A few little moments that aren't at all the "main" moments:
Amadeus:
* The walk in the snow in the nightshirt and coat (the gorgeous streets of snowy Prague) and slipping in the snow.
* Being limply carried out of the theater during the Magic Flute with the arms stretched out (and also over the shoulder--it really sells that it is someone who is weakened to a pathetic state)... Definitely some intended crucified Jesus imagery there.
* The drunk party in the cabin with Schikaneder holding the skull (the skull is previously seen sitting on a chair in the background). Foreshadowing! It also reminds me of the story of the grave robber who claimed to have dug up Mozart's skull from the mass grave he was buried in. The drunk Magic Flute pajama party (paniers!) gives off an air of delicious insanity. The Czech actresses in that scene give awesome facial expressions.
* Salieri blowing out the middle candle right after talking about "Mozart's little coffin in the middle." I love the use of imagery in this film.
* Wolfi asking forgiveness (it's his last line in the film, in fact), when Salieri has done nothing but try to destroy him. The sickly smile with the cracked, chapped lips moment just kills me. Same with Karl playing with the ducats in the background. It's the last shot of Wolfi alive (and it's in the background) while it cuts over to Stanzi arguing with Salieri. In the next shot you see of him, he's dead. The moment of death is off-screen, which adds to Stanzi's realization moment (great 'dead' acting from Tom Hulce there--a truly haunting expression).
* Wolfi stealing the wine bottle on his way to sneaking out to the cabin in the woods while Stanzi is asleep. He steals the wine bottle and bends down in his nightgown to get his coat and hat. The looking back at her asleep is just a great little moment.
* The billowing quicklime on the grave while Lacrimosa plays. If you look closely, you can see a decomposed hand sticking out of one of the body bags. It also adds to the shame of the scene when you realize that the coffin has a flopping door where the body is just dumped out.
* The fact that through the film, the same laugh transforms from giddy health and youth to something that only makes the sickliness more apparent.
* Any time Tom Hulce gives a look of shock or boredom with his one lazy eye hanging half-lidded. He's practically cross-eyed during the "too many notes"/flowers shock face shot (combined with the hilarity of the pink wig). A little bit of the actor that I just adore.
* As for random background moments... the three little Magic Flute cherub choir boys walking in the background backstage. Also, the crazy person in the asylum who thinks he's Napoleon. Miloš Forman referenced this in Goya's Ghosts (of all things. LOL!). Miloš is known for using a lot of asylums in his movies, of course. The shot of the crazy man in the neck cuff is just frightening. Same with the naked man in the cage.
(Obviously, the Confutatis/Lacrimosa scenes are the big ones.)
I never get tired of that movie.
Freaks:
* Angelo Rossitto getting splashed in the face with wine by Cleopatra with the Loving Cup. If there's one moment that is burned into my brain, it's this one.
* In the same scene, Johnny Eck can be seen conducting the "One of us" chant with a knife from the table in the background. In real-life, he had his own orchestra which he conducted.
* Cleopatra, coming from Harry Earles' Hans' trailer, is being watched by several little people under one of the trailers and then Angelo and Johnny walk by her (I love that these two always seem to be paired up--you can tell Tod Browning had favorites and he's well on record about which ones). All the accusing looks are great.
* Daisy Hilton enjoying Violet's kiss with her fiancé. This was a joke/gimmick they often did, despite there being no biological reason they should feel the other's side. It's also fun to note that their other gimmick of constantly trying to get married is shown as being successful in the film, despite the real-life truth of their situation (although they found a loophole in Texas in 1936 that allowed them to get marriage licenses, their marriages never lasted long).
* Angelo playing the creepy flute-like instrument in the trailer, while everyone is just staring at Cleopatra while she pours poison for Hans. Johnny pulls out a gun and starts cleaning it while Jerry Austin flicks out a knife, blows on it and starts cleaning it. Possibly the creepiest moment in the film.
* Daisy Earles' Frieda looking like she's about to cry at the Wedding Feast. This is the point where the commentary points out Tod Browning preferring silent film. This shot screams silent film acting.
* Wallace Ford's Phroso laugh when Roscoe Ates spits out "Cleopatra's gone on a diet." Same with the trick of thinking that Phroso is washing himself in the bathtub (and you're seeing Leila Hyams' Venus looking down into the tub) and then he comes out the bottom of it with pants on and starts putting wheels on the bathtub. Speaking of Wallace, it never gets old that he calls Schlitze "a man's woman" when Schlitze was male (although wore a dress for hygienic reasons). It speaks a lot about these MGM actors that they really proved genuine camaraderie with the cast who were essentially playing themselves. Wallace, in particular, really pulled off this very genuinely. Olga Baclanova, despite playing an incredibly cruel character, also showed genuine fondness for her castmates (she apparently cried when she first met them--her memoirs talk about Johnny making a circus ring out of matchsticks for her and such). In an era where F. Scott Fitzgerald got ill in the commissary from watching the Hiltons order off of the same menu, they still found a few minor MGM actors who could look past appearances. Tod Browning's love of his cast is blatantly obvious (he ran off and joined the circus when he was 16). The movie's message was decades before its time.
* The fact that the nature of Cleopatra's and Hercules' mutilations actually match up to which characters go after them (IE. Cleopatra losing her legs when the fastest runner after her is Johnny--and amazingly enough, he is the fastest--and Hercules being emasculated--although this was cut due to censorship--when he's been seen humiliating Josephine Joseph all through the film). Also the imagery (though again, Hercules' part is cut) of Cleopatra being chased into the woods, while Hercules is chased back into one of the trailers (opposites).
* The fact that in such a dark and depressing film (and I don't consider it "horror"--it's closer to a soap opera/tragic drama with a morality lesson) that pretty much pointed out the obvious to the point where you actually stop seeing it as anything remotely odd after a while, Johnny Eck can barely stop his constant grin. In contrast to Jane Barnell (Olga Roderick), who doesn't at all hide that she hated being there (which is rumored to have stemmed from the fact that she was jealous of the more photogenic people getting the camera attention), Johnny just looks delighted. You saw exactly who all these people really were and their personalities. It's one of the things I admire about the film. Johnny came out of the film looking like an adorable, happy, endearing and shining example of genius adaptability (he was absolutely NOT "disabled" and refused to act like it--Prince Randian and Frances O'Connor are also great examples of positive adaptability--Randian's 5 kids and wife with a carpentry hobby being proof--the only body part Randian couldn't come up with a way to use was his eyebrows, hence his one line asking "Can you do anything with your eyebrows?") rather than some kind of sad, pitiful, maltreated misfortunate that should be tucked away because of how he presented himself. It says a lot about how much is in how you present yourself. The little smiles say it all and are one of the most useful messages one can glean from the film, IMO. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
