The Magnificent Ambersons (film)

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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1991.

"The films of Orson Welles are marked by a fascination with lost Edens and falls from greatness, and none more so than this pungent masterpiece, with its broken ideals and decaying grandeur. Butchered by the studio on release, The Magnificent Ambersons plays like a wounded elegy for its very self."

— MUBI's take

The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American period drama written, produced, and directed by Orson Welles. Welles adapted Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer Prize–winning 1918 novel, about the declining fortunes of a wealthy Midwestern family and the social changes brought by the automobile age. The film stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins, with Welles providing the narration.

Why It Rocks

1. It may be one of Orson Welles' most personal and most impressive films of he's ever done.
2. For the most part, it is a very close and loyal adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel about the relentless decline of a wealthy Midwestern family through the rise of industrialization. Yet Welles makes the story even more powerful through his stylish mastery of production design, lighting and cinematography.
3. The movie contains an element of class consciousness that is a staple of many British stories, but is not often found in American productions.
   • The Ambersons, with their grand mansion and courtly manners, represent the landed gentry. Contrasted against them are Eugene Morgan and his daughter, Lucy, who are the "new money". By embracing technological advances, they gain prestige and wealth at the expense of families like the Ambersons, who are unwilling to face the upheaval being caused by modern innovations (notably the automobile).
4. Aside from Welles' usual amazing ahead-of-its-time cinematic techniques, the story itself is extremely powerful as it's layered with a lot complexity and subtle meaning.
5. It features some of the best acting seen in American movies, including that of Tim Holt (George), Joseph Cotten (Eugene), Dolores Costello (Isabel), Anne Baxter (Lucy), Ray Collins (Jack Amberson), and especially Agnes Moorehead (Fanny) who even got an Academy Award nomination. Welles himself even does a memorable voiceover.
6. The characters are all well-written portrayals of a tragic, doomed but wealthy aristocratic family. Everyone in the family, his their own special unique traits that make them memorable.

Bad Qualities

1. The film was seriously damaged by insensitive studio re-editing, which sliced off a good 45 minutes of Welles's footage and tacked on a few disappointing new scenes, including an optimistic ending and the addition of rewritten/reshot portions of film. At a result, the film suffers from disconnectedness and choppiness after its first half.
2. With George Minafar being the lead character, and an absolute spoiled brat (and a manchild), some viewers may find the film a bit difficult to sit through.