The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

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

Director:

Orson Welles

Writers:

Booth Tarkington (novel), Orson Welles (script writer),

Stars:

Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins.

Cast

Complete credited 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)

Storyline

The young, handsome, but somewhat wild Eugene Morgan wants to marry Isabel Amberson, daughter of a rich upper-class family, but she instead marries dull and steady Wilbur Minafer. Their only child, George, grows up a spoiled brat. Years later, Eugene comes back, now a mature widower and a successful automobile maker. After Wilbur dies, Eugene again asks Isabel to marry him, and she is receptive. But George resents the attentions paid to his mother, and he and his whacko aunt Fanny manage to sabotage the romance. A series of disasters befall the Ambersons and George, and he gets his come-uppance in the end.

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Plot Keywords:

brat | spoiled brat | widower | aunt | automobile | 

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Taglines:

Orson Welles' Mercury Production of Booth Tarkington's Great Novel

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 July 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

A csodálatos Ambersonok

Filming Locations:

Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$850,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures, Mercury Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

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

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After attending the first preview, RKO president George Schaefer wrote to Welles: "Never in all my experience in the industry have I taken so much punishment or suffered as I did at the Pomona preview".

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Goofs

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.

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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, and everybody knew everybody else's family horse and carriage. The only public conveyance was the streetcar. A lady could whistle to it from an upstairs window, and the car would halt at once and wait for her, ...

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Crazy Credits

All of the credits except the RKO logo, the film's title and the copyright notice are recited orally (by Orson Welles) at the end of the film, not written out onscreen. As Welles recites the names of the production crew, we see such items as a motion picture camera when he says "Director of Photography", a pair of hands turning knobs as he says the words "Sound Recording By", etc.

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Connections

Referenced in Gossip Girl: The Magnificent Archibalds (2008)

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Soundtracks

"The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo"
(1892) (uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Fred Gilbert
Sung a cappella by Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter,
Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins

User Reviews

What might have been...

The fate of this almost magnificent film must rank as one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the cinema. viewing it in its present state is like looking at the Venus Di Milo, or at a beautiful Greek vase that has been shattered. One can only admire the fragments...and what gorgeous fragments they are: Major Ambersons heartbreaking meditation by the fireplace,the quarrel between Eugene Morgan and Georgie about the Automobile, Isabel's death, Agnes Moorehead's magnificent performance, the splendor of the Amberson mansion, and the ballroom scene. Perhaps someday, some powerful computer might be able to reconstruct the missing footage from stills and from Welles script...perhaps. Until that almost impossible moment, one can only envy the handful of men and women who were able to see it whole, and to understand what they were seeing.