Customer Reviews

Purple Rose of Cairo [VHS]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Take a Woody Allen movie where Woody politely stays BEHIND the camera. Add a perfectly cast Mia Farrow as a waif-like dreamer of a girl, living in the grinding poverty of the 1930's Depression and married to an blustering, brutal man. Top it off with a brilliant dual performance by Jeff Daniels who is a cinematic film hero who steps out of the screen and the actor who plays this hooky playing fictional character.

Cecilia (Mia Farrow) works as a waitress (on the verge of being fired). Her life is grim, living in a tenement with her no-account husband (Danny Aiello). Her one pleasure is the movies that she attends daily. Her favorite is "The Purple Rose of Cairo," and the explorer character "Tom Baxter" brings radiance to her eyes that never leave him. After multiple viewings, one day "Tom" falters in his lines, seems distracted, then steps out of the film and joins Cecilia in the audience. The cast and audience are suitably stunned; the cast enjoining him to get back on the screen so they can finish the movie, and the audience grumbling they didn't pay good money to watch the cast arguing among themselves. "Tom" is resolute, and out they walk, he in his pith helmet and explorer togs, Cecilia radiant. The movie industry is appalled worried about litigation and insurrection if characters start walking off the screen. Gil Shepard, the actor who played"Tom" is sent to the scene to talk "Tom" into getting back onscreen where he belongs. "Tom" clearly is innocent of what the "real" (as opposed to "reel") world is about. He is in love with Cecilia and she allows that he "is the perfect man. Of course, he's fictional." Real life "Gil," Tom, and Cecilia meet. The ending is surprisingly intense.

Jeff Daniels is dazzling as Gil/Tom. He handles both roles to perfection. The interaction among Daniels, Farrow, and Aiello is flawless. Much as I wanted to thoroughly despise Aiello as the low-life husband, he managed to make me laugh and feel sorry for him with his bravado performance. All the jokes and humor work in "The Purple Rose of Cairo," which isn't the case in many Allen movies. I believe this is Woody Allen's valentine to his beloved movies. It couldn't be better. Even if you are a dedicated Allenophobe, see this movie. You won't be disappointed.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

Woody Allen has long admired the works of both Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini, and while he has done other movies that intentionally (and not very successfully, in my opinion) mimic those two great directors, I think "Purple Rose of Cairo" is his better homage to Fellini. He captures the same poignant combination of humor and pathos as Fellini does in his earlier masterpieces "La Strada" and "Nights of Cabiria." In fact, the concluding scene of Cecilia (Mia Farrow) staring at the movie screen, her eyes transforming from despair to hope (as her life has just gone down the toilet) is a mirror of the concluding scene in Fellini's "Cabiria." This is also Allen's most loving tribute to "the movies." Movies allow us to escape to a better world and--at least temporarily--to escape our selves. The cast is great--especially the wonderful supporting characters who seem right out of the Depression era, as are those who play the movie characters who get stranded on-screen when one of their colleagues steps out into the real world. While this may not be one of Woody Allen's most popular films, it is a near-perfect little gem.

I hadn't seen this movie since 1985 when it first came out and was excited to find it on DVD and it was a great as I remembered! This is an original fantasy that is a lot of fun. Mia Farrow is charming as Cecilia, a woman in the depression era who is addicted to movies. Jeff Daniels plays the character from the movie "The Purple Rose of Cairo" whom she fantasizes about. The fun begins when Jeff Daniels character walks off the screen and into Cecilia's life.....but reality soon sets in when the REAL actor gets wind that his character has walked off the screen.....the movie is simply wonderful and forgoes the typical happy ending....favoring REALITY over fantasy. Watch it you won't be disappointed. Even if you don't care for Woody Allen movies, I know you'll love this one!

Every element from humor to heartbreak make this ingenious film one of the best ever. Mia Farrow gives us both giddy childishness and unspeakable sadness in what is surely one of her best performances. I am not an Allen fan per se and was surprised at the emotional impact this had on me when it was released back in the 80's. I must have seen it 5 or 6 times and was grateful that Allen sat this one out in terms of acting.
The cast is superb and it emphasizes just how the cinema has long been the escape from a world that can be unbearably cruel.

"The Purple Rose of Cairo" is one of those rare films whose concept is intriguing as the end product. "Rose" is witty, thoughtful, masterfully directed and acted, and, for once, we get a chance to enjoy Woody Allen's great talent as a skillful director, without his setting foot on the screen (not even in a cameo--like Alfred Hitchcock did in all of his films).

Cecilia (Mia Farrow), is a waitress at a diner, during a time in the 1920s when the Great Depression has set in, times are tough, jobs are scarce and the people are looking for an escape. What better way to seek a diversion than in a movie theatre, where one can live a life of romance, comedy, drama and adventure, vicariously through the larger-than-life actors on the projecting screen?

Cecilia's all-consuming passion for films is her one refuge from the grim life she has built with her abusive, philandering husband (Danny Aiello). One of her favorite films, by far, is "The Purple Rose of Cairo." When she likes a film she will see it over and over again, almost nightly. Furthermore, when she isn't in the movie theatre watching the film she knows almost line-for-line, she discusses the plot and the smoldering actors with her co-workers. Cecilia may have stepped away from the fantasy of the silver screen, once the picture has ended, but it lives on in her heart long afterwards.

One night, when she goes to "The Purple Rose of Cairo" for the upteenth time, the adventuresome and brawny Tom Baxter, the romantic lead (Jeff Daniels), sees the starstruck Cecilia sitting alone in the theatre, and literally steps off of the screen to be with this mysterious and beautiful woman whose life revolves around films and melding life on screen with life in the day-to-day world. This has never happened before, and Tom causes quite a stir in the film world, as well as up on screen, because the characters literally cannot leave the scene they were acting in until he returns. Also, the actor who portrays Tom Baxter is stunned and concerned that his clone, or, rather, his character has taken on a life of his own in the 3-D world!

This film truly has staying power from beginning to end. It is packed with witty dialogue, clever insight and plenty of warm, over the top humor that is, oftentimes, uproariously funny. You can tell that Woody Allen wrote and directed this film as a tribute to the films that inspired him--perhaps, to become the great director and screenwriter that he is today. "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is truly an underrated masterpiece.

If Woody Allen thinks this is his finest film, I'm not surprised. It's flawless. Brilliantly written, brilliantly acted, superbly plotted. Faultless. Daniels and Farrow are perfectly stunning in their parts. Whatever happended to Jeff Daniels? Why is this the only film I've seen him in? He plays this part with the lightest of touches: it's like whipped cream. Farrow is incredible, retaining always the slight reserve of suspicion that things can't be quite what they seem, which just about makes the ending bearable. The real mastery of the writing and direction is that what threatens to be a one-joke plot never topples over and falls flat. The juggling keeps the balls in the air with such delicate skill that the only possible reaction is one of pure admiration.

An absolutely masterpiece, Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is a great movie that even people who don't usually like Woody Allen might like. I love Woody Allen and out of all of the films I've seen by him (7, I think) this is in my top 3 (below Annie Hall and Manhattan). The movie blends comedy, romance, drama, and features a genuinely sad ending. Allen's baby mama (and wife's mama) Mia Farrow plays Cecilia, a Depression-era housewife trapped in an unhappy marriage. She works as a waitress, makes little money, and is clumsy which frequently pisses off her boss. To escape from everything, she goes to the movies. When she sees the newest movie, 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' she falls in love with the character Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels); When Cecilia is finally fired from her job, she sees the movie five times in a row prompting the character Tom to take notice. In doing so, he walks right out of the screen and into the arms of Cecilia. Leaving his fellow characters trapped in the movie and needing him to come back, Tom takes off from the theatre prompting management to call the films producers. When the actor who plays Tom, Gil Shepherd (Jeff Daniels again) gets wind of it...He fears his career may be in jeopardy and he seeks out Tom, but falls in love with Cecilia in the process. Meanwhile, on screens across America; The Tom Baxters are going haywire, forgetting their lines and trying get out of the movie. It's definitely a strange and original idea that could fail in the wrong hands. Any fan of Allen's should love it, but I did say that non-Allen fans would like it too. Here's why. If you don't like Woody Allen because of his work (a lot of people don't like him because of the Soon-Yi debacle), then it's probably because you don't like the neurotic character that's featured in almost all of his films (and almost always played by him) or you don't look his way of storytelling (the Greek thing in "Mighty Aphrodite" or the three endings in "Sweet and Lowdown"); This film has no neurotic Woody character, straight-forward storytelling. The only way you could even tell it's a Woody Allen movie is from the score and the credit sequences. This is a truly wonderful movie and I highly recommend it.

GRADE: A

During the Great Depression Cecilia (Mia Farrow) is trapped in a dreary life with a soulless husband (Danny Aiello), so she escapes to the movies. There she becomes hook on "The Purple Rose of Cairo," which she watches so many times that Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), the dashing archaeologist of the film becomes so distracted he decides to leave the film and walks off the screen into Cecilia's life. Suddenly Cecilia is happy, even if Tom is just a fictional character. Meanwhile, Hollywood is in an uproar as other Tom Baxters are threatening to walk out of the picture as well, leaving it to actor Gil Shepherd to try and reign in the character he created.

Some critics dismissed this Woody Allen film as a flip on Buster Keaton's silent classic "Sherlock Jr.," a surreal fantasy about a film projectionist and amateur detective who climbs into a movie. But so what if the idea is not new? The chief charm here is what Allen does with the idea. The romantic triangle between Cecilia, Tom and Gil is pleasant enough, but for me what is hysterical is what is going on back at the theater with the characters in the movie who are waiting to find out what happens. Henry (Edward Herrmann) is worried they will turn off the projector and make everything dark, while Jason (John Wood) insists the movie is really about him so they do not need Tom to come back. Rita (Deborah Rush) points out she is rich and does not have to put up with this nonsense while the maid, Delilah (Annie Joe Edwards) objects to people being in the wrong reel. Of course the time comes for Cecilia to go through the looking glass to join Larry (Van Johnson) and the Countess (Zoe Caldwell) at the swank nightclub, where Kitty Haynes (Karen Akers) is quite upset to find Tom with another woman. The idea that movies are truly "screen plays" that the actors play out several times a day is carried off marvelously. Meanwhile, the audiences are staying at the theater to see what happens next. The non-movie is as interesting as the real thing.

Mia Farrow actually has the Woody Allen part in this Woody Allen movie in which Woody Allen does not appear. The accent is a bit much (not as grating as her comic turn in "Radio Days"), but Cecilia is clearly a sweet soul and there is something about the way the light of the movies plays with her eyes that captures her happiness at finding the escape. Of course, reality, not to mention the Hollywood studio system, are out for money and not happiness, so that there cannot be a storybook ending. "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is more than a one-joke film, although certainly it is more streamlined that your average Allen film. Besides, despite the enticing impulse to do so, I do not see this as an indictment of Hollywood or the para-social interaction of real audiences with fictional characters. This is a charming little fantasy with enough of an element of reality to keep the dream from staying alive.

Woody Allen's The Purple Rose Of Cairo ranks among his better films. The film centers on the experiences of a poor woman named Cecilia who is played wonderfully by Mia Farrow. Cecilia is trapped in a loveless marriage to a brute named Monk who is played by Danny Aiello.

Cecilia has a job as a waitress in a small diner during the depression and although she tries to work hard she can't help but fantasize and chat about the movies with her sister who also works at the same diner. Cecilia's only comfort is in the movie theater watching glamorous but highly contrived movies about rich people who aren't suffering from poverty and the scorn of her husband. Cecilia eventually loses her job and after catching Monk being unfaithful to her she winds up watching The Purple Rose Of Cairo endlessly at the small movie theater in their town.

Imagine Cecilia's surprise when one of the characters, the dashing all-American type guy Tom Baxter, decides to leave the film, jump from the screen into the audience, and run away with Cecilia! Tom represents the purity of heart and the true compassion that Cecilia longs for in her real marriage. She knows Tom is fictional because he came off the movie screen; but Tom maintains he's never going back because he wants to experience the real world with Cecilia as his new bride.

Of course, all of this horrifies the movie theater manager and the Hollywood studio that produced the film entitled The Purple Rose Of Cairo. How inconvenient this is for Gil Shepherd, too, the actor who portrayed Tom Baxter in the film! The movie studio executives and Gil Shepherd hatch a plan to get Tom to return to the movie--but will it work? What would happen if Tom returned to the movie but took Cecilia with him into the land of make believe?

The Purple Rose Of Cairo is a film you cannot afford to miss. Mia Farrow as Cecilia, Danny Aiello as Monk, Cecilia's husband and Jeff Daniels as both Gil and Tom all give some of the most convincing performances I've ever seen. Their performances moved me and engaged my attention much longer than I initially thought they would.

This movie deals with the universal human desire to escape the pain and boredom of everyday life so many of us experience and to replace that misery with a world in which there are no real problems and everyone has money or at the very least a secure job. Cecilia represents us all as she delights to Tom's world of relative innocence and harmony. Therein lies the true strength of this film.

The cinematography shines: I like the scenes in the movie house where you see the film being screened within Woody Allen's picture. The scenes filmed in the amusement park reflect careful forethought concerning lighting and camera angles. The choreography amazes me: I love the scenes in which both the movie theater patrons and the actors in the film are stunned by Tom's decision to leave the movie and they all move about simultaneously in ways that prove good judgment on the part of Woody Allen and his colleagues who worked on this film.

Overall, The Purple Rose Of Cairo will remain an excellent film as long as the human condition and the quality of our lives are imperfect. Everybody dreams of a world where their true desires are reality and their troubles disappear. The Purple Rose Of Cairo elegantly explores this theme with sophistication, wit and poignancy.

Inspired by Buster Keaton's "Sherlock Jr.," but also very much indebted to RKO's 1930s screwball comedies, "Rose" is a sweet, nostalgic, and appealing fantasy directed with flair by comic genius Woody Allen. Daniels really nails his dual part, playing the dreamy black-and-white character who falls for Cecilia, and the actor, Gil Shepherd, behind the role. Yet Allen builds the film around Farrow, wonderful as always playing a melancholy hausfrau. If you want to know why audiences flocked to the theater during the Great Depression, see the appealing, wistful "Purple Rose." One of Allen's personal favorites, as well as mine.