Amadeus (DVD)

The title refers to Antonio Salieri (played by F. Murray Abraham who won best actor) , the narrator in flashback , of this stunning 1984 film directed by Milos Forman, winning of eight academy awards , including best picture. Based on Peter Shaffer’s play with a superb score of Mozart and Salieri music performed by Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted and supervised by Sir Neville Mariner.

I am reviewing this because I purchased it from Amazon (9.99 GBP) on DVD. The DVD is a two sider which includes copious production notes, biographies and a music only soundtrack. It runs for around two and half hours, an absolute bargain.

The story is told as a confession by Salieri to the priest in the asylum where he now housed. He tells of how he was court composer, but his position was threatened by the upstart hooligan Mozart, who on the one hand was incredibly frivolous and not at all suited to life at court, but was incredibly gifted as a composer and a musician.

As Mozart ingratiates himself to the court , Salieri becomes increasingly envious and jealous of the prodigy. At first he and his cronies try to discredit Mozart with his patron emperor Joseph II . This doesn’t satisfy Salieri who contrives a plot to murder Mozart and rat the same time restore himself to favour with the court.

Because Salieri is in an asylum , you obviously cannot take the story at face value, and the film finishes with him proclaiming himself the patron saint of mediocrity and dispensing absolution to the inmates as he is wheeled back to his room.

Mozart , played by Oscar nominee Tom Hulce, is entertaining throughout, coming out with great quotes and stunning music.

This is a film for everyone. Yes it’s very long and it’s about a classical composer and his music. Remember that the jury is still out on whether Beethoven, or Mozart, was the greatest composer who ever lived. Mozart's output was prodigious, with over 40 symphonies and god knows how many operas (Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro all make appearances in the film) to his credit. Either buy it , borrow it or rent it, you will love it.

The film was criticised at the time because of the numerous American accents, but would you prefer them to speak English with a mock German accent? That would have been pathetic. In my opinion the film is brilliant as it stands. One of the greatest films about music ever.