I just got the UK version of Purple Rain on DVD because I heard that it was a widescreen version. Well, its letterboxed (black bars on top and bottom of the picture) so perhaps the ratio is close to 16:9 but it doesnt seem to offer more picture thaan the US formatted version. Typically, ther is a substantial amount of the picture that is chopped off the left and right sides of a formatted film that you can see when you get the widescreen version.

And that UK version gives you absolutely no extras but then those offered on the US version are rather sparse as well

well thats great to know.. because I was thinking of trying to figure out a way to play a Region 2 dvd.. or make a copy of one..

all because I wanted to see what the widescreen version of Purple Rain was all about

I never got to see it in the movie theater:(

usually pan-n-scan ruins the director of photography vision!

undulatingacrobat said:

What's on the US?

daned said:

Just a trailer, i think.

r1ghteousone said:

The trailer, some interesting production notes, a cast listing, subtitles, and a film flash is offered in the US version. The trailer is cool as hell because they have that old school narrator and some snippets from scenes that were dropped from the original release.

On second look, there is a little more picture but it doesnt seem to be a drastic amount. I suppose the real purpose is viewing it on a widescreen TV. With the US version, you would either have to format it to fit the widescreen or go with the black bars.

Isn't there no special features on the UK disc?

That trailer is worth the price of the dvd

In the early 90's I saw Purple Rain in an IMAX theatre. During the lake Minnetonka scenes you could see the microphone hanging above Prince and Apollonia. Can you see that also in this wide screen version?

Henk said:

I haven't noticed this in the widescreen version.
I'm definitely gonna have to watch it again now.

r1ghteousone said:

Please let me know, I'm curious.