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.

Directors:

Orson Welles, Fred Fleck (uncredited)

Writers:

Booth Tarkington (from the novel by), Orson Welles (script writer)

Stars:

Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 4 wins.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Joseph Cotten	...	Eugene Morgan
Dolores Costello	...	Isabel Amberson Minafer
Anne Baxter	...	Lucy Morgan
Tim Holt	...	George Minafer
Agnes Moorehead	...	Fanny Minafer
Ray Collins	...	Jack Amberson
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:

national film registry | widower | spoiled brat | brat | 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:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 July 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Der Glanz des Hauses Amberson

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$850,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

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

The lost footage of Orson Welles's original cut of the film has earned a sort of "Holy Grail" status among film fans. A number of high-profile Hollywood figures have embarked on searches for the footage in the vaults at Paramount Studios (which absorbed the RKO lot and archives) and around Los Angeles, including Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Henry Jaglom and William Friedkin. Friedkin, in particular, spent years scouring Paramount, as he was married to longtime studio boss Sherry Lansing. As of 2018, none of their searches of turned up the missing footage.

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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 Hollywood Mavericks (1990)

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Soundtracks

String Quintet In E, Op. 13 No. 5: Minuet
(uncredited)
Music by Luigi Boccherini
Played at the Ball

User Reviews

Marvellous work, but sadly suffers from limited time

This is the tale of a well-known and respected American family - "The Magnificent Ambersons" and their rise and fall. The movie is not bad at all, there are some superlative performances from stars and character players alike. However, it is a sad fact that this, Orson Wells second masterpiece, suffered from the scissors in the cutting room. Being an RKO/Mercury Theatre production, executives reduced the picture from a much-required 135 minutes to a satisfactory, but a speedy 88 minutes, therefore, not giving satisfactory time for the viewer to understand the masterpiece fully.

Now, for my review of the players. Joseph Cotten gives an irregular performance as the romantic lead, silent star Dolores Costello is very much underused, as is then very young Anne Baxter, who would could onto bigger stardom in the next decade. Stealing the acting honors throughout the production are Tim Holt with his superb portrayal of the spoiled brat heir-to-the-throne, so to speak and Agnes Moorehead as his Auntie, who put their plan into action to sabotage a relationship between the widowed Isbabelle Amberson and charmer Eugene Morgan.

Overall, lives up to it's expectations of success, but suffers due to limited screen time and a very confusing plot for audiences of our generation.

7/10