Amadeus

Rating:
Summary: Can I give this 10 stars?
Review: Please?

I was first exposed to this movie when I was in highschool and have loved it from that point on. Amadeus introduced me to the world of classical music, something I'd never been exposed to up until that point. I'd highly recommend this movie to anyone who's wanting to introduce someone to classical music.

Though I didn't know at first how this movie was largely fictional in the relationship between Salieri and Mozart, realizing it later on in no way took away from the beauty of the film itself and the story that is told.

Thus far I've owned the VHS version, the original DVD version, and now the director's cut version. This director's cut version sheds quite a new light on the tension between Constanze and Salieri. The scene between the two - which gave this version an "R" rating - was quite a departure from the original version.

There are little bits here and there and even entire scenes throughout that have been added, mostly about Salieri's little schemes against Mozart. Two scenes involve a character who we never even saw in the original, with an actor who is quite famous in his own right. Amazing that they cut his entire scenes right out.

Rating:
Summary: cinematic perfection
Review: I own a copy of the video, the theater release DVD, the soundtrack, an original poster, and now the director's cut DVD and not one cent spent was excessive. This movie is simply perfect. The superb acting, script, direction,sountrack and cinematography elevated this movie to a very high level of artistic achievement. The main criticism of this movie appears to be the historical inaccuracies about Mozart and Salieri, however the artistic endeavour is more than just holding a mirror up to nature, it also involves distillation and synthesis. Amadeus is not about the man, the mystery nor the murder, it is about the music and the music of Mozart is triumphant and eternal.

The Director's cut contains an extra 20 minutes of the movie and while the extra scenes are interesting on several levels, they neither add nor detract from the original theatrical release. The digitally restored print and sountrack, together with the Making of Amadeus make this DVD an absolute must for die hard fans as well as newcomers.

Rating:
Summary: Why is this rated R?
Review: Amadeus has been my favorite movie for years. When I moved my collection of movies from VHS to DVD, I purchased the Director's cut of the movie. I heard that the rating had been moved from rated G to R. After watching the new cut, I still do not see why it was moved to rated R. There is one sceen where Mozart's wife shows her breast. That to me does not call for a R rating. PG-13 maybe, but not R. This is crazy. This is a classic film and now some school will not be able to show it in their classrooms due to a unfair rating. This is just my option.

Rating:
Summary: "Amadeus" is the best movie ever!!!
Review: I loved "Amadeus" from my childhood. I think it is the greatest movie of all time. However this is the first time one can see the whole uncut version of it. To be honest, I would prefer the original (the one which we all used to know). Those added episodes make the whole movie little bit long and even boring. Especially the episodes involving that family with crazy dogs. This is really unnecessary. However blackmailing scene is really wonderful, watch the great acting from both Constantsa and Salieri. They are just perfect. Besides, if not that whole scene one could wonder why there is so much hate in Constantsa at the end of the movie when she asks Salieri "to respect her wish and go".
This edition includes very interesting material of making the "Amadeus", Director, actors everybody's invloved in it. So at the end I recommend this movie to everybody in the world. People, this movie is as good as it gets. The best movie of all time!

Rating:
Summary: Good play, good movie, lousy historians...
Review: It is always very funny to see a Masterpiece made out of historical distortions.
I know that Peter Schaffer meant well by writing a play about the competition between Salieri and Mozart.
Unfortunately, history found Salieri far more successful in Austria and abroad than Mozart at that time.
Salieri was the "talk of the town", NOT Mozart...
So why is it that all of a sudden Salieri should become immensely jealous of Mozart and even go as far as to murder him for his music, if it should have been quite the opposite?
Schaffer needed a conflict situation in which to set his own Drama and add a scapegoat for the tragic death of the "brat".
This scapegoat happened to be Salieri.
Very good for someone who has never studied history of music, but what about historical accuracy? Goodbye and farewell...
Of all the enemies that Mozart made throughout his lifetime, Salieri should have been considered the less threatening of them all. He certainly didn't need it.
What about, instead, the many "close" friends, who flocked to Mozart's feasts/orgies?
Many of them were totally untalented musicians, eager to be "seen" with Mozart in order to even just be considered as such.
Couldn't one of them have had a secret wish to murder him, in order to steal his work and resell it for profit?
That would have been a true motivation for murder.
Instead we have a whimpering Salieri, who almost seems to be sexually attracted to the young Mozart and in a frenzy of jealousy, not only indirectly murders Mozart, by inciting him to "work harder" while the composer lies in bed feverish, but ultimately also attempts to committ suicide like a woman abandoned by her lover.
C'mon, not everybody is gay in this world! Let's get real for once.
Salieri who was Venetian by birth, exactly like Vivaldi, was a highly celebrated Court composer and beloved and envied for his position by everybody. Not only this, but he also had followers of his style throughout Europe.
Could a man like this really care about a newcomer like Mozart. Not really, especially because Mozart's music was only appreciated in France and in some remote corners of Germany. His popularity in those days was just limited by the fact, that he was an "Enfant prodige" and as such, more a Circus attraction than anything else.
His music was "tolerated" at best.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became only famous after his death and not even immediately afterwards.
It took people like Schubert and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, almost three decades later, to revive the interest in the composer's works and even then they didn't come through as masterpieces.
Beethoven was still far more popular in people's ears than Mozart.
Finally, and only after many following attempts by various parties to revive his music, did Amadeus' music make it in the "charts".
Almost a Century in fact, had past since the Maestro died and only now was his style truly admired and understood.

"Amadeus" is a totally fictionalized tale that may have some symbolism in it, but that's all it is.
I understand artistic licence to a point, but then my ethical instinct kicks in, and revulsion and rebellion sets in.
Like in "Immortal Beloved", a piece of [junk] unworthy of any true "follower" of Beethoven, this is totally unworthy of any true connaisseur of Master Mozart or even Master Salieri.
Hollywood will naturally praise its so-called "works of art", but only a completely illiterate [person] would agree with them.
Hollywood has never produced any true Culture, just pure hype and Entertainment, just like young Mozart loved to do and in so far, this movie may be a mirror depiction of what Hollywood is all about: superficiality and no substance.

If you like this kind of spectacle, then you're more than well served in this, otherwise very well-done, filmed version of an abstract, almost surrealistic and totally unbelievable tale of two musicians who loved to hate each other (when would they ever have found the time to compose anything with so much mayhem?).

If instead, you are like me, a person with common sense and respect for "true" and well-written Biographies and History, then you will either take it as a purely "amazing stories" episode, a bit overstreched maybe, but watchable, or you will keep your fingers away of this one and go on listening directly to Mozart's or Salieri's music and make the necessary comparisons. You will be much better informed and immensely appreciate the intensity of both Composers.

I only would wish, just once in my lifetime, that a director or a writer could come up with a faithful Biography of such talented musicians.

I am a director and an actor myself and truly believe that such endeavor is still feasable, but certainly not through the intrusion of Hollywood or Broadway producers, who only care about making a fast buck with anything they touch.

Art is Art, Culture is Culture, History is History and making money is totally another game...

Rating:
Summary: Amadeus (Director's Cut)
Review: OK, so I'm biased--I'm a Mozart freak. But as we all know, the movie isn't about Mozart, it's about a man who wanted to be God's beloved (thus, the title "Amadeus") but was spurned by God, or so he felt.
I call the original release a clean version. All the elements in the story are there and perfectly placed. Director's Cut has more details but is not necessarily better. Salieri looks more villainous, Mozart, more pitiful. However, I find one added scene brilliant. In the scene where Constanze undresses in front of Salieri, we hear "Qui Tollis" from K.427, Mass in C Minor. "Qui tollis peccata mundi (Thou who taketh away the sins of the world)" is sadly appropriate a verse for both characters. It is also a known fact that Mozart wrote this mass with Constanze's soprano in mind. Of course, this nude scene is pure fiction, but I find the use of this music wickedly delicious.
"Making of Amadeus" was a great added bonus. I especially enjoyed two separate interviews of F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce in which they talk about the dictation scene in the movie. It's like "Rashomon" American style.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: I won't go into any explanation of why Amadeus is a great movie; it is, and if you're looking into this new version you are probably already aware of it. What I do want to touch on is the new "Director's Cut":

First off, the transfer is excellent. Deep blacks. Not too much color in this film except when we are in the emperor's court, the opera stage and the robes of the archbishop, but in those more lit scenes the colors are vibrant. This is not going to be like Fifth Element as far as sharpness, but it pleases the eye. But then, the original Amadeus had a fine transfer as well.

As for the extra scenes: they fit into the whole seemlessly. These are not scenes that were cut because they didn't contribute to the story; rather these were cut due for reasons of duration and to avoid an R rating (really, there's only Constanza's breasts that threatened to put Amadeus over the edge--our rating system is stupid). The story is better than ever, and the quality of the footage is in no way inferior to the rest of the film. Seemless cut.

5.1: nice sound. Not too much use of the rear channels outside of soundtrack (enough reason there!) and applause during performances, but this is certainly a treat nonetheless. the LFE .1 channel got some good use. During Don Giovanni the heavy footfalls of Wolfi's Don/Father come booming to life.

The documentary is one hour, not 37 minutes as stated on the amazon description. It is excellent!!! Did you know that Meg Tilly was to play Constanza? No footage of her screentest but there is pics of her in costume. Beautiful. Milos talking about returning to his homeland after becoming declared persona non grata is worth watching.

The commentary: I wasn't able to get more than 20 minutes into it. A shame that Milos couldn't be accompanied by Zaentz or Hulce or the best would be F. Murray Abraham (fat chance on that one), or any minor character or any of the dogs or even the cat from the first scene...anyone would have been better than Schaeffer. All he could say was "That's Right" or simply repeat the last few words of whatever Milos said. What a bore. But as bad as that may be I'd still pay twice the cost for this cut. BRILLIANT BRILLIANT!!!

The trailor: great to see how such a great movie can have such a stupid trailor.

And then there's the awards. The usual.

All in all, this dvd is fantastic. Fully deserving of it's 8 awards. A shame that Hulce didn't get more recognition. many contend that he overplayed his part, but it's his presence that saves it from being a depressing epic. This film really has it all.

Oh, and lest I forget: the music. Mozart. 'Nuff said.

Rating:
Summary: "I am a vulgar man, but I assure you my music is not."
Review: An absolute masterpiece of a movie that tells a fascinating story of two men; one with all the musical talent in the world, and one who desires such a thing above all. Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) is the premier court-composer in Vienna who has everything. One day Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) comes to Vienna and changes his life forever. Salieri seeks musical perfection for himself from God, but is dismayed when he sees it in the vulgar little man Mozart. Abraham plays Salieri perfectly as a man who absolutely adores Mozart's music yet despises Mozart himself. He blames God for choosing Mozart to write the music of the divine and not him. This results in a deep conflict with Mozart, God, and himself. Mozart on the other hand while, very talented, strives for his father's approval, and fights to stay afloat with money and against all those who place a multitude of obstacles in his path to immortality.

The third main character of this movie is the music. It is Mozart in all its sublime glory. Pieces are fit perfectly in the movie and often take the movie over all together. We see quite a few of Mozart's operas and a clever parody of Mozart's operas done by his friend. The way Salieri describes the music is some of the greatest verbal descriptions of music ever, and having the music playing in the background as he reads some is a great touch.

Perhaps the greatest scene ever filmed is the one when Mozart, on his death bed, is verbally writing the Requiem and Salieri is at his side writing every note down. The play between the two is brilliant and the music integrated into the scene is an awesome touch.

The extra scenes while they do not improve upon the film do not diminish it either. Some give more insight but that is about it. It is a definite keeper.

Amadeus is a visual, musical, wonderful masterpiece that does Mozart and his music the justice they deserve.

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS A GOLDEN POT
Review: Because you'll be able to find in it anger, frustration, hope, fear, love, joy, tears, and MUSIC, MUSIC AND MUSIC. Please, do yourself a favor, and see it.

Rating:
Summary: Superlative and Very Different
Review: "Amadeus", was a great success on stage prior to becoming a film that garnered 8 Academy Awards, together with dozens of other international honors. This director's cut version of the film not only adds 20 minutes to bring this exceptional film to 3 hours, it also has created a spectacular new digital transfer, and most interestingly a new film.

Many special editions and director's cut offerings are little more than the addition of scenes that were dumped prior to the film's original release, and rarely have any fundamental impact on the story that is told. Fully one third of all the chapters in this film have new footage, and the changes have a very real impact on the film. Most of the new exposition is about Salieri and it makes him a much darker character, this Salieri is much more than a jealous admirer of Mozart. This man makes demands of persons and actively intervenes much more in the professional destruction of Mozart in Vienna.

One of the film's mysteries for me was why Mozart's wife held such hatred for Salieri at the close of the film. This question is answered, and it again makes for a major change in how you will view Constanze. And of course more insight is given to Mozart as well. If you are a devotee of the original film you may have trouble warming to this version, you may even be well advised to avoid it. For once you see this film you will never be able to watch the shorter version and confine your thoughts to what they were prior to seeing the additional 20 minutes of film.

There is a second disc that includes extended interviews with Milos Forman, Peter Shaffer, and many of the main characters. An interesting aspect that is shared is that this entire film was shot behind the Iron Curtain of the USSR when it was still the nemesis of The United States. The difficulties in filming in Prague were countless, and even fascinating, as the director, Milos Forman was returning to his homeland as a self-described traitor who had previously left.

I have always felt, "Amadeus", is one of the finest films ever produced, and at first I did not care for some of the additional expository material. Now that I have seen it and thought about it a bit, this version really is the complete film, and even if I were to watch the original, I believe I would enjoy it as much, or possibly even more.