Idea & Info: Amadeus - Original 1984 Theatrical Restoration

I’m probably one of the few that loves the original Theatrical release of Milos Forman’s Amadeus over the director’s cut and I’m curious if there was an attempt to restore the film back to it’s original theatrical cut by using the bluray of the director’s cut as a source? The original DVD was a flipper and had the original release in anamorphic widescreen but sadly, it was never to be seen again. Sadly, Mr. Forman is like Lucas and wants all surviving sources of the original theatrical version to disappear and wants only the director’s cut as an available source since all the constant blu ray releases was only the director’s cut and not the original.

I am also a fan of the theatrical version over the Director's Cut. Many of the added scenes in the DC take away from the flow of the movie for me. I had thought about trying to do some kind of edit of the Blu-ray at some point to try and recreate the theatrical cut, but I simply don't have time to dedicate to such a project. I still have the flipper DVD, but obviously the PQ or AQ are not on par with the Blu-ray

You can't reconstruct it, some of the shots of the TC are exclusive to it. You would have to upscale them.

My dad's all time favorite movie is Amadeus.  He thinks the Director's Cut is an abomination.

The Director's Cut was obviously done because at the time, every single theatrical re-release had to follow the Star Wars SE model and redo special effects with CGI or pad the running time with deleted scenes.

Directors like Forman, William Friedkin, Richard Donner and Steven Spielberg, who approved the original released versions of Amadeus, The Exorcist, Superman and E.T., suddenly decided they "always wanted" to include scenes which they were perfectly fine with cutting 20-30 years before.

I'm still not sure how much of it was the directors indulging their whims because they could, and how much of it was studio executives insisting "It doesn't matter if it's a new restoration on a big screen, nobody will see it if it's the same version they can watch on video!" (And before anyone points out that Superman didn't get a theatrical re-release, it was originally supposed to, but WB got cold feet after one lukewarm test screening.)

I would welcome a reconstruction of the theatrical cut. Also, could you put the Orion logo from the original theatrical version back at the front, in place of the anachronistic modern Warner Bros. logo?

The very first BR I wanted to buy was Amadeus.   Then I found the only copy I could get was a DC.   Normally I like DC's but the this one sucked.  The DC was tedious, was missing some music to help drive it forward.  It distracted from a good central story.   Lastly some of the scenes look like they are a behind the scenes shot - the lighting or something just doesn't match the theatrical release.

I would still love to get a theatrical release but my frustration at not being able to get it still leaves a bad taste.   I could probably get 4 different releases of I dismember momma or dead alive on BR but for some reason they hold out on true masterpieces - wtf!?!

I agree 100%. The same with Cinema Paradiso. 

Any progress on this?

Imperial Slug said:

Any progress on this?

 There's a V1 available of this:

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Amadeus-Theatrical-Cut-Restoration-1080p/topic/16803/