My friend and I love this film (and the original play). I got this for him for his birthday. It arrived promptly in great condition. My friend is thrilled to own this Director's Cut Two-Disc Special Edition.

Peter Shaffer's magical play was brilliantly brought to film by Milos Forman with a wonderful attention to detail. As there are plenty of revues on the story, I'll keep my comments to a minimum. I loved the movie when I saw it in the theater years ago, and finally now it has been given well-deserved justice in the Director's Cut. Most of the added 25 minutes is unnecessary to the story. The color, and audio are much better. Some of the commentary was a bit snore-inducing, but the over-all presentation is a great improvement on the old two-sider.

The title alone is just one of many reasons why Amadeus remains my favorite drama. After seeing it nearly 15 years ago, it puzzled me as to why the film was titled after Mozart's middle name. This film isn't about Mozart, but rather of Salieri-an ambitious, envious and tortured soul who is a prominent but less celebrated composer in Mozarts' time. There is no rivalry-at least from Mozart's point of view, and Salieri understands that if he cannot be Mozart's equal, he will do everything in his power to bring him down. To Salieri, it is deeper than mere jealousy. It is an injustice for a cocky man such as Mozart to be so endowed with musical gifts while men, such as Salieri, struggle in vain to find one right note. His adversary is not Mozart, it is with God, and Salieri's secret, internal struggle to extinguish Mozart's talent, consumes his life. When I finally looked up the title to this film, I found "Amadeus" is Latin for "loved by God," and it is a perfect summation to Salieri's inner conflict. This story isn't meant to be historically accurate, but the premise is interesting and the performances, like the music, are perfect. I've seen the director's cut and I think the additional footage is unnecessary. The original version was precisely edited, while the director's cut had this unfortunate effect of altering my perception of Salieri. The extra scenes made him more contemptible rather than someone we're supposed to pity. Despite the films' serious undertones, it has a lot of humor. Mozart was never described in my school textbooks as a giggly, farting, drunken mess, but it only adds to his unworthiness that Salieri condemns and seeks to destroy. Enjoy!

I'm neither an expert in movies or classical music, so you may not want to waste time with this review. There are many others who offer expert comment. All I can do is tell you what I like about this DVD.

My wife left me with a normally vicious cat. You've heard Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. My wild cat only accepts one kind of music and one composer--Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I jumped at the thought of getting this movie. Here was something I could watch in comfort without worrying about the irritable feline critic. That is worth two stars.

I began the afternoon in a terrible mood. Watching this show brought me peace and comfort. I enjoyed the story and the music. Two more stars earned.

It is a long movie which made me feel I was getting something for the high price. When you are used to paying 11.95 for an eleven page pamnphlet this feeling of getting a product at a good price is worth a star.

Will you give it five stars? Who knows? More to the point who cares? I can't tell you what you will like. If I could, Amazon would hire me right away as director of propaganda and pay me enough to buy all the items I want. This is a good buy!

What in HELL are the DVD reviews doing here in the BLUE RAY section.I want to read about BLUE RAY not DVD in this section. AMAZON please keep the reviews separate for us.
mike