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The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) More at IMDbPro »

The Purple Rose of Cairo (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: One of the high points of Woody Allen's career. Cecilia (Mia Farrow), a depression-era waitress married to a brutish husband (Danny Aiello), finds her only escape at the movies, her current favorite being a light comedy about an explorer among socialites, called The Purple Rose of Cairo. She sees it so many times that the main character, Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels), falls in love with her and steps off the screen to woo her. When news of this gets back to the movie studio, the producers send the actor who played Baxter (also Daniels) to convince Baxter to get back on the screen. The script is one of Allen's funniest, but underlying the whole story is a current of sadness that gives the movie's ending a surprising impact. Allen himself considers The Purple Rose of Cairo to be his personal favorite of his own films. A gem. --Bret Fetzer

The Woody Allen Collection, Set 3 (dvd):

Amazon.com video review: This Woody Allen boxed set captures the first half of what could be called Allen's "Mia period," his films from the early 1980s. The lighthearted A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy, about the neurotic romping of a bunch of friends at a country house, marks the beginning of Woody and Mia Farrow's film relationship, followed by Zelig, Allen's clever pseudo-documentary of a man who just wants to fit in. Broadway Danny Rose, the tale of a mediocre talent agent who gets involved with a client's wife, is seen as a trifle by some but held as one of Allen's best films by others. But the next two are a pair of undisputed knockouts: The Purple Rose of Cairo, in which the hero of a movie (Jeff Daniels) steps off the screen to help a woeful waitress (Farrow). The ending is at first heart-wrenching, then finds a wistful hope. Hannah and Her Sisters is possibly, after Annie Hall, Allen's most loved movie, with its Chekhovian mix of love and sorrow in the lives of three sisters (Farrow, Dianne Wiest, and Barbara Hershey). Hannah won a number of awards, including Oscars^® for best screenplay and supporting acting for both Wiest and Michael Caine (as Farrow's husband). Finally, the nostalgic Radio Days rounds out the set with a gentle look at entertainment back when people had to dream up their own pictures. These six films represent one of Allen's strongest periods; he moved fluidly from comedy to drama, avoiding big statements but ruefully exploring the foibles of humanity. --Bret Fetzer