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Amadeus (6-Sep-1984)

Director: Milos Forman

Writer: Peter Shaffer

From a play: Amadeus by Peter Shaffer

Producer: Saul Zaentz

Keywords: Drama, Biography

Life of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as told in confessional flashback through the eyes of lesser rival Antonio Salieri. Referring to Mozart as "The Creature" -- a young man to whom boundless talent seemed to come effortlessly, Salieri's own struggles merely achieve mediocrity. Liberally sprinkled with historical inaccuracies, most particularly involving Mozart's early death. Won 8 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor; received 3 nominations including Best Cinematography and a 2nd for Best Actor.

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
F. Murray Abraham
Actor
24-Oct-1939   Mozart's antagonist in Amadeus
Kenny Baker
Actor
24-Aug-1934 13-Aug-2016 The man inside R2-D2
Elizabeth Berridge
Actor
2-May-1962   Amadeus
Simon Callow
Actor
13-Jun-1949   British theatre actor
Christine Ebersole
Actor
21-Feb-1953   Rachel Gunn, RN
Tom Hulce
Actor
6-Dec-1953   Amadeus
Jeffrey Jones
Actor
28-Sep-1946   Ferris Bueller's principal
Kenneth McMillan
Actor
2-Jul-1932 8-Jan-1989 Baron Vladimir Harkonnen
Cynthia Nixon
Actor
9-Apr-1966   Miranda Hobbes on Sex and the City
Vincent Schiavelli
Actor
10-Nov-1948 26-Dec-2005 Character actor and cookbook author

CAST

F. Murray Abraham   ...   Antonio Salieri
Tom Hulce   ...   Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Elizabeth Berridge   ...   Constanze Mozart
Simon Callow   ...   Emanuel Schikaneder
Roy Dotrice   ...   Leopold Mozart
Christine Ebersole   ...   Katerina Cavalieri
Jeffrey Jones   ...   Emperor Joseph II
Charles Kay   ...   Count Orsini-Rosenberg
Kenneth McMillan   ...   Michael Schlumberg
Kenny Baker   ...   Parody Commendatore
Lisabeth Bartlett   ...   Papagena
Barbara Bryne   ...   Frau Weber
Martin Cavani   ...   Young Salieri
Roderick Cook   ...   Count Von Strack
Milan Demjanenko   ...   Karl Mozart
Peter DiGesu   ...   Francesco Salieri
Michele Esposito   ...   Salieri's Student
Richard Frank   ...   Fr. Vogler
Patrick Hines   ...   Kappelmeister Bonno
Nicholas Kepros   ...   Archbishop Colloredo
Philip Lenkowsky   ...   Salieri's Servant
Herman Meckler   ...   Priest
Jonathan Moore   ...   Baron Van Swieten
Cynthia Nixon   ...   Lorl
Brian Pettifer   ...   Hospital Attendant
Vincent Schiavelli   ...   Salieri's Valet
Douglas Seale   ...   Count Arco
Miroslav Sekera   ...   Young Mozart
Cassie Stewart   ...   Gertrude Schlumberg
John Strauss   ...   Conductor
Karl-Heinz Teuber   ...   Wig Salesman
Rita Zohar   ...   Frau Schlumberg
The Marriage of Figaro -- Solos Acted by
Miro Grisa   ...   Figaro
Helena Cihelnikova   ...   Countess
Karel Gult   ...   Count Almaviva
Zuzana Kadlecova   ...   Susanna
Magda Celakovska   ...   Cherubino
Slavena Drasilova   ...   Barbarina
Eva Senkova   ...   Marcellina
Leos Kratochvil   ...   Basilio
Gino Zeman   ...   Don Curzio
Janoslav Mikulin   ...   Dr. Bartolo
Ladislav Kretschmer   ...   Antonio
The Marriage of Figaro -- Solos Sung by
Samuel Ramey   ...   Figaro
Felicity Lott   ...   Countess
Richard Stilwell   ...   Count Almaviva
Isabel Buchanan   ...   Susanna
Anne Howells   ...   Cherubino
Deborah Rees   ...   Barbarina
Patricia Payne   ...   Marcellina
Alexander Oliver   ...   Basilio
Robin Leggate   ...   Don Curzio
John Tomlinson   ...   Dr. Bartolo
Willard White   ...   Antonio
Don Giovanni -- Solos Acted by
Karel Fiala   ...   Don Giovanni
Jan Blazek   ...   Commendatore
Zdenek Jelen   ...   Leporello
Don Giovanni -- Solos Sung by
Richard Stilwell   ...   Don Giovanni
John Tomlinson   ...   Commendatore
Willard White   ...   Leporello
Axur -- Solo Acted by
Christine Ebersole   ...   Cavalieri
Axur -- Solo Sung by
Suzanne Murphy   ...   Cavalieri
Abduction from the Seraglio -- Solo Acted by
Christine Ebersole   ...   Constanza
Abduction from the Seraglio -- Solo Sung by
Suzanne Murphy   ...   Constanza
The Magic Flute -- Solos Acted by
Milada Cechalova   ...   Queen of the Night
Simon Callow   ...   Papageno
Lisabeth Bartlett   ...   Papagena
The Magic Flute -- Solos Sung by
June Anderson   ...   Queen of the Night
Brian Kay   ...   Papageno
Gillian Fisher   ...   Papagena
The Dancers
John Carrafa   ...   Dancer
Sara Clifford   ...   Dancer
Richard Colton   ...   Dancer
Shelley Freydont   ...   Dancer
Anne Glasner   ...   Dancer
Barbara Hoom   ...   Dancer
Mary Kellogg   ...   Dancer
Raymond Kurshals   ...   Dancer
John Malashock   ...   Dancer
Jennifer Rawe   ...   Dancer
Thomas Rawe   ...   Dancer
William Whitener   ...   Dancer
Czechoslovakian Actors
Hana Brejchova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Miriam Chytilova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Karel Effa   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Radka Fiedlerova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Rene Gabzdyl   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Karel Habl   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Atka Janouskova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Marta Jarolimkova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Gabriela Krckova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Vladimir Krousky   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jirí Krytinar   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Radka Kucharova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jan Kuzelka   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jiri Lir   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Lenka Loubalova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Dagmar Maskova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Ladislav Mikes   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jitka Molavcova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jana Musilova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Vojtech Nalezenec   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Pavel Novy   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jiri Opsatko   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jan Pohan   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Tereza Pokorna   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Ivan Pokorny   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Milan Riehs   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Iva Sebkova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Zdenek Sklenar   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Renata Vackova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Jiri Vancura   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Dana Vavrova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Petra Vogelova   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor
Josef Zeman   ...   Czechoslovakian Actor

REVIEWS

Review by Dan R. VanLandingham (posted on 22-Apr-2008)

I had heard of this movie some 20 years before but never saw it when it came out in 1984.I found it about ten years b- efore at some flea market or thrift store in either Coos Bay or North Bend,Oregon.A few years ago I was in a flea market just a mile south of where I am currently living and found the "Director's Cut" version.This is the version I kept in my col- lection of VHS videotape. This movie was one of the better music bios I've seen th- ough I did find some discrepancies regarding the relationship of Mozart and Antonio Salieri played by F.Murray Abraham. While in high school,my band director Dick Brown told me that Mozart was indeed poisoned according to a book he had in his collection.The death mask shown in the book was supposed to be "proof" of his death.All of the books I've read in the last 40 years point to typhus as being the actual cause.Shades of Peter Tschaikowsky. While watching this movie,Peter Shaffer introduces the viewer to both Mozart and Salieri.Mozart is supposed to be con ducting one of his compositions.Instead,he is chasing some bu- xom around a room.Unbeknownst to him,Salieri is watching the whole affair.You are alluded to this scene from the first where Salieri is confined to a mental instutution.Why a mental instu- tion?He believes that he alone is responsible for Mozart's dea-th.The cause of death being poisoning not Typhus. Salieri,as a young boy growing up in Italy,wants to be a musician.His father(typical of the times)will not hear of it. Salieri prays.One afternoon the Salieris sit down for a meal. Suddenly,Signore Salieri starts to choke on his food.He dies. To the young Antonio Salieri,God has "answered" his fervant prayers and he gets his schooling in music.In an era where musicians were nothing less than chattel(as far as royalty was concerned),he succeeds and winds up as "Court Composer".Salie- ri,unfortunately,was not the calibre of,say,a Johann Sebastian Bach,a Franz Josef Haydn or even a Mozart.Coming away from th- is first meeting,Salieri begins to believe that God "answered" his prayers to be a musician/composer but gives him a smaller measure of talent.He truly believes that Mozart is "God's Ins- rument" and from that moment on,he is hell bent on seeing that Mozart is destroyed.


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