The Purple Rose of Cairo
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Movie Reviews of The Purple Rose of Cairo
Movie Review: "Tom Baxter's come down off the screen and he's running around New Jersey!... Nobody knows how it happened, but he's done it."
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Purple Rose of Cairo" was the first Allen's movie I saw back in Moscow in the end of the 80s and it started my eternal love for his films. "The Purple Rose..." is wonderful, is one if Allen's greats - a perfect combination of poignancy and humor, romance and drama, reality and fiction. It is the movie-within-the-movie that blends sophisticated romance from the lives of rich and beautiful where the dashing main hero with bravery and chivalry written into his character always gets a girl and Depression Era New York City where a poor waitress tries to escape the realities of her joyless life in the movie theater. The story focuses on Cecilia (Mia Farrow), a waitress and a battered wife of an unemployed abusive man (Danny Aiello). Cecilia only feels alive when she watches her favorite movies that take her away from her dreary realities. One day, as she watches "Purple Rose of Cairo" for the 10th or maybe 15th time, the leading man Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) decides to leave the movie and be with Cecilia in real life. His screen partners are left confused and "trapped" in a scene they can't get out of. The live actor who plays Baxter is blamed by the film's producer for his character's rebellion and tries to get him back on the screen. Cecilia's husband finds out that his wife was seen with a good looking man instead of working as a babysitter in the evening. On the top of all, Tom Baxters in other theaters try to leave "Purple Rose of Cairo", too... It is not the first or last time Allen has played with the concept of the thin line (in this film, the silver screen) that divides film's world and reality but rarely has he created the film as sweet, gentle, sad, technically realized and simply terrific as "Purple Rose of Cairo".
9.5/10
Movie Review: Why we love the movies
Summary: 4 Stars
Cecilia goes to the movies night after night, to escape her dreary life, and sees The Purple Rose of Cairo over and over. Each time, we pick up little scenes from the movie that is unfolding within the movie. Imagine the surprise, when a scene we've watched before isn't quite right. The Tom Baxter character seems distracted. Is it possible he just glanced out into the audience? This is exactly what Tom Baxter does, as he's noticed Ceclia watching the movie night after night. We watch as he starts speaking to her as she sits in her theater seat and eventually he jumps down off of the screen to the surprise of the audience and the cast of the Purple Rose of Cairo.
The comedy is great, as the movie cast can't proceed without Tom. They start to bicker amongst themselves and even take out their frustration on the audience..."You think you've got problems? We've got problems of our own!" Tom and Ceclia begin an offscreen adventure that makes clever use of the fact that Tom isn't actually a real person. There are plenty of gags and some great lines, particularly when Cecila proclaims that she's finally met the perfect man, "although he is fictional."
This is one of my favorite Allen films that doesn't actually star Allen. I'm happy that this movie, along with Hannah and Her Sisters, Broadway Danny Rose and Play it again Sam, have finally been released on DVD. This is a typical no-frills MGM release, with the movie in widescreen format, the theatrical trailer, and optional subtitles.
Movie Review: bittersweet
Summary: 4 Stars
A compact, tightly knitted film in a film about small characters in the era of big depression. Cecilia (Mia Farrow) had an unloving husband and a thankless job as a waitress to make ends meet. She found sanctuary in a cinema by watching the film "Purple Rose of Cairo" over and over again to escape from her monotonous life. Her chance came when the on screen hero Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels)walked away from his role into reality to meet his devoted fan. A budding romance began while the movie "Purple rose of Cairo" were brought to a standstill and the rest of the cast (a close resemble to Dinner at Eight?) were thrown in chaos. Entered the real actor Gil Shepherd (tribute to Sunset Boulevard perhaps) to rein in his on-screen character from destroying his career.
Mia Farrow was excellent in her role. She had a dreamy look that would constantly drift in real life. Yet her eyes lit up with passion and her mind would be focused and crisp whenever the conversation turned to movies. The only place and time that would warrant her undivided attention would be in the cinema watching a retrospect film. There her look changed completely and her wounds would be completely forgotton. A bittersweet story, sensitive, meticulously produced and well-directed. Even for a non-Woody Allen fan like me, the movie is unpretentious and beautiful for its simplicity.
Movie Review: Pleasant and nostalgic
Summary: 4 Stars
Woody Allen's examination of real life vs. the illusions of the Hollywood screen. Set during the Depression, Mia Farrow is a waitress who spends her spare time going to the movies. Her favorite is one called The Purple Rose of Cairo, which she sees over and over again. One day the lead male character, Jeff Daniels, begins talking to her in the audience and then steps down off the screen. He is sick of playing his role over and over and wants Farrow to show him the real world. They fall in love, of course, and Hollywood goes crazy and sends the real actor (also Daniels, of course) to persuade him to get back up on the screen again. He falls in love with Farrow, too, and she must decide what to do - stick by the actor of the film (his film name is Tom Baxter) or the real Daniels. She opts for the real guy only to be dumped by him. (Ah, reality!) It's a clever idea, though it doesn't have many places to go; thus the picture seems somewhat slight. As in RADIO DAYS it's brimming with sweet and sentimental nostalgia. It's a transition movie between Allen's social comedies and his serious Bergmanesque movies to follow. Worth a watch.Movie Review: The Stuff of Dreams
Summary: 4 Stars
No one has ever doubted Woody Allen's sentimental attachment to the power of the movies to make some strong cultural statements about its place in modern American society. This film cleverly addresses that issue by going to the source- the audience. And in this particular case a significant demographic part of that audience-young women, married or not, who peopled the theaters in the hey day of movie going before World War II.
Here Mia Farrow plays the put upon wife of a ne'er do well husband who seeks solace through getting wrapped up in celluloid. And, lo and behold, then up pops Mr. Right (Jeff Daniels) right off the screen. Unfortunately his existence is mere celluloid but in the end he may be more real than the movie industry moguls who in real life care about the bottom line more than the delivery of dreams. This theme has been done many times in many ways, including variations by Woody himself, but it is nice to see it done with a nice touch of humor, pathos and bathos and a well done performance by Farrow.