You'd have thought there would be very little to improve in an acclaimed movie which scooped eight Oscars, including best picture, director and actor.

However, almost 20 years down the line from Forman's original release, Amadeus is back on the big screen celebrating in the new title Director's Cut.

Twenty minutes of drama, music and sound have been added to the original, which already weighed in at a more than respectable 160 minutes.

However, these have been spliced into the film with the "enthusiastic approval" of Forman, screenwriter Sir Peter Schaffer and producer Saul Zaentz.

Whether mere approval really accounts as a director's cut is debatable but it's worth seeing Forman's "fantasia based on fact" anyway.

The story is told from the point of view of Antonio Salieri (Abraham), a Viennese composer whose star has been eclipsed by young upstart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

It's a bit like Ozzy Osbourne getting miffed by Noel Gallagher... except Oz doesn't go to the extremes of poisoning him. And then slashing his own throat.

Hulce's Amadeus is a wonderful creation - a swooping laugh soaring out of bewigged young fop with the unfortunate look of Limahl from Kajagoogoo.

But he can tickle the ivories. So well, in fact, that he is soon enchanting Emperor Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones) and is commissioned to write operas for court.

All this as well as Mozart's bragging mockery is a strike to the very soul of court composer Salieri, who has had his own limitations thrown into sharp relief.

His dismissal of God as a reaction is one of the universal themes touched upon in a satisfying movie made all the more compelling by the sheer attention to detail.

It's almost impossible to see where the extra footage has been used - but then you never need an excuse to see a film of this calibre.

Tim Evans