'The Color Purple' is one of the finest displays of Spielberg’s virtuosity as a filmmaker.
Critics of Spielberg attack him for resorting to using "happy" endings. However, the "happiness" in these movies never feel saccharine sweet or forced. Like the recent "Minority Report", "The Color Purple" earns its final uplift. The events in the story are so heartbreaking that to deprive the characters (and the audience) of hope is to deny the existence of redemption.
Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video presentation does justice to the glorious images captured by Spielberg and Daviau. Lush, vibrant colors fill the screen, and the image gives the appearance of depth. The transfer also has a very broad spectrum, from very dark darks to very bright brights (that never bloom, I should add). I saw a couple of small nicks and scratches, but they don´t really distract the viewer from the film experience.
Audio:
The primary audio track is the Dolby Digital 5.1 English selection. Since this is a dialogue-driven production, the rear channels aren´t always active. However, when they are, rich music floods the room. A surprisingly healthy amount of low frequency effects (LFE) adds to the fullness of the soundtrack. The film´s audio mixers created a very wide sound stage across the front, and dialogue is always intelligible even when there are a lot of other factors crowding for space.
Those of you watching the film without a Dolby Digital set-up will want to choose the DD 2.0 surround English track. The main feature disc also has a DD 2.0 surround French track. English, French, and Spanish subtitles as well as English closed captions support the audio.
Extras:
--Disc 1--
Each of Warner´s 2-disc special edition releases devote one disc almost entirely to extras, so the main feature gets plenty of breathing room to stretch its video and audio legs. Disc 1 of "The Color Purple" SE offers Cast & Crew listings, Awards listings, 2 teaser trailers, and 1 theatrical trailer.
--Disc 2--
Disc 2 of "The Color Purple" SE offers the kind of bonuses that I think are better than audio commentaries. Besides, I hate it when people talk during a movie, and listening to most audio commentaries feels like being distracted by chatterboxes rather than enjoying a discussion of a film´s merits. Most of the extras on Spielberg´s DVDs are produced by Laurent Bouzereau, and Mr. Bouzereau favors making featurettes that, when viewed in succession, become in-depth documentaries.
The first featurette on Disc 2 is "Conversations With Ancestors: ´The Color Purple´ From Book to Screen". Novelist Alice Walker gets to do most of the talking in this piece as she talks about the history of writing her book as well as entrusting Spielberg and Company with turning it into a movie. When it was released, "The Color Purple" faced many accusations, among them being that Spielberg wasn´t the "right" person to film it, that toning down the novel´s content was "wrong", etc. Believe it or not, Walker goes on record defending the film.
The next two featurettes, "A Collaboration of Spirits: Casting and Acting ´The Color Purple´" and "Cultivating a Classic: The Making of ´The Color Purple´", are fairly self-explanatory. They include interviews with most of the principal cast and crew members. You´ll even get to see Spielberg talk about the birth of his first son, Max, while he was supposed to be shooting a childbirth scene for "The Color Purple".
The last featurette is titled "´The Color Purple´: The Musical". This is a rather awkward appellation because it sounds like someone is making a musical based on the book/movie. It´s actually about how Spielberg thinks of his movies as musicals, with strong orchestral scores and key songs that underscore his films´ emotions. Since Quincy Jones (rather than longtime Spielberg ally John Williams) composed the music for "The Color Purple", he gets a bit of a tribute here as well.
Finally there are "Behind-the-Scenes" and "The Cast" galleries of photos.
--Miscellaneous--
The discs are housed in Warner´s cardboard Digipak design for 2-disc special editions with everything enclosed by a slipcase. Chapter listings appear on an inside cover flap.
Film Value:
Yes, I am DVD Town´s resident Spielberg freak, but the man´s sublime artistic achievements justify my enthusiasm. During its theatrical run, "The Color Purple" grossed $97 million (close to $180 million in 2003). The masses responded to the movie because it is accessible without sacrificing any thematic or artistic integrity. At a time when people are calling Martin Scorsese America´s greatest living director who should be honored with an Oscar, it is important to appreciate Steven Spielberg for being the real greatest living director who is both an artist and a populist. (Moreover, Spielberg´s feat of making films in a wide variety of genres puts every other filmmaker to shame.) It´s not Spielberg´s fault that he makes movies that everyone wants to see.
Video:
The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen video presentation does justice to the glorious images captured by Spielberg and Daviau. Lush, vibrant colors fill the screen, and the image gives the appearance of depth. The transfer also has a very broad spectrum, from very dark darks to very bright brights (that never bloom, I should add). I saw a couple of small nicks and scratches, but they don´t really distract the viewer from the film experience.
Audio:
The primary audio track is the Dolby Digital 5.1 English selection. Since this is a dialogue-driven production, the rear channels aren´t always active. However, when they are, rich music floods the room. A surprisingly healthy amount of low frequency effects (LFE) adds to the fullness of the soundtrack. The film´s audio mixers created a very wide sound stage across the front, and dialogue is always intelligible even when there are a lot of other factors crowding for space.
Those of you watching the film without a Dolby Digital set-up will want to choose the DD 2.0 surround English track. The main feature disc also has a DD 2.0 surround French track. English, French, and Spanish subtitles as well as English closed captions support the audio.
Extras:
--Disc 1--
Each of Warner´s 2-disc special edition releases devote one disc almost entirely to extras, so the main feature gets plenty of breathing room to stretch its video and audio legs. Disc 1 of "The Color Purple" SE offers Cast & Crew listings, Awards listings, 2 teaser trailers, and 1 theatrical trailer.
--Disc 2--
Disc 2 of "The Color Purple" SE offers the kind of bonuses that I think are better than audio commentaries. Besides, I hate it when people talk during a movie, and listening to most audio commentaries feels like being distracted by chatterboxes rather than enjoying a discussion of a film´s merits. Most of the extras on Spielberg´s DVDs are produced by Laurent Bouzereau, and Mr. Bouzereau favors making featurettes that, when viewed in succession, become in-depth documentaries.
The first featurette on Disc 2 is "Conversations With Ancestors: ´The Color Purple´ From Book to Screen". Novelist Alice Walker gets to do most of the talking in this piece as she talks about the history of writing her book as well as entrusting Spielberg and Company with turning it into a movie. When it was released, "The Color Purple" faced many accusations, among them being that Spielberg wasn´t the "right" person to film it, that toning down the novel´s content was "wrong", etc. Believe it or not, Walker goes on record defending the film.
The next two featurettes, "A Collaboration of Spirits: Casting and Acting ´The Color Purple´" and "Cultivating a Classic: The Making of ´The Color Purple´", are fairly self-explanatory. They include interviews with most of the principal cast and crew members. You´ll even get to see Spielberg talk about the birth of his first son, Max, while he was supposed to be shooting a childbirth scene for "The Color Purple".
The last featurette is titled "´The Color Purple´: The Musical". This is a rather awkward appellation because it sounds like someone is making a musical based on the book/movie. It´s actually about how Spielberg thinks of his movies as musicals, with strong orchestral scores and key songs that underscore his films´ emotions. Since Quincy Jones (rather than longtime Spielberg ally John Williams) composed the music for "The Color Purple", he gets a bit of a tribute here as well.
Finally there are "Behind-the-Scenes" and "The Cast" galleries of photos.
--Miscellaneous--
The discs are housed in Warner´s cardboard Digipak design for 2-disc special editions with everything enclosed by a slipcase. Chapter listings appear on an inside cover flap.
Film Value:
Yes, I am DVD Town´s resident Spielberg freak, but the man´s sublime artistic achievements justify my enthusiasm. During its theatrical run, "The Color Purple" grossed $97 million (close to $180 million in 2003). The masses responded to the movie because it is accessible without sacrificing any thematic or artistic integrity. At a time when people are calling Martin Scorsese America´s greatest living director who should be honored with an Oscar, it is important to appreciate Steven Spielberg for being the real greatest living director who is both an artist and a populist. (Moreover, Spielberg´s feat of making films in a wide variety of genres puts every other filmmaker to shame.) It´s not Spielberg´s fault that he makes movies that everyone wants to see.
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]10727[/release]