http://www.rogerebert.com...igns-at-30

"Purple Rain" Still Reigns at 30
by Odie Henderson
June 19, 2014

[...]

Until this viewing, I’d completely forgotten how well "Purple Rain" is shot. Cinematographer Donald Thorin, lenser of "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Midnight Run," earned his paycheck on the musical numbers alone. The concert footage is awe-inspiring, both in shot composition and lighting, and somehow Thorin makes Prince’s goofiest dramatic moments look polished and glossy. There’s a shot of Prince smirking behind co-star Apollonia Kotero that reminded me of the Siskel and Ebert show where they reviewed Rain’s follow-up, "Under the Cherry Moon." After showing a clip of the most absurdly ridiculous, bug-eyed close-up of Prince, Gene asked Roger "would you allow yourself to be shot like that?!!"

Accompanying the great score and cin-tog is the familiar story of a musician trying to make a name for himself in his profession while falling for a cute woman with her own ambitions. For all its 80’s trappings, some of which are quite distasteful, the screenplay by Magnoli and William Blinn is as old-fashioned corny as those Andy Hardy movies Mickey and Judy made in the 30’s. There are cobwebs on this tale, so "Purple Rain" tries to merge it with a more contemporary, darker story of dysfunctional family life.

The pieces don’t fit, but Prince attempts to sell each and every one of them. His intentions are noble, to the point where one must give him an A for effort. He may not actually be able to kick Linc from The Mod Squad’s ass, but damn if he doesn’t step (and spin) into the room as if he could.

[...]

To see why Prince can convincingly sing "Baby I’m a Star," stick with "Purple Rain." As a movie, it has its cheap joys. As a musical time capsule, it’s practically priceless.

The most positive thing you've ever posted on the org. Thanks for the share!

No mention of Morris Day..

funksterr said:

No mention of Morris Day..

There's more in the full, linked article.

alot of write ups on PR...promotion gearing up.....does this mean his new music will follow the big PR push?

It really is one of the best/worst 80's time capsules there is. Up with "Howard the duck" LOL.

Prince's character is highly irritating to me though. Morris steals every scene and makes myself at least, wish he was in it alot more!

Such a good point about the cinematography.

treehouse said:

Such a good point about the cinematography.

Yes, it was a well brought up point. Heck all 3 of his movies had some nice qualities about them.

"Under the cherry moon" is a quirky romantic comedy that is very old fashioned and makes you think if it wasn't a homage to those slightly zany romantic comedies that hollywood made in the 1930's.

Like alot of those comedies though, it does run out of steam almost completely in the final third. Infact its so downhill from there it made me forget how much fun the first half of the film is in general LOL. Stupid and silly movie, but not terrible though. The option to change it to black and white works in it's favour I feel. Prince is actually capable of acting in a comedy setting LOL. He is in general quite funny in this movie. Unlike the boring moody persona's of his other 2 major movies...

"Graffiti bridge" would benefit from a blu ray touch up as I dig the dark, neon soaked cinematography and set design. This film also has a retro feel of the 1930's. The obvious sets and sudden burst of dancing on studio backlots is positively retro. It's no Busby Berkely in the inventive stakes, but some of it does look very nice, even if the films story is unfortunately pretty thin even for a "musical", again abit like Berkely LOL.

funksterr said:

No mention of Morris Day..

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Hint: if you see this: "[...]" it means I edited out a bunch of stuff. Unlike some I don't think that reposting/copy-pasting entire articles is a valid use of this forum.

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I excerpted some paragraphs to show the quality of the writing, and provided the link so you can read the whole damn thing there, so they can gain some advertising income. The best way to get more coverage of Prince is to actually follow the links to articles like this, so the stats of such articles stand out.

thesexofit said:

treehouse said:

Such a good point about the cinematography.

Yes, it was a well brought up point. Heck all 3 of his movies had some nice qualities about them.

.

Sure, but I think the point of the article is that Donald Thorin (camera for PR) did Prince a huge favor, and that Under the Cherry Moon exposed Prince in a bad light. The cinematography protected Prince. I think 1999 and LRC videos were probably the first time Prince was shot in a way that made him look cool even when doing some fairly ridiculous stuff.

funksterr said:

No mention of Morris Day..

But he and The Time are about to play here in Houston at an outdoor venue this weekend.

treehouse said:

thesexofit said:

Yes, it was a well brought up point. Heck all 3 of his movies had some nice qualities about them.

.

Sure, but I think the point of the article is that Donald Thorin (camera for PR) did Prince a huge favor, and that Under the Cherry Moon exposed Prince in a bad light. The cinematography protected Prince. I think 1999 and LRC videos were probably the first time Prince was shot in a way that made him look cool even when doing some fairly ridiculous stuff.

Cherry Moon's cinematography is quite good, it's the (self) direction that sucks.

Aerogram said:

Cherry Moon's cinematography is quite good, it's the (self) direction that sucks.

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I'm in agreement with the OP's article saying "After showing a clip of the most absurdly ridiculous, bug-eyed close-up of Prince, Gene asked Roger "would you allow yourself to be shot like that?!!""

I felt that was one of UtCM's strengths, that P would allow himself to look like a dork occasionally. Not so with the other two films!

eyewishuheaven said:

I felt that was one of UtCM's strengths, that P would allow himself to look like a dork occasionally. Not so with the other two films!

LOL, I feel the same way. I was surprised that Prince and Jerome could do comedy quite well and they both made a likable team

It's no classic by any stretch, but stretch he did, as comedy is alot harder than all that horrid posing and naval gazing he did in this other 2 films.

BartVanHemelen said:

funksterr said:

No mention of Morris Day..

.

Hint: if you see this: "[...]" it means I edited out a bunch of stuff. Unlike some I don't think that reposting/copy-pasting entire articles is a valid use of this forum.

.

I excerpted some paragraphs to show the quality of the writing, and provided the link so you can read the whole damn thing there, so they can gain some advertising income. The best way to get more coverage of Prince is to actually follow the links to articles like this, so the stats of such articles stand out.

One of the parts you edited out was the reviewer talking about the sex scene "in the barn". That never made the final cut of the movie. It was briefly shown in the "When Doves Cry" video, but in the actual movie there was no barn scene. Shows you how familiar with the actual film the reviewer was.

Would love to see an updated Blu-Ray version with deleted scenes such as this and the one where he fights Jellybean in the Time's rehearsal space. Hey, that would be a great release for this year! Isn't the Purple Rain 30 year anniversary... oh nevermind.

Spanky said:

BartVanHemelen said:

.

Hint: if you see this: "[...]" it means I edited out a bunch of stuff. Unlike some I don't think that reposting/copy-pasting entire articles is a valid use of this forum.

.

I excerpted some paragraphs to show the quality of the writing, and provided the link so you can read the whole damn thing there, so they can gain some advertising income. The best way to get more coverage of Prince is to actually follow the links to articles like this, so the stats of such articles stand out.

One of the parts you edited out was the reviewer talking about the sex scene "in the barn". That never made the final cut of the movie. It was briefly shown in the "When Doves Cry" video, but in the actual movie there was no barn scene. Shows you how familiar with the actual film the reviewer was.

Would love to see an updated Blu-Ray version with deleted scenes such as this and the one where he fights Jellybean in the Time's rehearsal space. Hey, that would be a great release for this year! Isn't the Purple Rain 30 year anniversary... oh nevermind.

Albert Magnoli just did an interview in which in said that the unused scences were destroyed.

laurarichardson said:

Spanky said:

One of the parts you edited out was the reviewer talking about the sex scene "in the barn". That never made the final cut of the movie. It was briefly shown in the "When Doves Cry" video, but in the actual movie there was no barn scene. Shows you how familiar with the actual film the reviewer was.

Would love to see an updated Blu-Ray version with deleted scenes such as this and the one where he fights Jellybean in the Time's rehearsal space. Hey, that would be a great release for this year! Isn't the Purple Rain 30 year anniversary... oh nevermind.

Albert Magnoli just did an interview in which in said that the unused scences were destroyed.

guess he drove to some peoples houses and destroyed theirs also....

luvsexy4all said:

laurarichardson said:

Albert Magnoli just did an interview in which in said that the unused scences were destroyed.

guess he drove to some peoples houses and destroyed theirs also....

How many prints of movie footage do you think they make? It isn't like boot-legging a cassette.