Amadeus (DVD)

Synopsis

Amadeus. The man. The music. The magic. The madness. The murder. The mystery. The motion picture.

Amadeus triumphs as gripping human drama, sumptuous period epic, glorious celebration of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--& as the winner of eight 1984 Academy Awards, including Best Picture (produced by Saul Zaentz), Actor (F. Murray Abraham), Director (Milos Forman) & Adapted Screenplay (Peter Shaffer), and Best Sound, Makeup, Costume Design, and Art Direction/Set Direction.

It's 1781 & Antonio Saliere (Abraham) is the competent court composer to Emperor Joseph II. When Mozart (Oscar nominee Tom Hulce) arrives at court, Salieri is horrified to discover that the godlike musical gifts he desires for himself have been bestowed on a bawdy, impish jokester. Mad with envy, he plots to destroy Mozart by any means. Perhaps even murder.

Antonio Salieri believes that Mozart's music is divine. He wishes he was himself as good a musician as Mozart so that he can praise the Lord through composing. But he can't understand why God favored Mozart, such a vulgar creature, to be his instrument. Salieri's envy has made him an enemy of God whose greatness was evident in Mozart. He is set to take revenge.

AMADEUS, THE DIRECTOR'S CUT includes new footage that was not used in the 1984 original, as well as improved sound. In a lavish 18th Century parlor in Austria, an elderly man is found, by his servant, with his throat slashed. The wound is self-inflicted, and the man is the little-known composer Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), contemporary and adversary of the now-famed, but once reviled, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce). Later, from his cell in an insane asylum, Salieri tells a priest (Herman Meckler) the story of his association with Mozart, confessing that he actually killed the brilliantly gifted but troubled young man.

Based on the award-winning play by Peter Shaffer, Milos Forman's riveting, brilliant, Oscar-winning Amadeus is a fictionalized account of the real-life mysterious death of Mozart. Abraham, in the role that won him the Best Actor Oscar, is the celebrated court composer to Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones)--his confidence and religious dedication shaken when he meets the boorish 26-year-old Mozart as he chases his future wife (Elizabeth Berridge) around a party while making obscene remarks. Furious that this clownish boy can produce such beautiful music, Salieri determines to keep Mozart's talent from lasting recognition and sets himself on a course for Mozart's destruction that leads to his own as well.

Mozart continues to mount beautiful, moving operas (incredibly staged in the film), but becomes obsessed with writing a Requiem as his friends, family, health, and resources waste away, Salieri's manipulating presence is always there. It is hard to imagine anyone--whether they are knowledgeable about classical music or not--who would not be held captive by this superb feast for the eyes and ears, a film whose excellence can be felt in every detail.

Shot on location in France, Austria, and the Czech Republic, Amadeus ranks No. 53 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies. The opera sets were designed by Josef Svoboda. The staging of "Don Giovanni" in the film was shot at the Tyl Theater, the actual site where Mozart conducted the opera's premiere some 200 years earlier.