Directed by Milos Forman, Amadeus, a period film that charts the rise of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his rivalry with Antonio Salieri in 18th-century Vienna is a towering achievement. It was a huge box-office success and won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Screenplay. In 2002 Forman released a “Director’s Cut” which added about 20 minutes of footage. This was generally not considered to be an improvement on the original film. Unfortunately, the new cut has been the only cut available on home video since then.
Buy Amadeus (Theatrical Cut) 4K Ultra HDUntil now. Warner Brothers is now releasing a 4K UHD restored cut of the original film. That’s exciting news. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the director’s cut and it has been a long time since I watched the original but I remember loving it so I’m excited to see it again in all of its UHD glory. It would have been nice if they’d also included the director’s cut in this set so you could do a comparison, but that is not the case. Instead, you get a digital code. But you can still buy the director’s cut in other editions.
Still, I’m always thrilled with things like this that haven’t been available for years and are brought back to availability, and the fact that it’s getting an upgrade more than makes it my pick of this week.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
Cruising 4K UHD: William Friedkin’s controversial film stars Al Pacino as a police detective who goes undercover in New York’s underground S&M subculture. Arrow Video has the release.
Doctor Who: Sylvester McCoy: Complete Season Two: McCoy is not my favorite Doctor and this season isn’t exactly the greatest, but I continue to be glad Classic Who is getting Blu-ray releases and you can bet I’ll be buying this one.
Hokuriku Proxy War: Radiance Films brings us this crazy Japanese Yakuza film with all of its usual extras. You can read my full review.
The Lady Assassin: 88 Films presents this Shaw Brother’s martial arts film about vying factions for the throne and the lady assassin who is hired to help.
Cronos 4K UHD: The Criterion Collection is upgrading its original release of this early Guillermo del Toro film about a magic scarab-shaped trinket.
Performance 4K UHD: Nicolas Roeg’s controversial film stars Mick Jagger as a (who would have guessed it?) rock star whose life changes when he meets a gangster. Criterion has the release.
The Mask of Satan: Lamberto Bava remade his father Mario’s film Black Sunday and now Severin Films is releasing it on Blu-ray.
