Alice Walker’s book The Color Purple became a massive best-seller when it was published, so it was little surprise that there was great interest in turning it into a movie.

Sadly, that role fell to Steven Spielberg.

More comfortable with mechanical sharks and little boys with extra-terrestrial chums, Spielberg wasn’t the right person to bring The Color Purple to the screen. Apart from anything else, he couldn’t bring himself to portray the lesbian relationship between two of the movie’s principal characters. The physicality and eroticism of the relationship was filtered down to one passionate kiss.

Spielberg has subsequently been quoted as admitting he was wrong to play down the lesbian relationship but also claiming he’d do the same again to ensure the movie’s PG rating. Alice Walker is known to have been disappointed by the exclusion of the lesbianism but has diplomatically said she likes the movie anyway, adding that it is very different from the book.

The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards but Spielberg missed out on a Best Director nomination. Not everyone was surprised.