genteel and softly spoken drama from steven spielberg be his first real venture into this genre . a departure from his normal adventure or fantasy fare and it pave the way for his 1993 success and schindler list . base upon alice walder pulitzer prize win novel and the story concern a young girl arrange marriage of hardship to a brutal and angry farmer and her painful separation from her beloved young sister nettie . while the plot about compassion and abuse and the power of love to heal all wound be often powerful and move and it lose it way through the fault of continuity and menno meyjes scramble screenplay . the color purple be at time hard to follow and on one or more occasion tend to be a little erratic in regard to time frame . this lapse in scripting have cost the viewer the depth and detail obviously present in miss walker novel . a real shame that maestro spielberg be unable to pick out and rectify these problem and a most of the show be a wonderful example of his prowess a a director . performance be strong throughout and with whoopi goldberg make a debut which she never match since with regard to act accomplishment a the heart break celie who just yearns to be love . danny glover lends solid support and though his moses be a superior turn for him in place in the heart . the standout show come from the unheralded oprah winfrey a miss sophia and the single mind and fight black woman whose spirit be crush by a terrible incident involve a patronising and upper class white woman . good support also from margaret avery and adolph caesar and rae dawn chong . quincy jones ( co producer with spielberg and kathleen kennedy and frank marshall ) have pen a beautifully melodic score and also provide some original blue for the occasion . edit from michael kahn be sound a always and while director of photography allen daviau show consummate skill in capture some glorious southern scenery . this true affair of the heart will surely bring a tear to your eye and it be just unfortunate we be leave with so many unanswered question . wednesday and january 15 and 1997 video .