The Magnificent Ambersons

US (1942): Drama

Both one of the supreme works of the American cinema and one of its most notorious "ruined" films, Orson Welles's follow-up to Citizen Kane (1941) keeps him behind the camera, though his presence is felt in every frame. Booth Tarkington's novel about a turn-of-the-century family's conflicts is transformed by Welles into a eulogy for a slower, simpler, and decent past, and this is a more personal film for Welles than his stunning debut the year before. The Welles regulars are all here (Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins), along with Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt and Richard Bennett, all aided by Stanley Cortez's astounding cinematography and Bernard Herrmann's fitting score.

Now missing close to 30 minutes and containing a saccharine "happy ending" shot by another crew while Welles was filming in South America, this version of Ambersons is the only one that survives. Welles tried to edit the film via telegram. As Welles had a print of the original edit of the film with him in Brazil, hope still exists that a complete print of the film may be discovered one day. (amctv.com)

 Use this link to view the original theatrical trailer for The Magnificent Ambersons on TCM.com.

4 nominations