The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Fantasy, Comedy, Romance • 1h 22m
Overview
Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey, living a dreary life during the Great Depression. Her only escape from her mundane reality is the movie theatre. After losing her job, Cecilia goes to see 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' in hopes of raising her spirits, where she watches dashing archaeologist Tom Baxter time and again.
Director: Woody Allen
Cast: Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Danny Aiello, Irving Metzman, Stephanie Farrow, Edward Herrmann, John Wood, Deborah Rush, Van Johnson, Zoe Caldwell, Milo O’Shea, Dianne Wiest, Glenne Headly, Paul Herman, Rick Petrucelli, Peter Castellotti, John Rothman, David Kieserman, Elaine Grollman, Victoria Zussin, Mark Hammond, Wade Barnes, Joseph G. Graham, Don Quigley, Maurice Brenner, Milton Seaman, Mimi Weddell, Tom Degidon, Mary Hedahl, Eugene J. Anthony, Ebb Miller, Karen Akers, Annie-Joe Edwards, Peter McRobbie, Camille Saviola, Juliana Donald, Margaret Thompson, George Hamlin, Helen Hanft, Leo Postrel, Helen Miller, George Martin, Crystal Field, Ken Chapin, Robert Trebor, Benjamin Rayson, Jean Shevlin, Albert S. Bennett, Martha Sherrill, Gretchen MacLane, Edwin Bordo, Andrew Murphy, Tom Kubiak, Alexander Cohen, Raymond Serra, George J. Manos, David Tice, James Lynch, Sydney A. Blake, Michael Tucker, Peter Von Berg, David Weber, Willie Tjan, Lela Ivey, Drinda Lalumia, Loretta Tupper, Marty Appel, James Prendergast
Director: Woody Allen
4k restoration not released
4k restoration, not sure about blurays https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/manhattan-trailer-woody-allen-4k-digital-print-diane-keaton-meryl-streep-1201785874/
Director: Woody Allen
4k restoration not released
4k restoration, not sure about blurays https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/manhattan-trailer-woody-allen-4k-digital-print-diane-keaton-meryl-streep-1201785874/
Director: Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen
Director: Woody Allen
Director: Mike Flanagan
US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding)
Director: Mike Flanagan
US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray (similar encoding)
Director: James Foley
Director: James Foley
Director: Richard Fleischer
Director: Richard Fleischer
Director: Terence Young
US Arrow > UK StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray, better color grading
Director: Terence Young
US Arrow > UK StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray, better color grading
Director: John Woo
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray > US Shout! Factory, better encoding by Engine House and redone opening credits, errors present in Shout! Factory fixed
Arrow 4K Blu-ray, mono is from an alternate higher fidelity source than Shout! Factory.
Director: John Woo
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray > US Shout! Factory, better encoding by Engine House and redone opening credits, errors present in Shout! Factory fixed
Arrow 4K Blu-ray, mono is from an alternate higher fidelity source than Shout! Factory.
Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray > Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber US Blu-ray, see caps
Capelight and Arrow both have good compression, but Capelight has the edge. Kino is very poor.
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Image Entertainment LaserDisc
(Arrow is a port of the LD track, see spectrograms)
Capelight and old Arrow BD included the original stereo mix, but with excessive noise reduction rendering it much less detailed. Kino only included a downmix of the 5.1 remix.
The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in AC3 form.
Capelight DE 4K Blu-ray > Arrow UK 4K Blu-ray > Kino Lorber US Blu-ray, see caps
Capelight and Arrow both have good compression, but Capelight has the edge. Kino is very poor.
Original matrixed Dolby Stereo: Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Image Entertainment LaserDisc
(Arrow is a port of the LD track, see spectrograms)
Capelight and old Arrow BD included the original stereo mix, but with excessive noise reduction rendering it much less detailed. Kino only included a downmix of the 5.1 remix.
The best and most accurate of the 5.1 mixes is from the 2003 Special Edition DVD in AC3 form.
Director: Joel Schumacher
US/UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray has both the original Dolby Stereo 2.0 mix in its best quailty and the original Dolby Stereo 4-track discrete stems in 4.0.
Director: Joel Schumacher
US/UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray has both the original Dolby Stereo 2.0 mix in its best quailty and the original Dolby Stereo 4-track discrete stems in 4.0.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
Criterion 4K Blu-ray scheduled for October 2026 release
1991 Orion LaserDisc vs 2024 Arrow 4K Blu-ray
More Fantasy on Blu-ray
Director: Paul Schrader
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray has DNR applied and encoding could be better. Possible issues in Dolby Vision
Great source, poorly encoded but it does look significantly better than the Blu-Rays.
Director: Paul Schrader
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray has DNR applied and encoding could be better. Possible issues in Dolby Vision
Great source, poorly encoded but it does look significantly better than the Blu-Rays.
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Sept. 2026
Warner Bros 4K Blu-ray Sept. 2026
Director: Gary Ross
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's a older master.
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's a older master.
Director: Gary Ross
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's a older master.
Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray, but a shot was cut from the film. See comparison
Warner Bros Blu-ray for the uncut version, but it's a older master.
Paramount 4K Blu-ray has the original colour grade
Paramount 4K Blu-ray has the original colour grade
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray that some may prefer
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI BDs are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC BD is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made BDs of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber BD!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber BD remains one of the worst BDs of all time for this reason.
Director: F. W. Murnau
2006 Restoration: Eureka Blu-ray
1995 photochemical restoration: BFI Blu-ray that some may prefer
Eureka with Murnau institute restoration featuring score based on original score, BFI uses Photoplay restoration with James Bernard score
Both Eureka and BFI BDs are worthy of owning. Each restoration has unique positives and extras. The James Bernard score on the BFI is outstanding and the image tinting is different to how the Murnau institute official restoration was done. The Eureka MoC BD is stuffed with extras and remains one of the best-made BDs of all time. Whatever you do: AVOID THE Kino Lorber BD!!! It uses the same Murnau institute restoration but drops frames for the whole feature - thus it loses a significant portion of the film! This was never acknowledged or addressed. The Kino Lorber BD remains one of the worst BDs of all time for this reason.
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
Directors: Ernest B. Schoedsack & Merian C. Cooper
Directors: Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson
2011 Blu-ray (4K Blu-ray is upscaled; former PDI animator Jonathan Gibbs confirms the film was originally rendered at 1828 pixels wide to save file space)
2011 Blu-ray (4K Blu-ray is upscaled; former PDI animator Jonathan Gibbs confirms the film was originally rendered at 1828 pixels wide to save file space)
The old 2 disc DVD has extras missing from 4K Blu-ray
Directors: Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson
2011 Blu-ray (4K Blu-ray is upscaled; former PDI animator Jonathan Gibbs confirms the film was originally rendered at 1828 pixels wide to save file space)
2011 Blu-ray (4K Blu-ray is upscaled; former PDI animator Jonathan Gibbs confirms the film was originally rendered at 1828 pixels wide to save file space)
The old 2 disc DVD has extras missing from 4K Blu-ray
3D Conversion: Disney 3D Blu-ray
3D Conversion: Disney 3D Blu-ray
7.1 Remix: Disney 4K Blu-ray/3D Blu-ray/Blu-ray
Original Dolby Stereo: 1994 Disney LaserDisc
Disney 4K Blu-ray recycles the same 7.1 remix from the past releases, but it's a very faithful remix and sounds better, more detailed, and more dynamic than past mixes.
3D Conversion: Disney 3D Blu-ray
3D Conversion: Disney 3D Blu-ray
7.1 Remix: Disney 4K Blu-ray/3D Blu-ray/Blu-ray
Original Dolby Stereo: 1994 Disney LaserDisc
Disney 4K Blu-ray recycles the same 7.1 remix from the past releases, but it's a very faithful remix and sounds better, more detailed, and more dynamic than past mixes.
Directors: John Musker & Ron Clements
OG theatrical version: Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
2004 restored version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
OG theatrical version: Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
2004 restored version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
OG theatrical version - uncensored: Pre-1993 35mm scans
OG theatrical version - censored: 1993+ 35mm scans or Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
OG theatrical version has a racially insensitive lyric in opening "Agrabah" song replaced for re-releases, available on OG soundtrack CD and pre-1993 35mm prints only
Every release since the 2004 restored version on the OG Disney DVD has the line "Come on, good kitty, just take off and go" replaced with "Take off, good kitty" due to the 1992 line being misheard as "Come on, good teenagers, take off your clothes" (an occurrence called a "mondegreen")
Directors: John Musker & Ron Clements
OG theatrical version: Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
2004 restored version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
OG theatrical version: Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
2004 restored version: Disney 4K Blu-ray
OG theatrical version - uncensored: Pre-1993 35mm scans
OG theatrical version - censored: 1993+ 35mm scans or Disney Deluxe Edition LaserDisc
OG theatrical version has a racially insensitive lyric in opening "Agrabah" song replaced for re-releases, available on OG soundtrack CD and pre-1993 35mm prints only
Every release since the 2004 restored version on the OG Disney DVD has the line "Come on, good kitty, just take off and go" replaced with "Take off, good kitty" due to the 1992 line being misheard as "Come on, good teenagers, take off your clothes" (an occurrence called a "mondegreen")
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