Product Details

• Actors: Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet, Marie Laforêt, Erno Crisa, Frank Latimore
• Directors: René Clément
• Writers: René Clément, Patricia Highsmith, Paul Gégauff
• Producers: Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English, French, Italian
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Times Film Corporation
• VHS Release Date: September 2, 2003
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304298315
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #189,012 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

A member of the middle generation of French filmmakers between Renoir and the New Wave, René Clément was a strong visual stylist who tried on different subjects and genres: documentaries, semidocumentaries, wartime dramas, comedies. In Purple Noon he showed a strong facility for feverish film noir, and the results are quite memorable. Based on Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, the film stars Alain Delon as the notoriously amoral Ripley (a character also played, albeit quite differently, by Dennis Hopper in Wim Wenders's The American Friend). Envious of a playboy pal (Maurice Ronet) having a luxurious time on the Mediterranean, Ripley decides to murder the man and assume his identity. The subsequent suspense concerns the dirty deed done and the aftermath of complicated cover-ups, and in the best Hitchcockian sense you can never quite tell whose side you're on as Ripley's efforts at survival are followed in meticulous detail. Mesmerizing to watch, saturated in light and color, and topped by Delon at his most icy, Purple Noon is a terrific discovery for enthusiasts of film noir and the French cinema. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Talented Mr. Ripley with a French accent, November 13, 2001

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Purple Noon [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I saw this before I read the Patricia Highsmith mystery novel from which it was adapted, and before seeing the recent and excellent The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) directed by Anthony Minghella and starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow. Here the accomplished French director René Clément has Alain Delon, Maurice Ronet and Marie Laforêt as his stars in this very fine interpretation. Seeing it again only confirms my high opinion.

The fact that "Purple Noon" plays well after forty years is a testament to Clément's clean, objective direction and his faithful adherence to the Hitchcock formula. Pretty poor boy goes after everything pretty rich boy has, including his yacht and his girl friend in this tightly focused thriller. We see once again--cf., Polanski's Knife in the Water (1962) and the early Nicole Kidman vehicle Dead Calm (1989)--that some very bad things can happen when you get two men and one woman on a yacht in the middle of a whole lot of water. Note too the Mediterranean rock island atmosphere reminiscent of Antonioni's L'Avventura (1960). It will probably get me into trouble with Italian film aficionados to add that it's a little surprising that both films are from the same year, inasmuch as Plein Soleil is still a treat to watch, while L'Avventura seems terribly dated. Perhaps the beautiful use of color and the charming locales and interiors so well done by Clément make the difference.

Delon is a particularly "pretty" and uncomplicated Tom Ripley, while Ronet is a somewhat nasty and macho Philippe ("Dickie" in the novel) Greenleaf, and Laforêt is a very sensual and sexy Marge. All do a good job and are well directed by Clément whose attention to detail in all aspects of the production is admirable. The fish market scene and the scene where Ripley projects Philippe's signature on the wall in order to practice it, and especially the cold, windy feel of being aboard the yacht work very well and keep us engaged.

Comparing the Minghella film, I would say it owes something to Plein Soleil (e.g., the jazz motif, the real love between Marge and Philippe) but is essentially a different spin. Perhaps the most important difference is that there is no sexual ambiguity to Ripley's character in this film as there was in both the novel and Minghella's production. Clément plays it straight throughout also eschewing any sort of psychological study of Ripley's murderous nature. He even deviates from Highsmith's daring (at the time) resolution for something more traditional. Nonetheless the very clever ending is beautifully ironic and will give you a surprising jolt.

66 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lousy DVD from Disney, January 31, 2002

By 

Geoffrey P. Smith "opusposthum" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Purple Noon (DVD)

No problems with the film itself, I saw the theatrical release several years ago, and loved it. I refuse to buy the lame excuse for a DVD that Buena Vista has offered. When will the message get through? Serious films need the serious treatment on disc, especially if we are going to be gouged with Disney prices. The absence of anamorphic enhancement on this film is close to criminal in my eyes, and the rest of the shoddy package, right down to the boilerplate on the case, is an insult. Criterion did a Laser Disc of this film, and this DVD needs the Criterion treatment. Tell me I'm having a bad dream!!

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ripley Done Right, September 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Purple Noon (DVD)

I discovered Plein Soleil in France while living in Paris and since it had a four star rating (out of four) in the TV review, I decided to tape it, and have not regretted it since. I have seen the film four times and simply never get tired of it.

My friends and family were disappointed in the American Ripley film version and I really wanted them to see this, the original film. However, I was not willing to translate every single line from French into English (irritating for all involved... defeats the purpose...) and I could not find a copy of the movie with subtitles.

Then I found that Plein Soleil existed under the title "Purple Noon" in English and was overjoyed. As the other reviewers have already noted, the cinematography is superb, and, Alain Delon, pretty boy or not, is sublime. (And I was not a fan of his- quite the contrary- before seeing this film). The twist and sense of poetic justice at the end was far more gratifying than the Talented Mr. Ripley.

To me this is a PERFECT MOVIE. Just to give you a sense of my taste, other "perfect films" in my book are "Cyrano de Bergerac" (version with Gerard Depardieu), "Goodfellas", and "Rocco et I suoi fratelli" (Viscomti- an Italian drama also starring a young Alain Delon).

Call it Plein Soleil or Purple Noon- what you get is style, suspense, finesse, and French class.

An American formerly in Paris