The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Orson Welles

Writers:

Booth Tarkington (based on the novel by)
Orson Welles (script writer)

Release Date:

10 July 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

From the Man who Made "The Best Picture of 1941"

Plot:

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

Plot Keywords:

Spoiled Child | Marriage Proposal | Progress | Pulitzer Prize Source | Small Town

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins

Cast

Joseph Cotten	...	Eugene
Dolores Costello	...	Isabel
Anne Baxter	...	Lucy
Tim Holt	...	George
Agnes Moorehead	...	Fanny
Ray Collins	...	Jack
Erskine Sanford	...	Roger Bronson
Richard Bennett	...	Major Amberson
Orson Welles	...	Narrator (voice)

Runtime:

88 min | 148 min (original cut) | 131 min (preview)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | South Korea:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7800) | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Germany:12 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Company:

Mercury Productions

Trivia:

Attempts to send Robert Wise to Brazil so that he could work alongside Welles were prevented due to wartime travel restrictions.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Towards end of long tracking shot with George and Lucy in horse-drawn carriage, portion of rear end of camera car and some sort of filmmaking equipment briefly enters left side of frame.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: The magnificence of the Ambersons began in 1873. Their splendor lasted throughout all the years that saw their midland town spread and darken into a city. In that town, in those days, all the women who wore silk or velvet knew all the other women who wore silk or velvet...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "House Calls: The Magnificent Weatherbys (#2.16)" (1981)

Soundtrack:

String Quintet In E, Op. 13 No. 5: Minuet

A marvellous portrait of a by-gone era

As most reviewers have stated, Welles' film suffered at the hands of studio interference and it is to the film's credit that, despite such butchery, it still remains a marvellous piece of entertainment.

The emotional story revolves around family relationships, about love denied, unrequited or made to suffer. It is also a social portrait of the failure of one family to come to terms with progress (symbolised by the motor car in the film).

Tim Holt is excellent as George Minafer and I think we are meant to view him ambivalently: he is both a loveable ne'er do well as well as a spoiled egotist who puts his emotions/feelings before everyone else's. Agnes Moorehead deservedly won praise for her portrait of the plain Aunt Fanny. Her final disintegration (blackly comic when George thinks she's scalding herself at a hot boiler only to be told that there's no water due to their reduced circumstances) mirrors the descent of the Ambersons into obscurity and genteel poverty. The only memory of their faded glory is in the names they give to the new roads leading to the suburbs.

As with ‘Citizen Kane', wealth does not always protect people from unhappiness. And it's interesting to note how the Amberson's huge mansion, once the social centre of town with its balls & serenades, becomes an empty derelict monument to a by-gone age.

In a sense, the whole film is ambivalent. You can't stop progress as Eugene (Joseph Cotton) states in the dramatic scene where he & George clash over motor cars, but Gene is also aware that things might not necessarily change for the better. Life will become faster etc. After George receives his comeuppance, I quite liked the symbolic irony of him falling victim to a car accident.

Finally, it would be nice if production companies could have the courage of their convictions and actually left capable, intelligent directors to make films without interfering with their vision. Prod companies are still obsessed with preview viewings and initial reactions to films. Yes, sometimes a film might need altering, and most studios want a decent return on their investment but it would be good if they could keep faith even if a film receives an initially hostile reaction. Many great works of art have been initially misunderstood; and great films, like great art, stand the test of time.