Volume 32, Number 6 · April 11, 1985
B-flat Movie
By Robert Craft
Amadeus
a film written by Peter Shaffer, directed by Milos Forman
Some months ago on the White House lawn, Ronald Reagan accepted Austria's gift (whether or not looking it in the mouth) of a Lippizaner called 'Amadeus.' The United States soon reciprocated with a film of the same name in which the impersonator in the title role presents himself to an Austrian head of state. At this point the symmetries break down, the Emperor Joseph II, unlike the Gipper, having been a patron and protector of the arts. Yet one parallel remains: the excruciating resemblance of the compulsive giggles of the human Amadeus to the neighs and snorts of a horse.
Review, 1648 words
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