The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) | |
| Director(s) | Orson Welles, Fred Fleck (uncredited), Robert Wise (uncredited) |
| Producer(s) | Orson Welles, Jack Moss (associate uncredited), George Schaefer (executive uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Drama, Film Adaptation, Romance |
| Top Topics | Book-Based, Mother/Son, Romance (Drama) |
Featured Cast:
The Magnificent Ambersons Overview:
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) was a Drama - Romance Film directed by Orson Welles and Fred Fleck and produced by Orson Welles, Jack Moss and George Schaefer.
The film was based on the novel of the same name written by Booth Tarkington published in 1918.
SYNOPSIS
Both one of the supreme works of the American cinema and one of its most notorious "ruined" films, Welles's follow-up to Citizen Kane (1941) keeps him behind the camera, though his presence is felt in every frame. 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. 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. The Welles regulars are all here (Cotten, Moorehead, Collins), aided by Cortez's astounding cinematography and Herrmann's fitting score. The laserdisc contains interviews and original storyboards.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.The Magnificent Ambersons was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1991.
Academy Awards 1942 --- Ceremony Number 15 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Supporting Actress | Agnes Moorehead | Nominated |
| Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Albert S. D'Agostino; Interior Decoration: Darrell Silvera, Al Fields | Nominated |
| Best Cinematography | Stanley Cortez | Nominated |
| Best Picture | Mercury | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
1001 Classic Movies: The Magnificent Ambersons
By Amanda Garrett on May 26, 2017 From Old Hollywood FilmsThe Magnificent Ambersons (1942) is one of the 1001 classic movies you should see. This Orson-Welles directed drama about a turn-of-the-century Indiana family stars from left: Richard Bennett; Joseph Cotten; Dolores Costello; Don Dillaway; Agnes Moorehead, and Ray Collins. This series will now ap... Read full article
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) (2)
By Carol Martinheira on May 2, 2017 From The Old Hollywood GardenThe Magnificent Ambersons (1942) On May 2, 2017May 2, 2017 By CarolIn Uncategorized The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) was one of the many, many movies I saw in the glorious summer of 2007. That was the year I fell in love with classic movies, and that summer I watched a... Read full article
The Magnificent Ambersons (2)
By Amanda Garrett on Dec 5, 2016 From Old Hollywood FilmsToday, I'm reviewing director Orson Welles drama The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), starring (from left) Richard Bennett; Joseph Cotten; Dolores Costello; Don Dillaway; Agnes Moorehead, and Ray Collins. This article is part of The Agnes Moorehead Blogathon hosted by In the Good Old Days of Classic... Read full article
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles)
By Andrew Wickliffe on May 9, 2016 From The Stop ButtonUnfortunately, I feel the need to address some of the behind the scenes aspects of The Magnificent Ambersons. Not because I plan on talking about them, but because director Welles’s career is filled with a lack of control. There are always questions–what did editor Robert Wise do on his ... Read full article
The Magnificent Ambersons (1)
By Michael on Jul 23, 2014 From Le Mot du CinephiliaqueThe Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942) The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved. The Magnificent Ambersons plays like a nice classical music from a classic composer, it is a story about pride, richness, family... Read full article
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Quotes from
George: I said, automobiles are a useless nuisance. Never amount to anything but a nuisance. They had no business to be invented.
Eugene: Fanny, I wish you could have seen Georgie's face when he saw Lucy. You know what he said to me when we went into that room? He said, "You must have known my mother wanted you to come here today, so that I could ask you to forgive me." We shook hands. I never noticed before how much like Isabel Georgie looks. You know something, Fanny? I wouldn't tell this to anybody but you. But it seemed to me as if someone else was in that room. And that through me, she brought her boy unto shelter again. And that I'd been true at last, to my true love.
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Facts about
In the absence of Welles, RKO cut 50 minutes from the original film, which was destroyed, ostensibly to free up vault space at the studio. However, there was also conjecture that this was done to prevent Welles from attempting to make any changes to what was left of his film. The RKO-mandated re-editing had been left in the hands of two men: Robert Wise, and studio rep Jack Moss. A phone was put into Moss's office that fed directly to Welles's hotel room in Rio. According to future director Cy Endfield, who was working with Moss at the time, often when the phone rang, suspecting it was Welles with his latest batch of comments and suggestions for the re-edit, Moss would simply not answer the call. Similarly, when Moss received lengthy telegrams from Welles with more suggestions and thoughts, he would throw them away.
The consensus of opinion according to nearly everyone who saw the original conclusion - which included a tour of the decaying Amberson mansion - was that it was much more powerful than the tacked-on "happy" ending.
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