Stars: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Glenne Headly, Edward Herrmann, Van Johnson, Milo O'Shea, Michael Tucker, Dianne Wiest, Karen Akers, Stephanie Farrow

Director: Woody Allen

Summary: A young waitress working during the Depression enlivens her rather dull existence by going to the movies. One day by strange chance she becomes intimately involved with a real-life screen star.

As a beleaguered waitress and battered wife in Depression-era New Jersey, Cecilia's (Mia Farrow) only escape from her dreary life is her endless moviegoing. Fantasy and reality merge in a startling and comical fashion when the hero (Jeff Daniels) of a film Cecilia's watched a thousand times emerges from the screen and starts squiring her around town. A pack of panicked studio executives pursue the errant leading man while the cast of disgruntled characters stranded on-screen await his return.

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"I've just met a wonderful new man. He's fictional but you can't have everything." So says Cecilia (Mia Farrow), the central figure in Woody Allen's lyrically humorous Purple Rose of Cairo. The era is the Great Depression, and she is the bullied wife who finds escape in romantic movies, falling in love with the explorer hero, Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), of the eponymous film. So far, nothing remarkable. But Allen has Baxter spot her in the audience, fall in love with her, and desert the picture, much to the irritation of the other characters. The surreal quality of the situation develops further when Gil Shepherd--the actor who played Baxter (Daniels again)--seeks out his fictional alter egoto persuade him back into the film and thus save both their reputations. Naturally Shepherd, too, falls in love with Cecilia, and she's left to choose between fiction and reality, chooses the latter and is then cruelly jilted. The message seems clear: fairytales are just that, make-believe. There's no such thing as a happy ending. Dating from 1985 (after Broadway Danny Roseand immediately before Hannah and her Sisters), this is one of the few movies in which Allen doesn't actually appear, though he's recognisable in every line of Farrow's character. It's also a nostalgic tribute to the era that defined movie glamour, the close-up of Cecilia's face at the end a moment of pure Hollywood. At 81 minutes, this is a small but brilliant gem.

On the DVD:Aside from the technological improvement of DVD over video, the new format adds little by way of features: you can view the original trailer, scan the film scene by scene, and there's a choice of subtitles in eight languages.--Harriet Smith

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailers - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer, Scene Access
Year:	1985
Release Date:	March 11, 2002
Runtime:	78 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	19883 D V D
Keywords:	Rose, Comedy, General, Cairo, Purple
Genre:	Comedy