When Worlds Collide ...

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2011)

... they are usually, by definition, different worlds featuring alien cultures but here the worlds are ostensibly the same, the world of music, which, as we are often told, is International. Theoretically that is, of course, true, but try telling that to Antonio Salieri, a leading musician of his time who has reached the highest heights only to run across Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who, as far as Salieri is concerned, is composing music on another plane, one inaccessible to mere mortals, in short Salieri felt a little like Bing Crosby when Frank Sinatra appeared on the popular music scene. Foreman's film, which is sumptuous and chock full of music, is really about Salieri rather than Mozart and F. Murray Abraham manages to inhabit the embittered Italian admirably whilst Tom Hulce offers light relief as a Mozart who is portrayed as immature at all times except when actually composing. Whilst its main appeal will be to lovers of Classical music I would argue that there is something here for everyone, even a Sinatra fan like me.