The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) User Reviews

Fresh and inventive Woody.

[OllieZ · 9/10 · 29 January 2005]

The Purple Rose of Cairo really does rate up there with Woody's best - from Annie Hall, Manhattan to the earlier, more slapstick efforts, such as Love and Death and Sleeper. Cairo happens to be one of the best 80's movies Woody actually made - Crimes and Misdeameanours and Braodway Danny Rose being other greats.

The reason why I think that Cairo is better than the other 80's efforts is that the idea is really inventive. The movie raises so many questions of reality and fantasy, but does so in a highly surreal fashion. The switching of scenes, from reality to fantasy (movie) made me realise where movies take us as a viewer. Cecelia finds solace in the world of movies and comes up against the decision of which is better - the perfect world of movie, or reality, where things are never certain.

Jeff Daniels is so enigmatic in this movie. Not only as Tom, the screen legend, but as Gil the actor. Two very different characters, both played brilliantly. Mia Farrow is great as usual, and shows how broad her talent is (Broadway Danny Rose and Radio Days - both very different characters. Danny Aiello is good as the lazy slob-of-a-husband, Monk.

Like Radio Days, Woody isn't actually on screen (he narrated Radio Days, mind) and in a way this eased me up. Woody is fantastic when he is on screen, but this film benefited from losing his neurotic nature, and instead concentrated on the era, the love of movies and the complex themes of a movie within a movie. I will admit, some neurosis is retained in the dialogue (talk of morality to prostitutes!) - and this added to the surreal nature of the movie.

This has to be one of my favourite films Woody has directed. Annie Hall probably being my fave, Manhattan, Crimes and Misdeamenours and Sleeper following. Cairo is so constantly fresh and inventive, I couldn't help being captivated during it's short running time. I recommend this to any fan - or any lover of movies themselves. A real treat.

"If anybody needs me, I'll be in reel six."

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 12 May 2017]

Mia Farrow is wonderful as Cecilia, a small town waitress during the Great Depression. Married to a selfish lout named Monk (Danny Aiello), she's often in need of escape. And she finds it in the movies that she repeatedly watches. One day, to the astonishment of Cecilia and everybody in the theatre, movie character Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) emerges from his picture and enters the real world. He's become utterly taken with her, and is sick and tired of his dull routine, uttering the same lines over and over. Life becomes even more surreal for Cecilia when Gil Shepherd (Daniels again), the actor who played Tom, comes to the town to do damage control and HE falls in love with her as well!

"The Purple Rose of Cairo" is an ingenious concept film, well realized by writer / director Woody Allen. It's utterly charming, especially to any fan of the cinema. Some of the brightest moments happen when A) the other characters in the film-within-the-film become utterly lost, and just mope around, interacting with theatre patrons, and B) the golly-gee-whiz completely naive Tom is taken by prostitute Emma (Dianne Weist) to a whorehouse, where he seems to have no idea what goes on in such a place!

The recreation of a Depression era town is effective, as is Woody's emulation of classic 1930s black & white Hollywood pictures. Dick Hyman does the upbeat jazz score, and the excellent cinematography is the work of masterful Gordon Willis.

Mia and Jeff are just perfect, with the latter getting to do a memorable scene with the character and the actor arguing with each other. Aiello and Weist lead an excellent supporting cast consisting of talents such as Edward Herrmann, John Wood, Karen Akers, and Van Johnson, and top character actors like Irving Metzman, Milo O'Shea, Robert Trebor, John Rothman, Raymond Serra, and Michael Tucker. Glenne Headly has a bit as one of the hookers.

Clever through and through in its melding of reel life and real life, with both fictional and actual people struggling to come to terms with their new surroundings. The finale, however, really does break your heart.

Eight out of 10.

Another Overlooked Gem from Woody Allen

[ijonesiii · 8/10 · 21 December 2005]

THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO is a lovely, funny, and heartbreaking entry from Woody Allen that still remains one of my favorites. This romantic fantasy tickles your funny bone and tugs at your heartstrings at the same time and I go through a myriad of emotions whenever I watch it. Mia Farrow stars as Celia, a depression era housewife, trapped in a dead end marriage to a pig (Danny Aiello) whose only escape comes from going to the movies. She goes to see the movie of the title several times and then at one show, the main character in the movie (played by Jeff Daniels)speaks to Celia directly from the screen saying, "You must really love this movie, don't you?" The character then walks off the screen and into Celia's life, claiming that he loves her and wants to be with her forever. Meanwhile, the actors in the movie on the screen are stuck and don't know what to do because they can't finish the movie without Daniels' character and they are seen conversing with each other about what to do and to the audience in the theater, who for some reason, sit and watch the actors on the screen trying to figure out what to do. Further complications arrive when the character starts walking off the screen in other theaters around the country and the actor who played the character (also Daniels) arrives in town to try to convince his character to go back in the movie. Woody doesn't delve into the territory of fantasy too much, but this one totally works with one of his most intelligent screenplays and winning performances from Farrow and Daniels and the ending is a heartbreaker. A must-see.

A Classic Woody picture, one of my favorites of his

[PersianPlaya408 · 10/10 · 18 August 2005]

Woody Allen's Purple Rose of Cairo is a brilliant piece of film-making. He combines drama, comedy and even a little bit fiction (people jumping out of movie screens into the real world). Its a great story involving a woman with marital problems played superbly by Mia Farrow. Here Farrow gives one of her best performances, much better than she was in a film i recently viewed called Shadows and Fog. Jeff Daniels is also good in his role as the movie character who comes into the real world, as well as the actor who plays that role. This is by far one of the most complex yet well written Woody Allen flicks. All the performances are good as well as the direction and writing, almost everything is perfect. A must-see for any Woody fan.10/10 #60 on my list of all-time favorite films

One of his Great Ones

[drosse67 · 25 July 2002]

A movie I like to recommend to people who really dislike Woody Allen (because of his on-screen characters or off-screen life). And I usually get positive feedback.....he does not appear in this movie, and that makes sense because there really are no characters he could play in The Purple Rose of Cairo. It is a hugely entertaining movie--one of his best. Sharp, hilarious, and poignant. And anyone who can keep a dry eye for that ending must be a machine. This is the movie where Jeff Daniels really gets to strut his best comic stuff. He's always been underrated in my opinion. He's terrific at playing the "Everyman," but in Allen's movie he has a duel role--the clueless movie hunk who leaps off the screen to be with Mia Farrow, and the frustrated actor who plays him. Farrow is also good, back to playing mousey after her bold turn in Broadway Danny Rose. I really can't say enough about this. I would rank it as his best film of the '80s. I never get tired of watching it. I don't like using this adjective, but it seems to fit the movie....it is magical.

Our Daily Escape

[ggallegosgroupuk · 10/10 · 9 May 2017]

The only Woody Allen that I hadn't seen. I was waiting for the opportunity to see it on a proper screen in a proper movie theater, with other people you know, like in the previous century. At the end I was convinced to see it in a friend's living room but in one of those super duper mega wide TV screens. What a delight! A movie about the love of something not quite real but that it becomes the more real thing in our lives. The transportation that Mia Farrow goes through while sitting in the movie theater brought tears to my eyes - my friend turned to me in disbelief "Are you weeping? He asked. Well yes, I was. I can't explain it. Have you seen the movie? Sometimes I felt I wanted to sit next to Mia Farrow in see the movie she's watching all the way through. Why not, Jeff Daniels, Mia Farrow, John Wood, Zoe Caldwell, Van Johnson, please! It's so much better in here than out here. You can bet I will see this again. Top notch.

Enchanting bittersweet fantasy...surreal and very original...

[Doylenf · 7/10 · 17 January 2007]

THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO has got to be one of the most original and inventive of all the films Woody Allen has done--and all the more enjoyable because we're not subjected to the Allen character in the film itself. Instead, we get MIA FARROW (one of her very best performances) and JEFF DANIELS in what has to be the most original role of his career, as the man who walks off the movie screen and into Farrow's humdrum life.

Farrow is the Depression-era movie fan whose film idol walks right off the screen and interjects himself into her life--brightening it, at least for awhile, until the rather downbeat ending. DANNY AIELLO, as Mia's abusive husband and DIANNE WIEST have good supporting roles, but the story really depends on the wonderful chemistry between Farrow and Daniels--and they truly bring the bittersweet comedy and fantasy to credible life.

Furthermore, the script is not only very clever, but the film is technically brilliant in the way it has the film within a film characters on the screen interacting with the movie audience.

Summing up: Stylish mixture of comedy and fantasy, fully deserving the many nominations and awards it won that year.

A Must-see for every Movie Lover ...

[ElMaruecan82 · 10/10 · 12 September 2011]

"The Purple Rose of Cairo" poetically defines what it means to love movies through the story of Cecilia, an ordinary woman whose cinematic passion plays as a back-and-forth ticket to escape from the Great Depression (literally).

But this era also coincided with the Golden Age of Hollywood films : adventure movies, romances, screwball comedies or films-noir, the decade started with an immediate transition from the silent era to the talkies, allowing so many genres to finally emerge on the screen. And people came to see movies because of this constant capacity to surprise, to create new worlds, to become the ultimate escapism with a popular appeal, incarnated by the magical opening image of Astaire and Rogers dancing "Cheek to Cheek". Cinema is ordinary people living extraordinary moments.

This is what loving movies is about, and this translates Cecilia's obsession with films as a desperate need to forget about her lousy husband and her waitress' job, two situations she handles with a poignant, if not annoying, clumsiness, beautifully embodied by Mia Farrow's natural vulnerability. Cecilia, like anyone, can go to the movies, but more than anyone, she needs them. The only bits of enthusiasm in her voice and her eyes are hinted when she talks about movies, and her shy heart suddenly becomes passionate, only a movie lover can understand this weird state of constant amazement.

Cecilia's endearing quality also is her poignant weakness, as she uses movies to fantasize on improbable love stories the way women used to do with literary romances. Cecilia enjoys films in an old fashioned way, not an intellectual appreciation or some sort of quest for a deep meaning. This is the nostalgic aspect of "The Purple Rose of Cairo" , an ode to these times where distraction and amusement were simple, when people's eyes were easily amazed and their hearts easily thrilled, when Cecilia needed to watch the titular film, over and over again, to forget about the job she just lost, and the husband (Danny Aiello) she couldn't lose. In a way, the film's atmosphere foreshadows the tone of Woody Allen's "Radio Days" with an extra fantasy element (literally again)

Cecilia indeed lives in a fantasy that spectacularly materializes on the pivotal moment where "The Purple Rose" hero emerges from the screen to finally meet her, provoking a chaotic situation that none of the audience or the still on-screen characters can handle. And this is where Allen's genius writing emerges too, when I applauded, excited to see where would lead the romance between Cecilia and Tom Baxter, the explorer, played by the actor Gil Sheperd, played by Jeff Daniels. And Allen's approach is subtly iconoclast in the way it totally denudes the characters by underlining the gap between their unreal qualities and the real world.

First fascinated, we start looking at them with very compassionate eyes. Tom is like a child impressed by this world, his life freed from any script's diktat, but whose journey with the prostitutes reveals him as an asexual character ... no money, no sex, no religion, Baxter's Utopian background betrays the Disney-like innocence of these old movies and the dead-end aspect of his real-world adventure. The irony is that he mirrors Cecilia's own condition, as a woman with no job, no money, not even a sexual life, so she would be living the same life with Tom but happily. So the process in reversed and Cecilia gets in the film to live with Tom, in a world where the only colors inhabit Tom and Cecilia's hearts.

But as much as we enjoy seeing the thought-provoking inventive script exploited to its core, this part only reflects the dream-like quality of the movies, as illustrated in the most hilarious moment in the film, when the restaurant maitre d' realizes he's allowed to do whatever he wants, and starts a spectacular tap dance number. It reminded me of these lucid dreams where you allow yourself to go as far as you can, movies are nothing but artistic lucid dreams, after all. And the most delightful ones lead to the most painful wakes, and I consider the script to be one of the best thanks to the genius idea of confronting Tom Baxter with Gil Shepherd who, in an ironic twist, pretends to be in love with Cecilia in his attempt to convince his alter-ego to get back to screen.

What follows is a love triangle and a cruel dilemma for Cecilia, torn between an unreal and a virtual reality, virtual not as the opposite of real, but of actual, of Cecilia's current life. What is virtual is potential, might happen and will happen, and this is where Cecilia's fragile naivety conditions the sad conclusion of the film, confirming that nothing in Allen's scripts is irrelevant. Cecilia chooses Gil over Tom, Tom understanding real life's cruelty gets back on-screen and Gil to Hollywood after having accomplished his mission, with Cecilia as a collateral heart's damage. Realizing her one-way ticket to Paradise was phony, she sadly returns back to her husband who warned her that life was not like the movies. Allen just furnished the cynical proof.

Cecilia was obsessed with unreal stuff, while her heart was broken by something virtual, because of her trust on a real man, not a character, this is the alibi for movies, and Allen's ending with Cecilia enjoying again the sight of Astaire and Rogers proves that she doesn't blame it on the movies. The bittersweet last shot shows Cecilia as one of these poor souls, not heroic in their acts, but in their faith in humanity and people, despite the encountered treacheries and deceptions, the ending reminds of "Night of Cabiria", Fellini's masterpiece about another woman's heart victim of her own goodness.

And despite all the hell Cecilia went through, her illuminated eyes prove that with movies, she'll always have her back-and-forth ticket for Heaven, even for one short moment, she'll feel she is in Heaven ...

Depression-era fantasy, heavily-padded but with lovely moments...

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 25 June 2006]

Mia Farrow gives one of her best performances as Cecilia, a Depression-era waitress with her head in the clouds who gets dumped on over and over; after a miraculous situation comes her way and promises a better life, she has to choose between reality and fantasy...although some outcomes are predestined. Luminous Farrow is at her most vulnerable, and writer-director Woody Allen allows her to be funny too, yet the film is a preconceived, bittersweet whimsy about dashed dreams; it's ready-made to collapse. In the interim, we get bland Jeff Daniels in two roles (occasionally working the same scene!), a whorehouse full of romantics, a group of acidly funny movie actors on a theater screen, and Danny Aiello as Mia's abusive husband. The theme of "Cairo" concerns the blurred line between movies and reality--it's a valentine to the magic of the movies--but the central idea plays itself out too quickly, and Allen's sub-plots don't always work (you can sense that he's biding his time). Wonderful production design and music score, some marvelous sequences. *** from ****

Allen's best film to date

[Doogie D · 10/10 · 30 June 1999]

Woody's stories are often derivative, but he's forgiven that, usually, because the results are good and ultimately do deserve his signature. For PURPLE ROSE, he swipes Buster Keaton's gimmick in SHERLOCK, JR., then lets his imagination run free as he did in the best of his NEW YORKER stories. We wind up with the most fascinating and realistic meditation regarding what it is to be an audience, a viewer's relationship to art, art's relationship to reality. The triumph is amazing, because, despite the depth of the symbolism, PURPLE ROSE can also be seen as sheer entertainment; on its surface, it is still one of the most entertaining pictures Woody has ever made.

Farrow and Aiello are marvelous here; Mia, who is quite underrated, has only been as good once -- in BROADWAY DANNY ROSE. The photography is superb, influenced perhaps by Edward Hopper with generally less obvious light sources.

Splendid, splendid work.

A movie character leaves the screen

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 8 December 2009]

Mia Farrow stars in Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo," a 1985 film also starring Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, John Wood, Zoe Caldwell, Van Johnson, and Milo O'Shea.

Farrow is Cecilia, a waitress in New Jersey during the Depression who escapes from the reality of a dull job and an abusive, cheating husband (Aiello) by going to the movies. When a character, Tom Baxter, in the film, "The Purple Rose of Cairo" that she's seen many times recognizes her as a frequent patron, he steps off of the screen. He's sick of being in the movie and wants to be in the real world, and he declares his great love for Cecilia. When word reaches Hollywood that a character has walked off the screen, the actor who plays him, Gil Shepherd, comes to New Jersey to try to convince him to continue with the film. He, too, meets and falls for Cecilia. She has to decide which one she wants, the fantasy or the reality.

This is a funny, romantic, bittersweet film about a lonely and unhappy woman. The film "The Purple Rose of Cairo" has some great New York stage actors in it, including John Wood and Zoe Caldwell, as well as Van Johnson and Deborah Rush. It's delightful. Farrow does a wonderful job as a vulnerable and frail Cecilia, who wants adventure and yet fears it at the same time.

Some beautiful scenes in this very lyrical Woody Allen film.

Flawless in its own way, a pure pleasure to sit back and lose yourself

[secondtake · 8/10 · 23 November 2010]

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)

There's no way you can't like the ingenuity of the movie, and the fun it has. It's about the joy of life, and love of the movies, and the difficulty to tell the difference sometimes (at least when in the theater).

In some ways this is one of Woody Allen's lightest movies, and certainly lightweight compared to the more serious movies of this period (like the stunning gem, "Another Woman"). It's not zany like his earliest comedies ("Love and Death"). And it's not deeply observant and sometimes downright moving and brilliant like his best movies (like "Annie Hall" or "Crimes and Misdemeanors"). In that way it feels like what some novelists would call an "entertainment" to distinguish from their heavier masterpieces, and sometimes these are the most readable of all. Or the most watchable.

"The Purple Rose of Cairo" is inventive, warm, and touching. It's really high brow hilarious when the people on the screen react to the situation, not only because of the existential reality shift going on, but because they are all high brow types. Then there are the everyday scenes with Mia Farrow, the lead actress in the real world (usually), and support from Danny Aiello, really just a foil for the main romances (two) going on with Farrow (singular). It's not as complicated as it sounds, which might prove the elegance of Allen's writing.

A beautiful, delicate movie without undo weightiness. Joyous, yes, even in its melancholy end.

Original story from Allen

[rbverhoef · 7/10 · 29 August 2004]

Woody Allen movies are often original or so unoriginal that they become original (‘Manhattan Murder Mystery' comes to mind). ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo', a title that says nothing about the real content of the movie, belongs to the first category. It is about a woman Cecilia (Mia Farrow) who enjoys watching movies and on one day she visits the movie ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo' and Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) suddenly steps off the screen into the theater and into the life of Cecilia. The problem is that Tom Baxter is the character of ‘Purple Rose' and knows only things his character is supposed to know for that role. More problems occur when other Tom Baxters in other theaters want to step out of the movie as well. Of course there is also the actor who plays Tom Baxter who is named Gil Shepherd. Both Tom and Gil fall in love with Cecilia.

Like I said the movie is pretty original. The way Allen plays with the possibilities of this fiction is done in a terrific way. There is a part where Tom ends up in a whorehouse and he has no idea what the women are talking about because his character didn't need to know these kind of things. It is one of the funny parts of the movie and a perfect example of how Allen uses the situations for funny moments.

It is also the problem with the movie. Near the end we grow a little tired with the same kind of jokes over and over again. Every time we see how Tom Baxter is incapable of doing or understanding things, or the opposite, because his character has no idea of real life. Allen is a great filmmaker and therefore the movie does not get boring. When we are not entertained with the jokes anymore at least we can be entertained with originality of the story. The closing scenes are pretty standard and predictable but the ride up to that point was so interesting I was willing to forgive him that. There was probably no other way to end this entertaining and original piece of cinema.

Expected Better! 3/10

[leonblackwood · 3/10 · 16 October 2014]

Review: I've never been a big fan of Mia Farrows acting because she just seems really gullible and ditzy in all of her roles. In this movie, her character is in a unloving relationship and she looks for escapism by going to the cinema and imagines a life with the film stars. When one of the actors walks out of the screen, into real life, which causing an uproar in the community, he turns to Mia Farrow to show him life in the real world. After falling deeply in love with her, which causes more problems in her troubled relationship, she is left with the decision to leave her husband for a life in her dream world. I think that you can tell that the storyline is completely far fetched, but it's a sweat love story without any of Woody Allens slapstick comedy. I personally found the movie boring and uninteresting, but I'm sure that there are people out there that will enjoy it. Average! 

Round-Up: Although this movie made a loss at the box office, it is one of Woody Allens popular films that are highly rated. I personally can't see why it's was so highly rated or were the $15 million dollar budget went, but thats just my opinion. The acting isn't totally bad from the cast, except for Mia Farrow who whines her way through the whole film. The same concept was used in the Last Action Hero, we're Annie walks out of the screen and finds it hard to adapt to the real world, but that didn't really work either. On the plus side, Woody Allen did portray the period well but thats about it.

Budget: $15million Worldwide Gross: $10.6million

I recommend this movie to people who are into there Woody Allen movies about a woman in a troubled relationship and searches for happiness at the cinema. 3/10

The Movie Lover's Movie

[sparklecat · 10 January 2005]

Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" is a film that speaks to the heart of anyone who has been mad about the movies. In a now-legendary scene, intrepid explorer Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) steps off a movie screen and into the life of Cecilia (Mia Farrow), an unhappily married, unemployed, movie-lover. Together, Tom and Cecilia brave the complications of the real world, including the arrival of Gil Shepard, the actor who plays Tom.

Farrow is sweet as Cecilia and Daniels is wonderful in his dual role. Brimming with quotable dialogue, "The Purple Rose of Cairo" toys with reality while maintaining a feather-light touch. This is a valentine to the movies, and more so, to movie-lovers.

The Art Of Film

[A-G-Deac · 8/10 · 25 February 2018]

There was a time when words could not be spoken out loud and black-and-white cinematography overshadowed everything colour. I speak, of course, about the silent era of filmmaking, back when a still-young Buster Keaton released the 45 minutes-long masterpiece entitled "Sherlock, Jr." Keaton's use of illusions and smart editing mesmerised the audiences, creating one of the most important short-films ever made. Woody Allen, one of the most significant filmmakers of all-time, made his own version of "Sherlock, Jr." back in 1985: The Purple Rose Of Cairo. "The Purple Rose Of Cairo" is not only a tribute given to the works of Buster Keaton but also to the art of filmmaking itself. Woody Allen is never shown on the screen in this magical piece of cinema, but we can feel his presence everywhere. It's within the story, the script or, better said, the reel. We simply know he's there, even though we can't see him. The plot is simple: an everyday woman escapes everyday problems (including a not-so-caring husband played by Danny Aiello) by going to the cinema. She already watched "The Purple Rose of Cairo" for about 4 times, but that doesn't stop her from watching it the 5th time when one of the characters (Tom Baxter, played by Jeff Daniels) is so impressed by how much she likes the movie that he jumps off the screen and runs away with her out of the cinema. Things go a little crazy of course, no story that plays with reality is simple. But what Woody Allen tries to tell us is that fantasy is just as important as reality itself, and it can help us remain sane. How many times have you said that one single book, film, or even song saved your day? That's the power fantasy has on us. "The Purple Rose Of Cairo" is probably on of the most delightful films a cinephile could ever watch. It's beautifully crafted, funny, romantic and it has a lovely cast. It's not only the "Sullivan's Travells" of the 80's and Woody Allen's "Sherlock, Jr.", it represents the reason why we watch films and when you'll get to the final scene, you'll know what I mean.

Utter, utter genius

[YellowManReanimated · 9/10 · 31 January 2012]

Woody Allen from Annie Hall through to Crimes and Misdemeanors really was a master of his art. Everything he took on whether it be romance, comedy, mockumentary, or fantasy, he managed with unparallelled panache and creativity. In The Purple Rose of Cairo he delivers a film that is so wonderfully balanced between the lines of fantasy and reality that it truly strikes at the heart of cinematic genius.

The basic plot is that Cecilia, played by Mia Farrow, is unemployed and in an abusive marriage in the midst of Depression-era New Jersey, and her one method of escape from the drudgery of her surroundings is via the movies. One day whilst watching her favourite film for the fifth time one of the characters suddenly starts interacting with her and from there starts a chain of events that range from the absurd to the deeply touching, handled in a way that only Woody Allen could pull-off.

It may be easy for younger cineastes to underrate Woody Allen and his contribution to cinema based on the Luke-warm fare that is now attached to his name but for anyone curious about one the most inventive, hilarious and brilliant film directors to have emerged in the entirety of cinema's history, watching films like this one will reveal just how brilliant Woody Allen is at his best.

This film is a meditation on the nature of existence, reality and love, reflecting on the merits of escapism versus the value of acceptance of reality, whilst also being extremely entertaining and immensely original and creative.

It should also be mentioned that Mia Farrow's performance is one of the most enchanting I have ever witnessed. What a lovely and wonderful film created by one of cinema's greatest talents.

10/10

Delightful comedy about a 1930s waiter who performs an endearingly silly fantasy

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 13 April 2020]

Allen's fascination with old black and white films is well shown in this film. It is set during 30's Great Depression, in which a downtrodden waiter : Mia Farrow, falls in love for a cinema actor, an explorer-poet, who goes out of the big screen. As while she is watching a film, the lastest attraction, The Purple Rose if Cairo, at her local cinema, a fictional hero : Jeff Daniels, suddenly shows up between the spectators.

Marvelous comedy in Allen-style with his usual elements as technical wizandry, romantic scenes, bizarre relationships and fantasy. Wonderful film with an large inventive, ingenious premise and very well developed, including a lot of surprises and a feeling love story. Allen explores the bewilderment of the actor whose movie persona has miraculously gone walkies. Mia Farrow provides an agreeable performance as an unfortunate and hard-working housewife who is really mistreated by his husband Danny Aiello. Jeff Daniels gives a sympathetic acting as a screen hero who becomes involved into reality and living a small romance, as he steps out of the movie screen and goes into actual existence sweeping here off her feet. That's why the main and support cast are pretty good. As the star-struck couple , work wonders with enjoyable emotions. Support cast is pretty good such as Danny Aiello, Edward Herrmann , Dianne West, Van Johnson, John Wood, Milo O'Shea, among others.

It contains lively and atmospheric musical score by Dick Hayman. Adequate and appropriate prodiction design by Stuart Wurtzel, with perfect settings on the period detail. Colorful and evocative cinematography in technicolor by Gordon Willis. The motion picture was competently directed by Woody Allen, showing his own wistful sense of intelligent comedy. Being made during a prolific and clever period in which he directed several masterpieces. Including a series of movies in which he provides nice direction, investing care enough, wit and warmth, such as : Crimes and misdemeanors, New York stories, September, Radio Days, Hanna and her sisters, Broadway Danny Rose, Zelig, Stardust memories, A midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, Interiors, Manhattan and this Purple rose of Cairo. Rating 7/10. Better than average. The movie will appeal to Woody Allen enthusiasts.

The Slim line between reality and falseness

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 6 March 2008]

Mia Farrow is the wife of an unemployed bully and womanizer Danny Aiello. She works in a diner, and when she tries to forget her lousy life in the Depression she turns to the movies. Currently she is seeing a "B" feature again and again called THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, about a bunch of bored socialites (Edward Herrmann, John Woods, Zoe Caldwell, Van Johnson) who go to Egypt for a change. They meet an archaeologist played by Jeff Daniels, who is trying to find a mythical flower (the one of the film title) that will lead to a true love. We see Farrow go again and again to the film until Daniel starts noticing her and asks if she really likes the film that much. This unsettles Farrow who leaves the theater. But she returns and she sees that Daniel is interested in her. Interested enough to leave the film, much to the consternation of Herrmann and the other characters in the film because they are trained by the fact that they were shot in a way by the film company and edited to follow the same pattern forever. So the characters are at a loss at how to continue. Also they can't leave the film (as Daniel did).

Allan is one of the few directors brave enough to look at philosophical situations in his film. Here it is the odd rules governing reality and falsity. The world of the movie is as rigid as that of the real world, despite the cinematic Daniel's discovery of color and real space in the outside world. The real world requires real training (not the idiotic false title the cinematic Daniels has as a so-called archaeologist) and real money (Daniels has fake money on him from the movie set). But the characters in the film are losing their mind for being unable to go ahead with the plot without Daniels. That is some of them are: the actress playing the African-American maid in the movie becomes more real in her not acting like a female stereotype (she takes off her shoes and plots down on a couch, to the dismay of the others).

The revolt sensed by Daniels stepping out of the screen spreads consternation in other worlds: the theater management and the movie company see it as a threat of left wingers trying to undermine the American film industry. Indeed, we hear that other copies of the film have incidents elsewhere in the country. The film company sends the real Daniel to the site where his character came to life, and soon it is Daniel v. Daniel wooing Farrow. Who will she choose - and will she choose wisely, between a naive fictional character who adores her and a man of flesh and blood and potential, who is ambitious and devious? But what is wisdom in such a choice?

THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO is one of those films that makes one look twice at reality in the world we inhabit, and the world that we seek to enter through our imaginations. It is an exceptionally clever film, and a very funny one. Certainly one of Allan's top five movies.

Great concept and great ending

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 16 December 2019]

I loved the homage to the period and to the Buster Keaton film 'Sherlock Holmes, Jr,' and the idea of disappearing from the disappointments of the real world into the world of the movies. Instead of the filmgoer (Mia Farrow) entering the screen like Keaton, it starts with the actor (Jeff Daniels) noticing her and coming down into the real world. I should say, it's the character the actor plays who comes down into the real world, because the actor himself is separate and, because the playing of the film has ground to a halt, he arrives on the scene as well, which results in an odd love triangle (and not counting her annoying and abusive lout of a husband).

There are some cute and endearing bits, like Farrow playing the ukulele while Daniels sings 'Alabamy bound,' but the creativity and humor seem to fall a little short here, as if Woody Allen had a great concept but then lost his way a little bit in developing it. The rest of the characters from the movie looking out into the audience, Daniels (the character) interacting with Daniels (the actor), the film producers reacting because the movie is no longer playing, etc ... all of this was of some interest, but not as magical as it could have been. It was reasonably entertaining though, and I loved the clip of Fred and Ginger from 'Top Hat,' performing 'Cheek to Cheek.' The magic and lightness of that against Farrow's wan, Depression-era look was truly compelling.

Favorite quote is when the naïve and virtuous fictional character (Daniels) enters a bordello and has this conversation with the prostitutes: Tom Baxter: I was thinking about something. Hooker: I can imagine. Hooker2: Two of us at the same time? Tom Baxter: I was thinking about some very deep things. About God and his relation with Irving Saks and R.H. Levine. And I was thinking about life in general. The origin of everything we see about us. The finality of death and how almost magical it seems in the real world, as opposed to the world of celluloid and flickering shadows. Hooker3: (to another) Where did you find this clown? Tom Baxter: For example, the miracle of birth. Now, I suppose some of you lovely ladies are married? Hooker: Not anymore. Tom Baxter: No? Then the absolutely astonishing miracle of childbirth, with all of its attendant feelings of humanity and pathos. I stand in awe of existence. Hooker2: Do you want to tie me up?

Amazing Performances and an Award Winner

[mike48128 · 10/10 · 8 August 2017]

Academy and Golden Globe award winner. Excellent blending of color and black and white. Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels are the star-crossed lovers. The only problem with their romance is that she is already married to a "do-nothing" lazy and abusive husband and Tom Baxter is fictional. He jumps off the movie screen from a typical Depression Era romantic comedy into the Real World. He isn't real. He doesn't even know how (and probably can't) make love. His money is fake and he can't start a real car. The actors left on the screen (in black and white) have absolutely nothing to do and other "Tom Baxters" are trying to walk out of the movie in other cities. So, the real actor flies to New Jersey, and tries to fix it all to save his career and the movie studio from embarrassment and ruin. He pretends to fall in love with Cecilia (Mia); it is all an act and she chooses the real actor Gill (Daniels) as poor "Tom" walks back into the movie. Gill flies back to Hollywood alone, as he only loves himself. Life goes on, and the devastated and unemployed diner waitress "Cecilia" goes back to the movie house to see Fred and Ginger dancing "Cheek-to-Cheek" in "Top Hat". Realistically filmed in a small New Jersey town, a closed amusement park, and an old-fashioned-looking diner. A fast and fascinating 82 minute movie. Done rather "straight" considering the subject matter. Mia Farrow and Jeff Daniels have great chemistry together. Also with Van Johnson and Edward Hermann. More romantic than comedy. Not your typical Woody Allen movie and perhaps better because of it.

great concept from Woody Allen

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 1 August 2015]

Cecilia (Mia Farrow) is a mousy waitress during the Depression. Her husband Monk (Danny Aiello) is unemployed, heavily in gambling debts, brutally abusive and a womanizer. She goes to the movies to escape from the world. Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) is a dashing archaeologist character from the film "The Purple Rose of Cairo." Cecilia is fired from her job. She goes to the cinema and Tom Baxter walks out of the screen. Hollywood is besides itself with news that Tom has escaped. Gil Shepherd (Jeff Daniels) who played the role is brought in to fix the situation.

This is a great concept from Woody Allen. I do wish that Jeff Daniels could differentiate his two characters better. Tom Baxter should be more swashbuckling and heroic. He should be a fantasy character. The husband is also a bit too much. He should be dialed back a little and maybe he shouldn't be violent. Mia Farrow is great at being mousy. It's generally an inventive and engaging movie.

Nice Mix Makes This Inventive Film Appealing

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 19 April 2007]

This was a unique storyline - a character comes right out of the movie screen to join the "real" world - at the time. I've seen several others copy this sort of thing, although it also was done in some silent comedies, too, if memory serves. Nonetheless, it was done well here and I got a kick out of watching it back in the '80s. It's part fantasy, romance, drama, comedy. Woody Allen, who made this movie, is not on screen.

I have found (with one or two exceptions) that I like the best when he only narrated, such as in "Radio Days" and "Sweet And Lowdown." I like it when he leaves the acting to others.

Mia Farrow as "Cecilia" Jeff Daniels does a terrific job in a dual role, playing Tom Baxter and Gil Shepherd. One an actor, the other a "real-life" guy. Mia Farrow is appealing, as she usually was, as "Cecilia." Danny Aiello is another usually-interesting actor who gets your attention no matter who he is playing.

An inventive film that still holds up today.

Of Woody's Forty Movies, This Is Clearly In The Top Ten

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 15 November 2014]

In 1930s New Jersey, a movie character (Jeff Daniels) walks off the screen and into the real world.

This movie is brilliant. Obviously, the whole concept is clever and well-executed, but Allen also managed to make the "old" movie footage look old, and Jeff Daniels is really, really good. For an actor who may be better known for "Dumb and Dumber", it is great to see him in such a role.

This is or was Woody Allen's favorite film of his own (though this may have been replaced by "Match Point" twenty years later), and one can see why. The charm, the cleverness, everything about it is very neatly done, very succinct. Although shorter than the average film, it says what it has to say without dawdling.

Roger Ebert wrote, "The Purple Rose of Cairo is audacious and witty and has a lot of good laughs in it, but the best thing about the movie is the way Woody Allen uses it to toy with the very essence of reality and fantasy." So true, sir.

Woody's Earthbound Fantasy

[slokes · 5/10 · 28 November 2007]

Woody Allen after his 1970s heyday reminds me of something the manager of Spinal Tap said: "They aren't losing popularity. Their appeal is just more selective." Even armed with a good idea and a luminous lead performance by his then-lover, Mia Farrow, Allen's 1985 film "The Purple Rose Of Cairo" is a comic fantasy that is neither especially funny nor that trippy. Instead, it presents another of his Bergmanesque ruminations on the misery and finality of life, appealing to his ever-more-selective audience and distancing everyone else.

Farrow stars as Cecilia, already with three strikes against her. It's the Depression, she's married to an abusive lout, and she lives in New Jersey. Her only refuge is the local Jewel movie house, where she escapes into the "madcap Manhattan weekend" that is "The Purple Rose Of Cairo". While watching the film for a fifth straight time, Cecelia is surprised when one of the characters, Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), jumps off the screen and declares his love for her.

It's a great concept, and its execution is the film's best sequence, daffy and thrilling. Mia winningly playing a nebbish by channeling her then-partner's on screen personality (it's Woody by proxy in this movie, as the man himself stays offscreen), accompanied by delightful period-sounding music by Dick Hyman.

Cecelia and Tom share observations of life in their respective worlds in a decrepit amusement park he makes into his hiding place. He tells her he has been watching her for days, peaking at her when professing his love to another on-screen character. She gives him popcorn, which he reacts to like ambrosia from heaven.

"Been watching people eat it for all those performances," he says. "When they rattle those bags, though, that's annoying." The comedy never moves beyond that, except when we return to the Jewel to see the other film actors venting over Tom's desertion. Cecelia and Tom's relationship never evolves, either, as Cecelia proves surprisingly unwilling to accept this dream come true.

That's what throws me most about "The Purple Rose Of Cairo". When Farrow's eyes look up at you so puppy-like you feel her need for deliverance, yet everything about the film, including the character, is too hardhearted to led the fantasy breathe for a moment.

Daniels doesn't have a lot to do as Tom, except sit in the old amusement park and innocently chat up some prostitutes. Daniels does double duty as the real-life actor who portrayed Tom, Gil Shepherd, and is not as effective, so clipped and smug in his delivery you know what's going to happen with him from the moment he first appears.

SPOILER ALERT - I side with those people who call the ending too downbeat for the rest of the film. It's even more downbeat when one considers Cecelia's inexplicable culpability in the conclusion of the Tom story. Some see her last moments on screen as Woody's testimony to the wonder of cinema; I see an addict taking her final, fatal hit - SPOILER ALERT ENDS.

The film has integrity and offers some moments, magic and otherwise, along the way. But for a movie about cinema's spell on people, it proves a strangely inert experience.