“A MADCAP MANHATTAN WEEKEND”

By Raymond Benson

Easily one of Woody Allen’s best films, The Purple Rose of Cairo, released in 1985, is a treat. It’s got laughs and pathos and is an excellent treatise on the conflict between fantasy and reality. Purple Rose represents a period when Allen was at the peak of his powers, when he was considered one of America’s greatest auteurs, and before there was the stigma of scandal hovering over his work. In 1985, Allen could do no wrong, and The Purple Rose of Cairo does everything right.

Allen doesn’t appear in the film. The picture belongs to Mia Farrow, and she delivers one of her best and most poignant performances as Cecilia, a meek and unhappy housewife/waitress in New Jersey during the Depression area. She is married to Monk (Danny Aiello), who is abusive and pays little attention to her needs. Thus, Cecilia escapes to the movies and sometimes sits through the same picture repeatedly. One such picture is the film-within-the-film, The Purple Rose of Cairo, a fictional RKO movie about Manhattan socialites who have just returned from Africa. They’ve brought along an archaeologist, Tom Baxter (winningly played by Jeff Daniels), who notices Cecilia in the audience, falls in love with her, and then breaks the fourth wall by stepping out of the screen and into the real world. Cecilia and Tom have a whirlwind romance, even going back into the movie together for a “madcap Manhattan weekend.”

The hilarity comes, of course, with Baxter’s reactions to the universe of color and places beyond the scenes in the movie he was in. But his vacating the picture has caused problems—the other characters in the movie don’t know what to do with themselves and their story halts. The picture’s producer and Gil Shepherd—the “real” actor who played Baxter onscreen—comes to remedy the situation. Cue the love triangle complications.

Allen draws from a number of influences, most particularly Buster Keaton’s 1924 film, Sherlock Jr., in which Keaton is a theater projectionist who slips into the movie that’s playing. Allen takes the premise further, in several different directions, and the result is a bittersweet comedy that even Allen himself (who is normally self-deprecating about his work) thinks turned out well. The picture also features an early appearance by Glenne Headly and Allen regular Dianne Wiest.

Twilight Time has released a limited edition Blu-ray—only 3,000 units—which automatically gives the title collectors’ item status. In terms of picture quality, it appears that the movie was simply transferred to Blu-ray without any restoration. There is a lot of grain in outdoor scenes, and artifacts and blemishes can be seen throughout. That said, Purple Rose is still a good-looking picture on Blu-ray (the cinematography was by the late, great Gordon Willis, whose contrasts in lighting work well with the theme of the story). The only extras are the theatrical trailer and trailers for other titles released by the company.

Therefore, forking out $29.95 for The Purple Rose of Cairo might be of interest only to die-hard Woody Allen fans. I’m not sure the Blu-ray improves significantly over the original DVD release from a decade ago. But if you don’t already own it, and you’re either an Allen fan or a cinephile who appreciates some of the best the 80s had to offer, then The Purple Rose of Cairo is for you.

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