Steve Spielberg’s adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is one of those rare moments in film history that effectively captures and builds on the book’s underlying themes and moods. Sisters Celie and Nettie have each other to love, and it seems that each other, is all they have. With her big screen acting debut Whoopi Goldberg steals the show as Celie. It’s a travesty that this film didn’t win anything with all those Oscar nominations. However, Whoopi did win a Golden Globe, an Image award, and was also recognized by the Nat’l Board of Review for her outstanding work.

Spielberg’s work didn’t go completely under the radar as he won the Outstanding Directoral Achievement in Motion Pictures by the Directors Guild of America. Quincy Jones won an ASCAP award. (Film and Television Music Award) This film has an absolute ensemble of a cast as there was much more talent than just Whoopi alone. Oprah Winfrey also made her debut as the strong willed wife of Albert’s son. Albert was played by Danny Glover, who gave one of his best performances ever even after 25 years. He played the brutal and manipulative husband of Celie, who was always after Suge Avery who was played by Margaret Avery. Both Oprah and Margaret were both nominated as well at the Oscars, but fell short.

I’m not going to tell you the details of the story as would be the norm, (really, I would be spoiling it) as it’s something you truly need to experience in whole by either book or this blu-ray. It’s an epic story, and its brutal, but the acting is so well done that it’s still amazing regardless how sad of a movie it can be a times. It’s triumph in the end, so you’ll still leave happy. The Color Purple is filled with raw dramatic power and awe-inspiring humanity, this was and is a film for the ages. As for the Digibook itself, it’s a great addition to all those blu-ray digibook collectors out there.

Damn near perfect! I don’t know what it is with Blu-ray Digibooks, but they just seem to have great old films that have video quality out of this world. It really makes me wonder, what is the criteria for a film to become a digibook with Warner Bros. It leads me to believe that during the transformation process if it looks great and the film has some age then they’ll deem it worthy of a digibook. If the video quality is poor, then push it out in an amaray. :p Regardless, all colors are vibrant when needed and dark and gritty when called for as well. The opening scene with the purple flowers has such a realistic feel that you feel as if your running through them. With a lot of the scenes taking place outside, I love how when its a sunny day you can see everything nice and bright but hard to make out some facial features at times because the sun is just truly beaming down on them. Great video quality through and through in this 1080p transfer.

Warner packs this classic with a soulistic (yes, soulistic!) tightly mixed DTS HD Master 5.1 audio track. The Jazz and church singing just rings through like a bell in the middle of the night. The scores are just magnificent, and “Sug Avery” is just incredible in the jook joint. (I would have spelled it juke, but its written as jook in the movie) When there is music, it’ll really put your system to the test. Quincy Jones did a wonderful job with the songs. Audio clarity is spot on and never skips a beat, easily heard with precision. It’s a front heavy track, but the sub gets a bit of play when called upon. You really can’t complain about the audio quality on this one without making up a bunch of nonsense just be a tight ass. If you like this movie, you’ll love this sound track.

The book in itself in the blu-ray digibook contains tons of great info and biographies of all the main actors. Many don’t count this as supplemental material, but we do at HDn. It was a great read, and well laid out.

Conversations with Ancestors: The Color Purple From Book to Screen – A sit down with the infamous Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Color Purple, Alice Walker. Alice describes the characters and breaks them down as to whom they represent in her family lineage. She talks of how her and Spielberg came together from beginning to end, with inclusion of the film process.

Cultivating a Classic: The Making of The Color Purple – A behind the scenes feel with tons of information and picking away at scenes. Enjoyable.

The Color Purple: The Musical – A quick look at the music of the film by Quincy Jones and his com padres.

A Collaboration of Spirits: Casting and Acting The Color Purple – This gives a full glimpse of the casting done by Spielberg. It’s definitely interesting to even those just modestly intrigued by the film.

Gallery & Trailers – The photo’s are quite cool.

The bottom line is that if you like this movie or haven’t seen this movie then its worth a purchase! The Color Purple has great Audio and Video quality, and intriguing extra features. Throw in the addition that its a blu-ray digibook and has tons of cool tidbits and interesting facts about the movie in the book itself portion of the case and you got yourself a heck of a lot for the price point. Out of this world acting by all, and a timeless story make this movie a sure fire hit on blu-ray just as it was during its theatrical run. For Digibook lovers, I will say that the cardboard backing made for the digibook just seemed a bit cheaper than others. However with that aside, this is highly recommended.

Order The Color Purple [Blu-ray]