Is The Color Purple Special Edition dvd EDITED?

Jorossy · 12-30-2002, 07:15 PM

When visiting the digital bits website, they listed TCP as a director's cut. I immediately became concerned (being how Spielberg butchered E.T.). Sure enough when I went to dvdempire.com it lists both dvd's. The original has a running time of 154 minutes and is rated PG-13. The special edition's running time is 152 minutes and is not rated. Dvdplant's site list the same thing except the rating is PG.

If the running time is true and this is indeed a 'director's cut', you can probably guess what scene is being omitted or heavily edited. The movie contains numerous acts of abuse on women: mental, sexual, emotional and definitely physical. However a scene of implied lesbianism--or what I call the "Ms. Celie being made love to for the 'first' time" scene--I guess would be way over the top for small children (if they are watching this movie at all). Also if this scene is cut, if it's the one I'm thinking, how would you explain the scenes where Celie follows Shug Avery a lot, fainting when Shug leaves and Celie spitting in her father-in-law's water because he insulted her. I hope that these are errors based on incorrect preliminary information. If this info is correct though, I'd rather have the 'flipper' edition.

If I'm totally wrong, please blame the left over egg nog mixed with cheap champagne. Happy Friggin New Year.

Rain · 12-30-2002, 10:18 PM

I sure hope you are wrong, because many, many people are going to be very disappointed if we get a censored version of the film after such a long wait for an SE.

Of course, if that happens, it's no sale for me.

Glenise · 12-31-2002, 04:45 AM

I hope not either because I waited this long to not buy the flipper version.

David Lambert · 12-31-2002, 05:58 AM

I don't think there's anything to be concerned about. Here's why I think that way:

1) Indeed, at DVDEmpire you can go to the picture of the back of the box for the first DVD, and verify that Warner stamped "154 minutes" onto the back bottom.

2) In Warner's press database you can look up info for the SE DVD, and see it says "152 minutes" in the press materials. Seems like reason to worry so far. BUT...

3) ...If you go to Warner's press database entry for the original DVD, it ALSO says "152 minutes". So the mistake was probably made with the first entry, and that entry was copied for the new release since everyone at Warner knows they have the same running time. And the sites took the info of 152 minutes from the erroneous database entry, rather than from the OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE.

4) "Wait, Dave...what does the Official Press Release say?" Um, the Official Press Release for The Color Purple - SE says it will run for 154 minutes. AND that it is rated PG-13 (info that isn't in the main Warner database entry...you gotta dig for it). Read the Press Release yourself!

I bolded the important parts:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Steven Spielberg’s Masterful Adaptation Of
Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novel
The Color Purple
Debuts In Two-Disc DVD Special Edition February 18

Warner Home Video Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Pulitzer Prize Win
With Newly Remastered Edition Including Four All-New Documentaries Featuring Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Quincy Jones, Spielberg, Walker and more

"A great ennobling and enduring film; the spell does not fade nor the emotion pass…Steven Spielberg has made more than a movie -- it’s a sonnet, a song, an odyssey, an emotional surge into a triumph of blinding brightness.”
-- Gene Shalit, The Today Show

Burbank, Calif., December 19, 2002 -- Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple -- which received 11 Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture, was the National Board of Review’s Best Picture of the Year and ignited the careers of Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg -- will be released by Warner Home Video (WHV) as a deluxe, feature-packed, two-disc DVD Special Edition February 18. The double-disc DVD will sell for $27.95 SRP.

The Color Purple has been remastered with an all-new digital transfer and enhanced with four newly produced documentaries, which include interviews with Spielberg, Goldberg, Winfrey, Glover and Quincy Jones – plus Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker who is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the award. Also included are producers Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and production designer Michael Riva; director of photography Allen Daviau; costume designer Aggie Rodgers; and actors Margaret Avery, Akosua Busia and Rae Dawn Chong.

A Film of Firsts
The Color Purple, released in 1985, has grossed $97 million at the box-office and is marked by a number of firsts.

Steven Spielberg earned his first Best Director Award from the Directors Guild of America and an Oscar® nomination for Best Picture for The Color Purple. Both Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg made stellar feature film debuts and each received first Oscar® nominations for their roles.

Goldberg also won a first Best Actress Golden Globe Award for the film and Winfrey earned a Golden Globe nomination. Goldberg then went on to win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for Ghost and star in the blockbuster hits Sister Act I and II, both of which grossed a total of nearly $200 million domestically.

[more]

Winfrey’s portrayal of Sofia, a fiercely independent woman whose defiance ultimately claims her freedom, also helped to launch her amazingly successful multi-media career. The Oprah Winfrey Show has become the highest-rated talk show in television history and Winfrey was named one of the 100 most influential people of the twentieth century by Time magazine.

Enriching DVD Extras
The movie’s many talents – including Spielberg, Goldberg, Winfrey, Glover, Jones, Walker and others, participate in the following documentaries:

· Conversations with Ancestors: The Color Purple from Book to Screen
· A Collaboration of Spirits: Casting and Acting The Color Purple
· Cultivating a Classic: The Making of the Color Purple
· The Color Purple: The Musical

Other special features include behind the scenes and cast photo galleries, the theatrical trailer and two teaser trailers. The DVD will be available in widescreen format and will include Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and 2.0 sound, English and French languages and subtitles in French and Spanish.

Synopsis
This inspiring drama about personal triumph and the power of human relationships tells the story of Celie (Goldberg), a poor African American girl growing up in the rural South during the early 1900s. Celie’s world is filled with cruelty and despair. Abused by her father and separated from her sister and children, Celie is forced into marrying a demeaning and philandering man (Glover) who convinces Celie of her own worthlessness. But just as she is about to give up hope of obtaining happiness, a beautiful blues singer named Shug (Avery) walks into Celie’s life and shows her how to love herself.
The Color Purple
$27.95 SRP/$19.95 MAP
STREET DATE: February 18
RATING: PG-13
RUNTIME: 154 minutes

With operations in 78 international territories -- more than the video division of any other studio -- Warner Home Video commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment Company, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

I hope this relaxes everyone. Happy New Years!!

Robert Crawford · 12-31-2002, 06:16 AM

I've checked four different film reference books and each book list the running time of "The Color Purple" as 152 minutes. I know that IMDB has been known to post inaccurate information from time to time. Now, if this is indeed a director's cut then the press release stating 154 minutes makes sense.

Crawdaddy

**HTF Ads**

Jorossy · 12-31-2002, 12:50 PM

Thanks for the detective work David. I feel better now. Maybe this country should hire you to find Bin Laden; then again, as they say, "Ain't no money in it."

Peter Kline · 12-31-2002, 03:13 PM

E.T. was not butchered IMHO. That's awfully strong language for a film particularly since you got both version on DVD. Your Bin Laden comment is uncalled for also. Happy New Year.

Joshua Moran · 12-31-2002, 03:13 PM

Also considering that Speilberg released both Versions of ET because he didn't want the new version to be the preferred one. I would expect him to do the same with all his movies. And people, don't bring this into a Lucas Star Wars fight, those are getting old.

Jeff_HR · 12-31-2002, 04:45 PM

I think I'll wait for an in depth review before I buy. If it ends up being edited, I'll simply keep my CAV Laserdisc.

David Lambert · 12-31-2002, 06:46 PM

Peter, I agree that the E.T. DVD was not "butchered", since the original version of the film was included.

However, I'm not sure why you found the Bin Laden comment "uncalled for"; I was simply being complimented on my investigative skills! I do appreciate the compliment, too!

Crawdaddy, I will repeat the fact that the original "flipper" DVD for TCP lists the running time on the back of the box as 154 minutes, so it's safe to assume that both DVD releases will contain the same cut of the film. No matter what the books say the running time really is! :wink:

Robert Crawford · 12-31-2002, 08:12 PM