Ah, the extended, restored or director’s cut. Once a practice performed on films that actually needed it, the revised edition of a motion picture became both commonplace and a cash cow after George Lucas raked in several hundred million dollars at the global box office twelve years ago with his “Special Editions” of the original Star Wars trilogy. But just because you can revise a movie doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. For every successful restoration like Lawrence of Arabia, Almost Famous and The Abyss, we get completely unnecessary new cuts of films like The Exorcist and Donnie Darko which sadly become the preferred cut of the filmmakers.
Milos Forman’s 1984 Oscar-winning classic Amadeus, now on Blu-ray from Warner Home Video, was another motion picture that didn’t need any sort of restoration or tinkering. The original 158-minute theatrical cut did a fantastic job bringing Peter Schaffer’s fictional stage play about the rivalry, jealousy and descent into madness that engulfed rival composers Mozart (Tom Hulce) and Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) to the big screen. Forman and his accomplished cast and crew moved the film right along, flawlessly conveying the play’s themes and leaving few if any unanswered questions or plot threads. Yet in 2002, Forman and the film’s producer, Saul Zaentz, felt the need to restore 20 minutes back into the movie and in the process declaring the new cut to be preferable over the theatrical cut. While most that saw the new cut seemed okay with it, there were many who were not. Of course, those are the ones that you hear from online.
As a major fan of the film, I was quite pleased with the 2002 cut. In fact, I now actually prefer it over the original cut (which I picked as my second favorite film of that year behind The Killing Fields). I don’t find the original cut to be flawed or inferior. I simply find the 2002 cut to be a fuller, more satisfying viewing experience. The animosity between Salieri and Mozart’s wife, Constanze (Elizabeth Berridge) and Mozart’s slide into desperation are fleshed out in the director’s cut and help give the movie a darker, bleaker tone than the theatrical cut without diminishing the film’s pacing or emotional impact.
Could we have lived without an extended cut of Amadeus? Of course we could. Were one never assembled, no one would miss it. After all, if it’s not broke, why fix it? But since the deed is done and this cut is now the one that the filmmakers chose to release on home video, it is one that is easy enough to get used to. After all, everything that made the movie the award-winning classic it is today is still here: the wonderful performances by a great ensemble cast, the beautiful cinematography and costumes and, of course, the greatest film “soundtrack” in the history of cinema. The director’s cut of Amadeus is a cause for celebration for fans of the film, an extended cut that proves to be more of a blessing than a curse.
Unfortunately, I can’t really say the same about the picture transfer on Warner’s Blu-ray release. In its defense, the 1080p VC-1 encoded picture possesses a rich color palette, backed by strong black levels and a print largely free of dirt and marks. Sadly, it is also the victim of a noticeable amount of processing. Your “friend” and mine, Digital Noise Reduction, has been applied, minimizing the film grain by a certain degree and in the process give the actor’s faces a waxy appearance from time to time. The studio also felt the need to invite our other old pal to the transfer party, Edge Enhancement, which is most notable around outfits that are black. While neither are enough to ruin one’s viewing of the movie the way they did Disney’s atrocious Gangs of New York Blu-ray Disc, both are noticeable enough to make one wonder why Warner Home Video continues to do this to their releases.
Warner also continues to insist that the audio on their Blu-ray releases default to plain ol’ 5.1 Dolby Digital (guys, get with the program). They did, however, also include a very nice 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track that effectively conveys Sir Neville Mariner’s beautiful orchestrations of Mozart and Salieri’s music. The surrounds and bass are nicely used for the music (but not much else), while the center-channel and front speakers do a fine job clearly conveying the film’s dialogue and effects.
The decent, if lean, selection of supplements is identical to the ones on the 2002 DVD edition. The major bonus is a Feature-Length Audio Commentary by Forman and screenwriter Shaffer. It covers a nice amount of background about the production and makes for an interesting listen. The straightforward, entertaining one-hour documentary The Making of Amadeus features retrospective interviews with the principal cast and crew members. While all look back fondly on the production and consider them quite lucky to have been a part of it, their stories reveal that making the film was anything but a walk in the park. Concluding the disc’s supplements is the film’s Theatrical Trailer from 1984, which is presented in decent-enough condition.
Amadeus comes housed in one of Warner’s digi-book cases, made to resemble a hardcover book. Inside, there is a very nice 36-page collection of trivia facts on the production as well as the cast and crew. A great 50-minute CD Sampler of music used in the film is housed inside the back cover. An insert is also included that gives some background on each of the CD’s tracks. A Digital Copy of the director’s cut is also included in the event that you wish to watch this on your laptop (but not your iPod). Hindsight is 20/20, but here would have been a great place to include a copy of the theatrical cut.
Amadeus is a modern-day classic that is still as involving and exhilarating as it was in 1984, and the extended cut only helps give the movie a fuller, even more accomplished feel. Warner’s Blu-ray presentation sounds great but is visually adequate at best. While I strongly recommend the disc based on the film’s content alone, I do have reservations recommending a purchase of the disc based on the transfer. If you want the movie in your collection, I recommend that you pick it up if you can find it at a cheap price.
-Shawn Fitzgerald
