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Amadeus - Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Availability:
In Stock
Price:
$26.98
$13.23*
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| Part No: | B00006DEFA |
| Manufacturer: | Warner Home Video |
| MFG Part: | WARD37464D |
| Customer Rating: | 4.5 / 5.0 |
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THE INCREDIBLE STORY OF WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, TOLD IN FLASHBACK MODE BY ANTONIO SALIERI - NOW CONFINED TO AN INSANE ASYLUM.
A note-perfect cinematic event whose immortality was assured from its opening night, Amadeus is an unlikely candidate for the director's-cut treatment. Like one of Mozart's operas, the multiple Oscar-winning theatrical version seemed perfectly formed from the outset--ideal casting, costumes, sets, cinematography, lighting, screenplay, music, music, music--so the reinstatement of an extra 20 minutes simply risks adding "too many notes." Yet though this extended cut can hardly be said to improve a picture that needed no improvement, it does at least flesh out a couple of small subplots and shed new light on certain key scenes. Here we learn why Constanze Mozart bears such ill will towards Salieri when she discovers him at her husband's deathbed, and we see deeper into the reasons why Mozart has no students. The structure of the picture is otherwise unaltered. The director's cut of Amadeus finally accords this masterful work the DVD treatment it deserves. The handsome anamorphic widescreen picture is accompanied by a choice of Dolby 5.1 or Dolby stereo sound options, and it's all contained on one side of the disc. Director Milos Forman and writer Peter Shaffer provide a chatty though sporadic commentary, but they're obviously still too mesmerized by the movie to do much more than offer the odd anecdote. The second disc contains an excellent new hour-long "making of" documentary, with contributions from Forman, Shaffer, Sir Neville Marriner, and all the main actors, taking in the scriptwriting, choice of music, casting, and problems involved in filming in Communist Czechoslovakia with half the crew and extras working for the Secret Police. --Mark Walker
| Excellent Service | 2010-07-23 | 4 / 5 |
| I received this video quickly and was very pleased with the quality of a used video.
I had searched on other sites but, as much as I wanted the movie, I couldn't pay the average asking price of $20. I will use this seller again. |
| Excellent Film! | 2010-07-22 | 5 / 5 |
| I first saw this film in my AP European History class (but don't watch it for its historical content :)
I recently bought it and watched it again. It's an excellent film and the acting is superb. Highly recommended! |
| Blu-Ray Technical Specs | 2010-07-21 | 5 / 5 |
| Amadeus (Blu-ray Book)
Feature film Blu-Ray technical specifications:
Video: 1080p, 2.40:1
Audio:
* English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
* English Dolby Digital 5.1
* French Dolby Digital 5.1
* Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
* German Dolby Digital 5.1
* Italian Dolby Digital 5.1
The second disc of this 2-disc set is an audio CD (redbook CD) containing 8 tracks of Mozart compositions.
I'm hopeful that some day 's technical specifications listings will become more useful.
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| Badly behaved voice of God vs. patron saint of mediocrities. | 2010-07-17 | 4 / 5 |
| Great liberties are taken with the biographical details of Mozart and Salieri's lives to create a morality play about jealousy in this enduring and stunning period film. AMADEUS won eight Oscars in 1985: Best Actor in a Leading Role (F. Murray Abraham), Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Makeup, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Writing (adapted), as well as four Golden Globes, among numerous other awards and nominations. While the biographical details are altered, it seems that the sets, props, and costumes, all depict late 18th century Germany and Austria in stunning fidelity. F. Murray Abraham's portrayal of Antonio Salieri is one of the best performances I've seen in modern movies and (I think) influenced the likes of Anthony Hopkins and Gary Oldman.
Milos Forman restored 20 minutes to the theatrical cut in 2001 to make his 180 minute director's cut, which was restored and transfered to a special edition two-disc DVD set in 2002 and this 2009 BD. The special features also carry over. This BD is identical to the one in the DigiBook edition, sans the CD and Digital Copy, which were superfluous for me since I have several CDs of Mozart's music and wouldn't watch this film on a smaller screen.
The video quality of the BD certainly improves on the artifact-laden DVD, richly displaying the colorful sets and costumes of AMADEUS as they were intended to appear. I hardly noticed any DNR; generally details are very clear. Audio quality is also boosted with an excellent Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track that accurately represents the space and action of every scene and highlights the music with tremendous dramatic effect.
With the excellent MAKING OF AMADEUS documentary included it is easy for me to replace the old DVD with this new BD, even if the DVD packaging is more refined (and informative, as it notes where footage has been restored). I can also highly recommend this modern classic to everyone, since we can all relate to Salieri's "mediocrity," while enjoying a very fine HD transfer. |
| Sometimes, less is more ... | 2010-07-17 | 3 / 5 |
| I am a huge fan of Amadeus. It breathes intense emotion to the heart through supreme acting, an amazing drama, great costumes and music ... supreme, divine music.
Yet, this Director's Cut version disappointed me deeply.
Please note that my review contains spoilers.
While the picture and the sound quality are great, mind you, it is now obvious that the deleted (in the theatrical version) scenes were deleted for a reason. First, and foremost, is the scene with Constanze and Salieri. This scene *almost* ruins the film because it removes any sort of sympathy we may have for the *devil* Salieri. He acts so crude and cruel it's difficult to sympathize with his cause from there on.
The second scene that troubled me was the one were Salieri tells the Emperor that Mozart basically rapes his students. It amazes me that hearing such accusations, (albeit, outright lies) the Emperor doesn't take any steps to discipline Mozart, prosecute him, throw him out of his circle of noble composers (it could also be said that this scene also demotes the Emperor to an uncaring jerk). He simply doesn't asign him the post.
The third scene(s) concern Mozart trying to teach a guy's daugher, but ends up being frustrated by his dogs and leaves. This scene is continued to the horrifying second part, where a near-wasted Mozart asks him if he can now teach his daughter (as if there was any chance for that, looking and talking like THAT). These scenes make Mozart look so low, one might wonder why Salieri was so obsessed with him.
All these scenes, in my humble opinion, may clear out a few minor holes ("I hear you have debts.") but they also demote all the characters that are included in them, from Mozart and Salieri, to Constanze, the emperor and the diva.
Besides that, the rest of the film remains one of my favourite classics of all time, and the reason I started listening to classical music. |
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