slappypete

I notice that this was released a couple of years ago and was wondering what the quality is like, and whether it is worth buying?

Playitagainsam

Dude,

You must be joking, right? You mean you don't know anything about this film? It's an intellectual feast, a beautiful and moving story of talent, envy and anger. Excellent roles for both Tom Hulce (Mozart) and F. Murrat Abraham (Salieri) - who received an Oscar for his performance.

This movie's formula was copied a few years ago with the horrible "Immortal Beloved".

The DVD is barebones, also a flipper (doesn't even give you a warning when it stops: you have to figure out to turn it over). The transfer is good, though, and handles relatively well the beautiful cinematography. The sound is crisp, and one of the unexpected bonuses is an isolated score track, with Mozart's music conducted by Sir Neville Mariner.

The movie is a no-brainer if you have good taste and know a bit or two about culture. Wrestling fans and rabid Hong-Kong collectors will better avoid it. If you like Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia and Kagemusha, this is your film, you'll love Amadeus.

Groucho

Great disc...only drawback is that it's a flipper. The music-only track is worth the price of purchase alone.

(edited to change "shipper" to "flipper" ... thanks Justin!)

[This message has been edited by Groucho (edited June 30, 2000).]

jfoobar

Groucho meant "flipper". Like Se7en and The Right Stuff, Amadeus was made before RSDL was perfected and widely available (as I understand it). It is dual-sided, single-layer, and you'll need to flip the disc slightly more than halfway through the film.

Despite this, it is a very good DVD with some decent extras. The soundtrack sounds very good in DD5.1 and their is an isolated soundtrack feature. The video trasnfer is 2.25:1 anamorphic of above average quality.

I would very such like to see an Amadeus SE some day in RSDL with a commentary track, but until then this is a DVD well worth owning.

Decker

Milos Forman has not done any commentary tracks (at least on DVD), dispite having a perfect opportunity on the recent Man on the Moon disc. I wouldn't hold my breath on that SE. This disc is nice, albiet a flipper. Don't forget that you can get it for free from Warner as one of the (rather few) choices in their new "buy 5, get 1 free" promotion. For a freebe, you could do a lot worse.

bdots48

I was surprised to see Amadeus is Jason Lee's favorite film (in the latest Movieline mag). (Leonard Maltin only gave it 2 stars!)

[This message has been edited by bdots48 (edited July 04, 2000).]

Kelvecion

I resisted watching this movie for so long. What a mistake. Great movie, great story, class acting - Especially from F. Murray Abraham. An excellent introduction into the work of Mozart. But I guess you guys already knew all of this.

Interesting that so many of Mozart's tunes have been used by so many filmmakers - not a lot of people know that.

Ironside

I agree with everybody, this is a great one.

willdevil

Digging this one up from the archive grave.......

Do you think it would be better to buy this now (cheap at Best Buy) being that it is the theatrical edition, or should I wait for the Directors Cut SE later this year.

Thanks in advance!

LBPound

Well, I suppose that would depend on whether we know for certain if the SE will not contain the original theatrical cut. I'm not a big fan of revisionist filmmaking, and I felt the movie was already pushing its time limit as was...so I'd definitely hope that Warner gives the theatrical cut dual-layered treatment as well.

But it doesn't look like that right now.

Your call, I guess, depends on your feelings of a longer cut.

Oatsdad

You're right about the DVD part, but commentaries for Amadeus and Cuckoo's Nest appeared on the excellent Pioneer Special Edition LDs. As I recall, I liked the Amadeus track but thought Forman's remarks for Nest were terribly dull. Be interesting to see if these old commentaries pop up on the allegedly-upcoming SE DVDs...

Frank S

I viewed this on my 58" HDTV and I thought the video quality was horrible! The grain on this DVD was the most I think I have ever seen and it had no detail! This film deserved better then the initial treatment it received on this first DVD! One of the most needed films that needs to be re-done and re-done correctly!

Harlock415

I happen to be a rabid Hong Kong collector and Amadeus is one of my favorite movies. And I own Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, and Kagemusha. I did not want to buy the DVD because I knew that the quality on it was below standard and contained nothing extra that would replace my Pioneer LD boxset, the one with the audio commentary, the original play, CD soundtrack, making of book, and Sir Neville Mariner booklet.

I will wait for a reissue, on DVD first. And if they only release the Special Edition without the option of watching thhe theatrical version, then it's all the more reason to hang on to the LD.