Amadeus - Director's Cut DVD Review
Posted by Ashish on 10.16.2002
Milos Forman's epic, one of the greatest movies ever made, finally gets a worthy DVD.
Amadeus - Director's Cut
Release Date: September 24th, 2002
Amadeus, Milos Foreman’s 1984 classic, has been praised as one of the greatest movies ever made. Crowned with 8 Academy Awards, there is little doubt about the film’s place in history. However, it’s initial DVD release hardly lived up to the movie itself. The good news is, Warner Brothers has finally released a new DVD version of this amazing film, labeled as the Director’s Cut.
The Film
What else needs to be said about Amadeus that hasn’t already been said? It is simply one of the finest films of the 80’s, if not one of the finest films ever made. The movie centers around a man named Antonio Salieri (played by F. Murray Abraham) who confesses that he murdered Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri is a character driven with jealousy and rage towards Mozart, and the film opens with him confessing his sins to a priest. As he does, we are taken on an amazing trip through the lives of Salieri and Mozart, and what exactly happened between them.
Abraham (playing Antonio Salieri) does an amazing job of playing the villain, doing his best to keep Mozart from success and fame. His dark and often insane jealousy of Mozart compliments Foreman’s directorial style perfectly and it is really Abraham who steals the show here. Tom Hulce, who plays Mozart himself, also does a fantastic job of capturing the often wild and irresponsible Mozart. One of the central themes of the film is what happens when too much fame, success, talent, and responsibility are thrusted on an average man who can’t handle it. Hulce captures this dynamic perfectly. The rest of the cast is also superb with no real weak spot.
Director Milos Foreman, who also has One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Next to his credit, does his best work here in terms of actual direction. This movie is a big, beautiful epic that recreates the time in breathless fashion. Everything here comes off as it should and it all lends to an extremely satisfying film.
Be warned, the movie is 3 hours long, and the Director’s Cut features 20 minutes of added footage. However, the movie is paced extremely well. It rarely feels like its dragging. Each scene lends something to the direction of the movie as a whole and that is something that many films lose track of.
The extra 20 minutes of footage do not add much to the film, and infact may detract from it, but if you have never seen the movie, it won’t hurt your overall viewing.
Video Quality
The video quality for this DVD is amazing and really brings the beautiful settings, costumes, and colors to life. The film is seen as it should be. The picture is extremely sharp. Viewers will be hard pressed to find any flaws or noise.
Audio Quality
This disc features Dolby Digital 5.1 as well as Dolby Surround 2.0. The entire soundtrack has been remastered and everything sounds wonderful. The audio track is recorded loud, so you won’t need your volume up as high as you would for most other movies. This not being a blow ‘em up action film, the surround sound effects are minimal. The rear speakers are rarely used, with the main 3 channels being used for most of the audio and music.
The soundtrack itself is, as you would expect from a movie about Mozart, classically in tune and fitting.
Special Features
The main selling point of this two disc set is the extra 20 minutes of footage. As mentioned before, the new footage is basically extra fluff. It does not directly hurt the movie, but doesn’t add to the story or change it in anyway.
Considering this is a two disc set, you may be disappointed by the lack of special features. What is here is good, but it’s not too much. The commentaries from Forman and Shaffer are easily the top feature here. The two provide amazing historical facts and insights into the film that really add to the viewing of it. Forman even discusses why the additional footage was not included in the original release.
The set also includes a one hour documentary on the making of the film which features somewhat current interviews with Forman, Shaffer, Abraham, Hulce, and others. It’s also a nice little bonus that the special features are also presented in widescreen.
The packaging itself comes in a cardboard deluxe box slide case. The inside DVD case is a 3-way fold out package that holds the two discs nicely. Overall, an attractive set.
Film: 9.0
Video Quality: 8.0
Audio Quality: 7.0
Special Features: 7.0
The 411: This is an amazing film that deserves to be part of any collection. While this isn’t the jam-packed DVD that it should have been, it is still a fantastic transfer and the special features that are here are very good. The video transfer is nearly flawless and captures the film wonderfully while the audio track is also great. For those of you who have seen the film and love it, add this one to your collection. For those of you who have not seen it, you will get a good first time viewing experience with this DVD.
