- Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), The X-Files

Regardless of how you feel about Prince personally or as a musician, it can certainly be said that he has had a distinguished and varied career in music and film that has lasted over thirty years. By the time the film Purple Rain came out in 1984, Prince already had a number of albums under his belt, including Controversy and the bona-fide classic, 1999. However, it was after Purple Rain - the film and the album - that Prince truly became a superstar.

Purple Rain tells the story of The Kid, played by the Purple One himself. The Kid is an artist struggling for acceptance, who is simultaneously struggling with the violence in his own home. Then meets singer/dancer Apollonia (Apollonia Kotero). At first he simply plays about with her, but soon he begins to fall for her, and she makes him realize certain truths about his music career. His chief competitor is Morris Day and his band The Time (played by themselves), who also threatens to steal Apollonia away from him. The Kid must come to terms with all of these things before he has a chance at success. Prince has claimed that this film is not autobiographical in some sources, but in others he has said that he wanted it to mirror certain aspects of his life as closely as possible. Whatever the case is, the parallels to Prince's own career seem fairly obvious. In fact, the film's - and more importantly, the album's - success ensured that Prince's own transition from successful local act to superstardom mirrored that of The Kid's in the film. 

Prince and puppet (that's Prince on the right)

What surprised me the most about Purple Rain was the serious tone. Having memories of this as a camp 1980s film, I went into this expecting a laugh-fest. However, while there were a few unintentionally amusing moments, the film deals in large part with domestic violence. This is a theme that is powerfully brought out in song with the eternal classic, "When Doves Cry". The Kid's father - a failed entertainer - regularly beats his wife, and is possessive and jealous. His own inadequacies are expressed upon her. When The Kid finds himself becoming more deeply involved with Apollonia, and her star looks like it is about to rise faster than his, he too becomes jealous and suspicious, and begins to repeat his father's cycle of violence. This doesn't make The Kid a terribly likeable character at times, and this is both a strength and a weakness to the film. Prince has created a character that seems completely unwilling to accept any position that isn't his own, with a minor plot point being his refusal to play one of the songs Wendy and Lisa (two of his band mates) wrote. Emotional pleas from them, and from other people, appear to fall on deaf ears when directed at the Kid. The club manager wants him to change his music with the threat of dismissal, but this is another point on which The Kid will not compromise. As a non-actor, Prince plays this role incredibly well. The audience may have trouble following his emotions peaks and troughs sometimes, and may lose sympathy for him at others, but this mirrors the same journey the artist has taken musically in the public eye, before achieving mega-success with this film.

The film's main weakness is in its execution. Although the songs themselves are flawlessly executed, one never really gets a sense of the passing of time in this film. Deep emotion is meant to be felt between Apollonia and The Kid, but as far as the audience can tell, they have only know each other a night. At other times, it appears from behaviour and actions that months have gone by, but there are no other indications to suggest this. The overall effect is a confused and disjointed feel to the film. Some say that this mirrors the feel of a music video, and to a certain extent this is true. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as I feel that some of the best work on film has been done with music videos (and if proof is needed of that, see the works of Michel Gondry, Chris Cunningham, Spike Jonze, Mark Romanek and David Fincher). However, if you are looking for something with a straight narrative, and completely linear storyline, you may be disappointed here. Having said that, this is an interesting approach, and the film should be applauded for not taking the conventional route.

Morris E. Day admires a class act

In the end, the film is a showcase for the songs, which are performed with live vocals. This is where the film really excels.  The big hits off this film and soundtrack were "When Doves Cry",  and obviously "Purple Rain". It is interesting that "When Doves Cry" was a last minute addition for a montage sequence, which was released prior to the film and became a Number 1 hit for Prince. It still remains one of his highest selling songs and most well-known hits. The climax of the film - in which The Kid & The Revolution perform "Purple Rain" - is an emotional powerhouse of a scene, and nicely brings all of the dramatic and musical elements of the film together in one truly special moment. This one scene almost overcomes all the other problems I had with the film, because let's face it - you can't beat a good musical finale!

The outdoor scenes, and those interior shots that were done on stages rather than location, look incredibly crisp and well-defined. The main problems are with the performances pieces on-stage at First Avenue. The colour over-saturation, which was a combination of cheap purple and red lighting, that plagued the first DVD edition of this film is still evident here, but not to the same extent. It is like looking at a whole new version of the film. There are, of course, spots of grain, and few film artefacts evident on this new transfer, but there are some things that even the best digital remaster can't overcome. This was made on the cheap and fairly quickly back in the 1980s, and a few blemishes are only to be expected.

However, for the most part, all of these things are very easy to overlook. Most viewers will find this the best version of the film they have ever seen, especially if they have been putting up with VHS or TV prints for years. It is also a fair way ahead of the previous DVD release, which came out all the way back in 2001.  A solid transfer, with only a few minor blemishes that will not worry fans of this film.

As I've already gone into above, the soundtrack for this film is its main focus. The songs "When Doves Cry" and "Purple Rain" will forever remain commercial radio favourites, and staples on the Prince 'greatest hits' setlist. For many people around the world, it was their first chance to see Prince "live" in action, and songs like the raunchy and just plain nasty "Darling Nikki" were a real eye-opener for mainstream audiences. Most of the songs performed in the film were done "live" - that is, Prince sang live vocals to the on-set audience, with a music on playback. This has a great effect on screen, both maintaining the live feel and ensuring that all the sound elements remain separate for the purposes of editing. However, this is not to say that we get a fully-formed surround soundtrack.

The original soundtrack was not envisaged as a 5.1 track, so this DVD doesn't try and turn it into something that it isn't, which pleases me on some level. The majority of the sound comes through the front speakers and centre speakers, with dialogue clear for the most part. The occasional sound filters through the rear speakers, but they are never used excessively. The music is what counts the most though, and this is always loud and clear. While not the immersive experience I would have liked it to have been, it is still a powerful - and Academy Award winning - soundtrack that sounds better than ever here.

Disc One

The main feature on the first disc is the audio commentary by Director Albert Magnoli, Producer Robert Cavallo and Director of Photography Donald E. Thorin. This is one of those great commentaries that is both full of technical information and fun anecdotes without going too overboard with either. There are a few quiet moments, but these are usually made up for with fascinating tidbits and amusing stories. I would have loved to have heard Prince discuss this, but the comments here are both useful and entertaining. Very nice.

Also found on the first disc is a collection of Theatrical Trailers for Purple Rain, as well as other Price movies, Under the Cherry Moon and Graffiti Bridge. These are always a nice inclusion. While the latter two may simply be cross-promotion, the inclusion of the Purple Rain trailer is very welcome, as these are being increasingly forgotten on so-called 'special editions'. There are also a few 'deleted scenes' that aren't included in this cut of the film that can be glimpsed in the trailer, so it is a very welcome addition indeed.

Disc Two

First Avenue: The Road to Pop Royalty (12:22) is the first newly-created featurette on the second disc. This is a history of the club, First Avenue, which is featured in the film. It discusses the importance of the club on the Minneapolis scene, and various members of The Revolution, The Time and others that performed there. As a fan of music, especially stuff from the 1980s indie and alternative scene, this was a fascinating inclusion. Bands such as Hüsker Dü, Soul Asylum, The Pixies and my favourite, The Replacements, are also name-checked as bands that played First Avenue and went on to bigger things.

The second newly-created featurette, Purple Rain: Backstage Pass (29:43), is more of a traditional retrospective "making of". It discusses the creative process, the combining of live music and recoding music, and has retrospective interviews with band members and music critics. A fascinating fact to come out of this was that Prince and the Revolution recorded over 100 fully-produced songs for the film, with the soundtrack containing a mere 12 of those. Once again, the only thing this could have used is some involved from Prince himself, but even without him, it is a fairly comprehensive discussion of the making of the film, especially in combination with the audio commentary on Disc One.

Riffs, Ruffles and A Revolution: The Impact and Influence of Purple Rain (10:09), the third and final newly-created featurette, is another fascinating historical look at the music scene of the 1980s. As the name of the featurette implies, this discusses the impact the film - and Prince - had on music and fashion at the time. Perhaps a little too self-congratulatory, but is worthwhile for the live concert footage and tour information. The odd moment of silence is made up by the wealth of information here. Good stuff.

MTV Premiere Party (27:50): You can't put a price on a feature like this. Just as Prince was important to the music scene in the 1980s, a high-rotation video on MTV was part of the formula to success at the time. This vintage live footage shows the regular red carpet arrivals at the movie premiere, as well as interviews with various members of the band (particularly Wendy and Lisa). However, what makes this worth its weight in gold is the inclusion of several TV spots, the "original" broadcast of the "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy" music videos, and interviews with party guests Eddie Murphy, Sheila E, a very scary Little Richard, John Cougar Mellencamp and Weird Al Yankovic. Priceless!

Finally, we have 8 Music Videos. These have been thoughtfully split up into three sections: Prince, The Time and Apollonia 6. There are 5 Prince videos, with a "Play All" option available. They are: "Let's Go Crazy", "Take Me With U", "When Doves Cry", "I Would Die 4 U"/"Baby I'm a Star", and of course, "Purple Rain". These are all combinations of new clips, clips from the movie and live footage (either from the film or tour footage). Next up, we have two videos from The Time - "Jungle Love" and "The Bird" - both featuring clips from the film. On a side note, it should be mentioned that The Time and "Jungle Love" were featured at the end of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Finally, for the sake of completion, we have the Apollonia 6 video "Sex Shooter". This epitomises everything that is good and bad about the 1980s, and I loved every second of it.

Quite a surprising film, for more reasons than one. Recommended!