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The story is doubtless familiar to millions, so there's no need for a plot recap. Let's just skip ahead to the movie's premiere in 1985, when the film quickly came under fire from all sides. Purists cried foul, accusing Spielberg of whitewashing the material almost to abstraction. Men's groups and the NAACP protested the film, claiming Walker's work denigrated African-American males and promoted a "lesbian lifestyle" as a healthy alternative to heterosexual marriage. Critics blasted Spielberg for creating the first Hallmark card version of rape, incest and inter-generational abuse. While the film was a still a bona fide hit (few now recall it made nearly $100 million at the domestic box office alone) it has never fully recovered from the controversy. A shutout at the Oscars, many consider The Color Purple a Spielberg also-ran, a film that showed a filmmaker not quite ready to tackle an adult drama without resorting to special effects.

For what it's worth, I'm here to tell you that such complaints are a bunch of crap. I have no idea what a "faithful" adaptation of a book is, because there is no such thing. A filmmaker can only assess the material and filter it through his or her sensibility. Thus the only request I ever have of a movie is how it works on its own terms. On this level The Color Purple succeeds beautifully. Purely as a piece of cinema, it is a wonderful film, a joyous, moving, exceptionally acted and produced story of hope, perseverance and - gulp - the power of the human spirit.

Yes, it sounds like treacle. Maybe it is. But before offended fans of Walker's book fire up their laptops to send me hate mail, it's worth remembering that Spielberg is working in a respected tradition here. Study the films of John Ford, George Stevens or Frank Capra - directors whose work The Color Purple resembles in many ways more than Walker - and you'll see the influences Spielberg wields like a master. Many of our most beloved classics - The Wizard of Oz, Shane, The Searchers - are richly colored, highly romanticized versions of novels written in ambiguous shades of gray. The Color Purple fits squarely into this grand tradition, so I ask, What's wrong with that?

Spielberg was once quoted as saying of The Color Purple, "I realized that the book left me with a residue of emotion, and I decided to deal with that." Perhaps that was the problem for so many. This isn't simply Walker's pages, xeroxed on the big screen. It is a filmed version of Spielberg's emotional reaction to the book. (And the complaint that a white Jew should never have filmed a book about African-Americans is not even worth legitimizing with a response.) Show me ten different directors and I'll show you ten different versions of The Color Purple. I happen to love Spielberg's take. Visit the film with an open mind, and I hope you will, too. An underappreciated classic.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

At long last reissued and remastered, The Color Purple has the distinction of being one of "The First 25." Way back in 1997, Warner Home Video released their first twenty-five DVD titles, and The Color Purple was one of them. It was a bare bones release, and a "flipper" at that: the film's 154-minute runtime was spread over two single-layer sides of the DVD, necessitating a trip to the DVD player to flip the disc. Worse, the early days of the technology meant the release was marred by serious compression artifacts, often so bad that even top-shelf players would break up during playback.

However, truth be told that previous transfer was actually quite good aside from the compression problems. Hence, this new 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen remaster is not the startling improvement some might expect. The film always looked terrific - and that's certainly the case here. The print is in excellent shape, with rich blacks, excellent contrast and gorgeous colors. Hues are perfectly saturated and reproduced with exceptional clarity. Detail is often extraordinary - I remember popping the first version in my player and being amazed - and this new transfer is even better. The greatly improved compression means shadow delineation and fine textures are even more apparent. This transfer often boasts that wonderful three-dimensional quality of the finest transfers. While I still noticed very slight ringing in some scenes, it's a minor complaint. This is an almost universally gorgeous presentation.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

A bit of a surprise given that this is a Spielberg title, there is no DTS option included. Instead, we are granted the same English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track as on the previous release. However, it is a very nice soundtrack, and you can never fault Spielberg and company for failing to deliver the sonic goods. Largely dialogue driven aside from Quincy Jones' lush score, dynamic range is excellent. Throughout the soundtrack is very warm and lush, with very spacious highs and sweet midrange. The low end is fairly strong despite the delicate material; only on the music numbers, such as "Miss Celie's Blues," is any true strong LFE detectable. Otherwise, this is just a very spacious, engaging mix. Surround use is fairly active although reserved primarily for ambiance. Aggressive rears, however, would likely have only distracted. So considering the material, this is a entirely appropriate.

English and French Dolby 2.0 surround options are also included, along with English, French and Spanish subtitles and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

It's funny, but six years into the DVD format, and some of the industry's top supplement producers are starting to leave artistic imprints on their work as strong as the filmmakers they are documenting. Such is the case of Laurent Bouzereau, who has worked on Spielberg titles for so long it is hard to imagine a Spielberg DVD without him. What's interesting about his work here on The Color Purple is that it has never been clearer why his association with Spielberg has proved so fruitful. His tone to approaching these documentaries is very similar to Spielberg's approach to the film itself. Both paint in broad strokes, infuse the visuals with golden hues, and favor positivity over discord.

As always, Spielberg eschews any audio commentaries. Disc one is devoid of extras except for basic cast filmographies and an awards list, plus a teaser, re-release teaser and the theatrical trailer, all presented in anamorphic widescreen. None are very good at selling the film.

The majority of the supplements can be found on disc two and are almost entirely video- based documentaries. All are presented in full screen with no subtitle options. Bouzereau's take here is equivalent to Spielberg's: Polished, reverential and emotional, but also direct and considered. We begin our journey with the 26-minute Conversations with Ancestors: The Color Purple from Book to Screen. Here we get the required background on Walker's book; how she conceived the project, her themes and the unexpected reaction (even she never dared dream of a Pulitzer Prize.) While this doc sometimes suffers from Hallmark banality (lots of dissolves into sunsets, etc.), it dispels any notion of Walker as a man-hater or as disparaging of the film adaptation of her book. Quite the contrary; she was very involved its conception and production, and OK'd the hiring of Spielberg. When he and executive producers Quincy Jones, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall appear halfway in, we finally get answers to questions many of the film's detractors have asked for years. Why did Spielberg make the changes he did? Was Walker angry? Did the film intentionally downplay the more overt sexual aspects of Walker's book? The answers may surprise some...

Next is Collaboration of Spirits: Casting and Acting The Color Purple. This 28 minutes might be the most fun, because we get to hear from casting director Reuben Conner and stars Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey and, much too briefly, Rae Dawn Chong. The Color Purple was the film that brought many of them to the attention of the mass audience, or cemented their stardom. Winfrey is especially interesting, as she campaigned tirelessly for the role and it was a dream of a lifetime. While the sting over the lack of Oscar recognition still resonates, no one seems bitter.

We then move right into the 22-minute Cultivating a Classic: The Making of The Color Purple. This is probably the most typical of the four included featurettes, with additional new interviews with director of photography Allen Daviau, production designer J. Michael Riva and costume designer Aggie Guerard Rodgers. From the first day of shooting - Spielberg was about to deliver both cinematic and flesh and blood babies on the same day - to the various challenges in recreating the film's 27-year time span, it's a very pleasant look at the making of the film, one that despite the film's eventual reception, seemed fairly free of controversy or strife.

Rounding it out is the rather inappropriately titled The Color Purple: The Musical. No, they aren't taking Alice Walker to Broadway; rather, this is a short 7- minute tribute to Quincy Jones, who did indeed contribute some great new songs to the film. I would have liked to hear more from Spielberg on working - for the first time - without his longtime favored composer John Williams, but otherwise it's a slight if nice little tribute.

Last but not least are two still galleries: "Behind the Scenes" and "Cast." 95 images are included in total, with an even mix of rare production photos and more perfunctory movie and publicity stills. Nicely presented if bland. (The packaging also claims there are storyboards, but I couldn't find any.) And in the absence of any real ROM extras, a page with recommended weblinks rounds out the package.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts