuming--the conceit of a film character emerging from the screen is one Allen would rarely use except in his outright comedies. However, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO blends dramatic and fish-out-of-water comedic situations to explore the disparity between the real world and fantasy. What is really at issue in the film is the positive psychological effects of the fantasies of the traditional film world. The film is the product of a true film lover, and stands as Allen's defense of the entertainments often derided by critics and other filmmakers of his stature. He received an Academy Award nomination for the screenplay.
Plot Summary
As a beleaguered waitress and battered wife in depression-era New Jersey, Cecilia's only escape from her dreary life is her endless moviegoing. Fantasy and reality merge in a startling and comical fashion when the hero of a film Cecilia's watched a thousand times emerges from the screen and starts squiring her around town. A pack of panicked studio executives pursue the errant leading man while the cast of disgruntled characters stranded on-screen await his return.
| Features | Subtitles: English, French Spanish | | Widescreen Version, Enhanced For 16X9 TVs | | Collectible Booklet | | Original Theatrical Trailer | | Audio: English, Spanish And French Mono |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: MGM |
| Release Date: 9/7/2004 |
| Running Time: 82 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1985 | | Catalog ID: 1001747 | | UPC: 00027616860477 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, Spanish Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: English, French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Oscar (1986) | | | Woody Allen, Nominee, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly For The Screen | |
Golden Globe (1986) |  | Woody Allen, Winner, Best Screenplay | | | Jeff Daniels, Nominee, Best Actor | | | Mia Farrow, Nominee, Best Actress |
| Memorable Quotes| "I just met a wonderful man. He's fictional, but you can't have everything." ---- Cecilia (Mia Farrow) to her sister (Stephanie Farrow) |
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| | Professional Reviews | Sight and Sound
"...Allen's sweetest and funniest version of the afterlife....Everything in this movie makes heavenly sense..." 06/01/1985 p.219-20New York Times
"...Enchanting....A sweet, lyrically funny, multilayered work that again demonstrates that Woody Allen is our premier film maker..." 03/01/1985 p.C8 New York Times
Included in the New York Times "10 BEST FILMS OF 1985" 12/29/1985 p.II, 19 Premiere
"[A] gentle, amusing, and bittersweet fantasy." 07/01/2006 p.108 |
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