The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) Blu-ray from Twilight Time

[Akijama]

Release date: January 20

PRE-ORDER http://www2.screenarchives.com/title...OF-CAIRO-1985/

"[A] Masterpiece!" -Time Magazine

"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.

IMDB - 7.7 ( 29,449 users )

Rotten Tomatoes - 90% (31 reviews counted )

[Show spoiler]It's not coming soon, but here's something to look forward to in '15. One of the Woody Allen's crown jewels is coming to blu from Twilight Time.

[Illy Scorsese]

Awesome... The 2 Allen titles I'm most wanting on Blu.

"Purple Rose" is one of the 5 Best Films he's ever made imho.

[Blu-Velvet]

This has long been my favorite Woody Allen film. I'm hoping that TT will have at least a few supplements, as the typical MGM/Fox releases of Woody Allen titles are lucky to include even a trailer.

But more important on this particular title to me is the aspect ratio, having seen this several times on 35mm both in the theatre and in private screenings that had more lens/aperture-plate options available.

As I posted in the regular Twilight Time thread...

I really hope they do a 1.37:1 transfer of PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, or crop it to no more than 1.66:1. The 1.85:1 DVD (and the original theatrical showings I saw) cuts off way too much of the picture, especially on the classic film clips and pseudo-1930s film clips. Projecting it in the theatre the picture had to be periodically re-framed up and down from scene to scene (and sometimes was, but rarely). I happen to have an old 35mm print of this (though sadly no longer have a working projector) and the film itself is a full-frame 1.18:1 image but watching the full 1.18 frame looks rather awkward with too much head room (as would be expected). The picture seems to be composed for 1.37:1 projection, as it definitely looks best that way and that format certainly best fits the era it is trying very successfully to evoke. Cropping to 1.66:1 should look passable, but if the Blu-ray is at 1.85:1 or 1.78:1, I'll pass on it even though it's my favorite Woody Allen film.

If MGM simply supplies already-done HD masters we may be stuck with an overly-cropped 1.85 version, but if anyone from Twilight Time reads this, perhaps they can convince them to do an alternate aspect ratio transfer (as on Criterion's ON THE WATERFRONT and a couple of Olive releases like THE TRAP). If only one aspect ratio can be included, then 1.37 is the best choice with THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, since anyone who prefers a widescreen picture can simply zoom in their monitor or projector with minimal loss of quality (as I do whenever I run RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11, SUDDENLY, JOHNNY GUITAR, and a few others).

[yojoeski]

Perhaps an odd question, but for those who are wrestling fans from long ago, David Von Erich's nickname was the "Yellow Rose of Texas." Did that relate to this film somehow i.e. was it a reference to it or was it something else entirely?

[Illy Scorsese]

Originally Posted by yojoeski

Perhaps an odd question, but for those who are wrestling fans from long ago, David Von Erich's nickname was the "Yellow Rose of Texas." Did that relate to this film somehow i.e. was it a reference to it or was it something else entirely?

Something else entirely...

[ShellOilJunior]

Start saving now.

[GenPion]

This is my favorite Woody Allen film. This is a most welcome upgrade.

[Aclea]

Two of my my three favorite Woody Allen films. The DVD of Love and Death is atrocious quality, so an upgrade of that is particularly good news.

[ImAWalkingCorpse]

I've never owned this on any format, but I do remember really liking it in theaters. I will check this out.

[John_Drake]

Originally Posted by Illy Scorsese

Awesome... The 2 Allen titles I'm most wanting on Blu.

"Purple Rose" is one of the 5 Best Films he's ever made imho.

My thoughts exactly (although I would like to see What's Up Tiger Lily? get a BD release, too)

[MTRodaba2468]

Purple Rose is probably my favorite Allen film from the 80's. Looks like I'll be grabbing it (along with all the other Allen films TT picked up...)

[whiteberry]

Like a lot of you, it's my favorite Woody Allen movie too.

[Akijama]

Release date: January 20

[javi92]

January is shaping up to be an expensive month...

[SammyJankis]

My third favorite Allen. Definitely getting this.

[Grethiwha]

My second favourite Woody Allen film, after Annie Hall, and the last one I've really been waiting for on blu-ray.

[soarinsteven]

Ahh, would love to upgrade this to blu. One of my favorites along with Love and Death. Broadway Danny Rose is good too, but I can't with their prices. =/

[Akijama]

Pre-order date: Tuesday, December 30th at 4pm EST.

Special Features: Isolated Score Track / Original Theatrical Trailer

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by Akijama

[Show spoiler]

Honestly I'm not a big fan of that artwork. I would've preferred the original art, but no matter. I still plan on getting this one...

[Akijama]

PRE-ORDER http://www2.screenarchives.com/title...OF-CAIRO-1985/