Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17968 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-10-18
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Synopsis
With his best friend, a young musician travels to the beautiful French Riviera in search of quick riches. Instead, he falls in love with an extremely attractive and equally spoiled heiress. The top-of-the-charts soundtrack features Prince and the Revolution performing such hits as "Kiss," "Mountains," "Under the Cherry Moon," and many more.

Customer Reviews

Not "Purple Rain 2" - this is a lighter, funnier Prince film
I watched "Under the Cherry Moon" last night for the first ever time, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm surprised it has such bad reviews and is considered such a turkey by most critics. I guess at the time most people wanted Prince to come out with another "Purple Rain" type movie. Prince is a great physical comedian in this movie, I was surprised just how much as was laughing throughout it at his and Jerome Benton's antics. Prince's over-the-top narcissm throughout is clearly tongue-in-cheek, and he's having a whale of a time in this role. This is one of those quirky, odd, entertaining, screwball movies that has a real cult feeling to it, and definitely major rewatchability factor. Prince did a very good job directing this at the age of 27 (which I also wasn't expecting) and uses the songs off his "Parade" LP to excellent effect at the right moments and the right scenes. I love the "Girls and Boys" sequence with everyone doing that 80s arm-waving dance that Prince starts off on the piano. Kristin Scott Thomas is absolutely lovely in it - long time to go before her big break in "The English Patient". Steven Berkoff plays a similar villain that he did a few years earlier in "Beverly Hills Cop". Love the scene where Prince is trying to make it up with Scott-Thomas, and he does this by sitting in total silence at the back of his car with his shades on. Will have to try that technique someday. Shame, Jerome and Prince could've ended up being the modern-day screwball farce pair, if they'd made more films together.
Extras are great as well - I love live performance video of Anotherloverholeinyourhead and the video for Girls and Boys with members of his Revolution band inserted into the scene from the film.

Most underrated film of the 80's!
In the 80's, the era that taste forgot, an age of big hair, red braces, shoulder pads and oversized suits with rolled up sleeves, what society was lacking was a little class. This movie may just have been what was needed. Sadly, it seems audiences of the time were too busy rummaging in their Filofaxes to notice, hence the movie being savaged by the critics, and being hailed as one of the biggest flops of the decade. Today, now all the pressure on Prince to come up with a sequel to the phenomenon that was Purple Rain is long forgotten, it is possible to watch the movie objectively, and in doing so see it for the purple gem it really is.

Set in the French Riviera, 'Under the Cherry Moon' tells the story of two gigolos, Christopher Tracy (Prince) and Tricky (Jerome Benton of 'The Time', who hope to make their fortune by marrying one of the wealthy women to whom they ply their trade. Luck comes their way in the form of Mary Sharon, the daughter of a cruel and controlling shipping magnate, who is set to come into a $50,000 000 trust fund when she marries the man her father has approved for her. However, as he sets out to charm Mary and win her affections, Christopher finds himself developing those feelings most damaging to a man in his trade - love. However, the mismatched affair is set to end badly from the start, as outside forces and super-sized egos conflict to keep Mary and Christopher apart. Ending in a tragedy of Romeo and Juliette-proportions, the story finds Christopher concluding 'If two people really loved one another, nothing could break them apart.'

Obviously being a Prince-production, the music is flawless, and especially of interest is the elegantly funky 'Love or Money', which was not included on the accompanying soundtrack album 'Parade - Music from Under the Cherry Moon'.

The opening sequence of Christopher playing piano in a classy restaurant whilst receiving a litany of message-inscribed cocktail napkins from Tricky is as funny and entertaining as the music is beautiful. The film is worth seeing for Prince's costumes alone - happily uninfluenced by the fashions of the time, they exaggerate his skinny 5ft3 frame perfectly - the one he wears to Mary Sharon's birthday celebration is stunning!

Shot in black and white, the film has aged very well, and Prince's straightforward directing style compliments the movie perfectly. For a non-professional actor, his performance is also faultlessly convincing, relying far more on his acting skills than Purple Rain. Mercifully absent is the irritating Morris Day, whose bombastic and childish personality is one of the few blemishes of 'Purple Rain', and one of the many of 'Graffiti Bridge'.

One of the only confusing details is the era in which it is set - described as 'a homage to the great black-and-white films of the 30's and 40's', 'Under the Cherry Moon' sees an unhappy blend of 1930's costumes and sets, and 1980's cars and scenery, with no real attempt at defining a genuine time-period. Prince's intention may have been to create a timeless love fantasy, but all he has succeeded at her is creating a mess!

Ultimately, 'Under the Cherry Moon' is a classy, tasteful, entertaining, musical extravagansa which only Prince could have pulled off. In retrospect, it is not in any way a bad film, and is possibly (dare I say it?) better than 'Purple Rain' - the music is just as good, and the acting far better! If only the outcome of Christopher and Mary's romance could have been destined for happiness, not tragedy...still, as Prince sings in 'Sometimes it Snows in April' 'Sometimes, life ain't always the way...'

Tastefully shot and unintentionally funny!!
Under the cherry moon is tastefully shot in the french riveria which unfortunately is where the class stops. The black and white film set in the 1930's follows the story of two gigolos, Christopher Tracy (Prince)and Tricky (Jerome Benton)who aim to become a part of the rich jetsets whom they ply their trade to. Their chance comes in the form of Millionaire Heiress Mary Sharon, played with considerable fun and professionalism by an able Kristin Scott Thomas. The film is a comedy although is is debatable as to whether most of the humour is infact intentional. Thomas gets most of the best lines when intially fending of Prince, berating his dress sense and indulging in high class verbal fencing, resulting finally in Prince calling her a 'cabbage-head'. The saving grace for most fans is of course the music provided by Prince and the revolution which is played at length throughout the film although only actually performed by Prince once, a rousing version of 'Girls & Boys'. The film was slated by the media and picked up countless Raspberry awards for its failings. It is however not as bad as some would have us believe and is gently amusing generally, with one or two pleasant insights into Princes dark humour. One for fans really and not to be connected in any way with his work two years earlier on Purple Rain but in some ways more fufilling than his later Graffiti bridge. Get it once you have become a fan.