Any word on a theatrical release BR version of Amadeus

[boe]

Hello,

Normally I prefer the director's cut but for Blade Runner and Amadeus, I would say the theatrical releases are much better. I would even go so far as to say that I didn't like the director's cut of Amadeus (which is hard to believe since I really really really like the theatrical release). Is there any news of a BR release of the theatrical release? I realize there are some people that like the director's cut but I also see a LOT of threads about people who prefer the theatrical release. They have 2 or perhaps 3 BR releases of the director's cut.

If you have any info on a theatrical release I would really appreciate it. This would probably be one of my most prized BR's if they offer a theatrical release.

Thanks

[Wings80]

I watched the Directors Cut on netflix. And I honestly have to say I can't remember what was different about the version. Of course it has been 20 years since I watched the original.

[boe]

Originally Posted by Wings80

I watched the Directors Cut on netflix. And I honestly have to say I can't remember what was different about the version. Of course it has been 20 years since I watched the original.

There were several poorly filmed scenes (bad lighting, focus, angles etc - no music background to help set the mood and drive the scenes. There was also some VERY different relationships with Mrs. Mozart. The movie drags with the additional scenes and creates a very negative view of some of the characters IMHO.

[Jeff B]

Originally Posted by boe

I would even go so far as to say that I didn't like the director's cut of Amadeus (which is hard to believe since I really really really like the theatrical release). Is there any news of a BR release of the theatrical release?

I prefer the theatrical cut too. The additions didn't harm the film greatly, in my opinion: they just didn't do much for it, and made it longer than it needed to be. Unfortunately, it looks as if Amadeus will be one of a number of films of which the theatrical cut does not make it to BD. I also want the theatrical cuts of Troy and Donnie Brasco, amongst others, but believe that it is unlikely that we will ever see them either.

[EricJ]

The only reason we GOT Amadeus on Blu so early on was that it was the same Warner Ultra master as the remastered Director's Cut on DVD, which was a big deal at the time.
To get a new cut, they'd have to remaster the Theatrical cut from scratch, which Warner probably won't think worth spending money on, unless it becomes too common knowledge that fans hated the DC, or until Milos Forman asserts himself about not liking the cut either.

...So, looks like Stanzi will be showing her Nipples of Venus for a while.

[kdo]

Originally Posted by boe

Hello,

Normally I prefer the director's cut but for Blade Runner and Amadeus, I would say the theatrical releases are much better. I would even go so far as to say that I didn't like the director's cut of Amadeus (which is hard to believe since I really really really like the theatrical release). Is there any news of a BR release of the theatrical release? Thanks

Not that I know of, and I wouldn't count on it anytime soon (if at all). I too get annoyed when DC's are all that's available, since I rarely find them superior to their theatrical predecessors. The most aggravating instance of this for me was "Highlander" (I despise the overly long international/European DC, and much prefer the U.S. theatrical release). But at least you can get the theatrical release of "Amadeus" on DVD, you can only get the U.S. cut of "Highlander" on VHS or Laserdisc !

Originally Posted by EricJ

The only reason we GOT Amadeus on Blu so early on was that it was the same Warner Ultra master as the remastered Director's Cut on DVD, which was a big deal at the time.
To get a new cut, they'd have to remaster the Theatrical cut from scratch, which Warner probably won't think worth spending money on, unless it becomes too common knowledge that fans hated the DC, or until Milos Forman asserts himself about not liking the cut either.
(

Agree 100%.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by EricJ

The only reason we GOT Amadeus on Blu so early on was that it was the same Warner Ultra master as the remastered Director's Cut on DVD, which was a big deal at the time.
To get a new cut, they'd have to remaster the Theatrical cut from scratch, which Warner probably won't think worth spending money on, unless it becomes too common knowledge that fans hated the DC, or until Milos Forman asserts himself about not liking the cut either.

...So, looks like Stanzi will be showing her Nipples of Venus for a while.

That is the correct explanation. Warner had already done a HD transfer some years ago for the director's cut only, and reused that transfer for the Blu-ray. I vastly prefer the theatrical version myself, the director's cut with its added material just drags the movie's pace down.

Given the current economics of catalog properties on Blu-ray, it will be many years before we see a new edition of Amadeus from Warner Bros.

[kdo]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

it will be many years before we see a new edition of Amadeus from Warner Bros.

If we do at all

[Blu-man08]

Warner Bros bragging all over the packaging about this film winning the academy award for 1982 is technically wrong and definitely false advertising since the Director's Cut did not win the Oscar. I prefer the theatrical cut as well. Since it was an Academy Award winner, it's a head scratcher why WB wouldn't have gone the Blade Runner route and presented both versions of the film.

[boe]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Given the current economics of catalog properties on Blu-ray, it will be many years before we see a new edition of Amadeus from Warner Bros.

That would be a shame. When they first started showing BR at CES - the first movie I thought about getting on BR was Amadeus. I still only have the DVD as the director's cut of one of my favorite movies of all time was unpleasant. The sound and the colors of this movie really deserve a BR release. It is such a waste they couldn't at least just edit out the junk from the DC and make it essentially the theatrical release. I haven't downloaded a single BR torrent but I'll buy a BR burner if someone posts a quality edited version of the Director's cut to make it play like the theatrical release.

[HotTastyChili]

I'm hoping Criterion or Arrow or somebody gets the rights to do this movie and does it right. 4K restoration with no DNR garbage, and they include both cuts of the movie. Somebody give this classic the treatment it deserves!

I believe the theatrical cut is a far superior movie. The director's cut has some questionable editing that effects continuity, such as when Salieri declares God an enemy. In the theatrical cut it makes perfect sense because it comes right after his confidence as a composer is completely shattered by viewing Mozart's originals. It heavily suggests that God himself is voicing his music through Mozart, hence why Salieri is so mad after realizing that the brilliance of the original Mozart piece he saw was no fluke. In the director's cut it waits until after the scene where his servant shows Constanze out. Then he curses God. But why? The moment has long since passed, it doesn't make sense at that point.

It also makes Salieri's conflict with Mozart seem petty through his actions with Constanze. The scenes with Mozart playing for dogs are useless too. The original cut at 160 minutes is perfection in my eyes, and never feels like a long movie. It's captivating from start to finish. The 180 minute version drags. Obviously it's still a great movie, but I think what was cut originally should have stayed that way. Besides, Milos Forman literally admitted in the commentary for the laserdisc release that he cut the scenes that would later be included in the director's cut because he believed that they weakened the Salieri character. It's my theory that the director's cut is a cash grab, and that the theatrical cut was his director's cut.

It's sort of a travesty that the Oscar winning theatrical cut has been totally unavailable since that super dated looking 1997 flipper DVD. Luckily it's a 16:9 widescreen presentation, and doesn't look nearly as bad as some of the DVDs from that inaugural year. I'm sticking to that version until someone releases the original cut on Blu-ray. The director's cut just isn't as good in my eyes, and watching it is not worth the upgrade in video and sound.

[Barbossa]

I totally agree with you. Maybe one day this movie will get the treatment it so richly deserves.

[srrndhound]

Having become weary of waiting for a proper Theatrical Cut restoration, I decided to do a DIY edit to excise 18 minutes of the most annoying scenes (IMHO), using only MKVToolnix GUI to chop the MKV file.

It’s been a long time since I’d seen the movie, but it’s burned in my mind, and aside from the stunning clarity improvement the BD has over the deluxe laser disc box set, I thought there were differences in the sound that had nothing to do with lossy or lossless codecs. Particularly I felt the voice of Emperor Joseph sounded colored on the BD, more nasal and tending toward “in a barrel.” Check Ch 6 at 25:00 – 27:00. Compare to the theatrical cut, presuming the DVD uses the same master as the LD. This tonal difference is not serious, and not pervasive, but it seems the extra bit of mastering finesse of the theatrical was not duplicated when preparing the director’s cut. I’m not surprised they went through different production paths considering differences in time, personnel, facilities, and purpose.

For that reason, if they ever do release a theatrical cut again, I hope it is not made by seamless branching from a superset of extended cut plus misc bits, but just the whole original theatrical version standing alone.

If anyone feels like duplicating my edit process, start with the MKV file (a full 3 hours 25 sec long), in the Splitting window, select “by parts based on timecodes,” and then copy/paste the following text into the “Parts” window (no spaces).

00:00:00.00-00:47:32.00,+00:49:32.00-00:55:11.50,+00:56:14.00-01:02:41.00,+01:03:38.00-01:03:48.00,+01:08:34.25-01:09:14.25,+01:16:27.30-02:13:18.00,+02:15:27.50-

Final movie is 2:42:17. No, the splices are not perfect. Coded video and audio do not like being chopped. But hey, it’s free. Feel free to try your hand at different timecodes. I ran 9 passes before I came to these settings. It took my computer under 10 minutes to Mux the file each time. I used VLC player to show me the timecodes to the nearest second, then guesstimated the fractional seconds (2 digits after the decimal point, ".50" being one half second).

When looking at the final cut, the edits occur at these timings:

47:33 "at that moment I knew"
53:13 “well I won’t” …Frau Mozart arrives
59:37 “so you will help us?”
59:50 Salieri slams door.
1:00:29 Walking thru town
1:57:32 “…alienating the whole of Vienna”