The Magnificent Ambersons
Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Orson Welles
Produced by	Orson Welles
Written by	Story: Booth Tarkington Orson Welles
Narrated by	Orson Welles
Starring	Joseph Cotten Dolores Costello Anne Baxter Tim Holt
Cinematography	Stanley Cortez
Editing by	Robert Wise
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Release date(s)	July 10, 1942
Running time	88 minutes 148 minutes (original) 131 minutes (preview)
Country	United States
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

The Magnificent Ambersons is an American film released in 1942 and directed by Orson Welles, his second film.^[1] Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, a film and theatre director, a film producer and a actor in film, theatre and radio. ... Time magazine, December 21, 1925 Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 _ May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist. ... Joseph Cotten, circa 1956. ... Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. ... Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Tim Holt (February 5, 1919 – February 15, 1973) was an American film actor. ... Stanley Cortez (1908-1997) was a cinemataographer. ... // Headline text Director Robert Wise Robert Wise (September 10, 1914 – September 14, 2005) was an Academy Award-winning American film producer and director. ... The classic logo of RKO Radio Pictures. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_States. ... July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... See also: 1941 in film 1942 1943 in film 1940s in film years in film film // Events Carole Lombard is killed in a plane crash when returning from a War Bond tour. ...

The picture is based on the novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. The screenplay was written by Welles and he provides the voice-over narration. The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington. ... Time magazine, December 21, 1925 Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 _ May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist. ...

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 1972 and 1982, the film was included in Sight and Sound's list of the top ten films ever made. The Great Hall interior. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Sight and Sound is a British monthly magazine about film. ...

Plot

The film tells of the Amberson's an upper-class family who live in Indianapolis. One day the mistress of the family, Isabel Amberson (Dolores Costello), is quite by accident humiliated in public by her beau, the inventor Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten). She breaks off their relationship and she decides to marry the bland Wilbur Minafer (Donald Dillaway). The Indianapolis skyline Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana. ... Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. ... Joseph Cotten, circa 1956. ...

People in town are certain that Isabel can't possibly be in love with Wilbur. As such, she'll spoil her children to the core. As it turns out, she has one child, George Minafer (Tim Holt). As George grows up many in the town long for the day that the arrogant and spoiled boy will get his "comeuppance." Tim Holt (February 5, 1919 – February 15, 1973) was an American film actor. ...

Later, when George returns from college, his mother and grandfather (Richard Bennett) hold a reception in his honor. Among the guests is the older Eugene, who's now a prosperous automobile manufacturer and he brings his daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter) with him. For the British composer named Richard Bennett, see Richard Rodney Bennett. ... Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American actress. ...

George takes to Lucy right-away, but she can't warm up to Eugene, especially after learning from uncle Jack Amberson (Ray Collins) and aunt Fanny (Agnes Moorehead) that Eugene and Isabel had once been quite the couple. Movie, stage and radio actor Ray Collins (December 10, 1889 - July 11, 1965) made his screen debut as Boss Jim Gettys in Citizen Kane and was one of the voices in Orson Welles infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. ... Moorehead as Endora on Bewitched Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 – April 30, 1974) was an Oscar-nominated American character actress. ...

After the death of Wilbur Minafer, the widowed Eugene decides to ask Isabel for her hand in marriage. This time she's willing, but stubborn George refuses to allow his mother to see Eugene.

Eugene's haughty attitude leads to tragedy for everyone--and, at long last, George Minafer receives his comeuppance.

Production

The original rough cut of the film was approximately 135 minutes in length. Welles felt that the film needed to be shortened and after receiving a mixed response from a preview audience, Robert Wise, the film's editor, removed several minutes from it.

The film was previewed again, though the audience's response did not improve. This resulted in RKO deleting over 40 additional minutes and re-shooting the ending sequence, substituting Welles's original ending to one more closely resembling Tarkington's novel.

Welles did not approve of the cuts, but because he was simultaneously working in Brazil on another project for RKO his attempts to protect the film from being edited ultimately failed.

Details of Welles's conflict involving the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons are included in the 1993 documentary It's All True. The negatives for the excised portions of The Magnificent Ambersons were later destroyed in order to free vault space.^[2]

A print of the rough cut was sent to Welles while he was working in Brazil, however it has yet to be found and is generally considered to be lost along with the prints from the previews. Robert Wise maintained that the original was not better than the edited version.^[3]

The Magnificent Ambersons is one of the earliest films in movie history in which nearly all the credits are spoken by an offscreen voice and not shown printed onscreen. The only credits shown onscreen are the RKO logo, "A Mercury Production by Orson Welles", and lastly the film's title, "The Magnificent Ambersons". These are shown at the very beginning of the picture.

At the end of the film, Orson Welles's voice announces all the main credits. Each actor in the film is shown as Welles announces their name. As he speaks each technical credit, a machine is shown performing that function - e.g. when Welles announces the name of the film editor, an editing machine appears onscreen, and when he announces "Sound recording by," a sound recording console is working onscreen.^[4]

Notably missing from the list of spoken credits is "Music by Bernard Herrmann." Herrmann strongly objected to his score being recut and portions replaced by music by Roy Webb, thus he demanded his name be removed from the credits.

The movie has also been released as a colourized version by Turner Entertainment. This version is available on DVD at least in Finland. Colorization in Sin City Film Colorization is a film alteration process that involves adding color to a black and white film. ... Turner Entertainment Company was established August 4, 1986 to oversee Turner Broadcastings film library after its acquisition of MGM/UA. In addition to the studio, Turner got its library, which included all of MGMs films, Warner Bros. ... DVD (commonly known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

Cast

• Joseph Cotten as Eugene
• Dolores Costello as Isabel
• Anne Baxter as Lucy
• Tim Holt as George
• Agnes Moorehead as Fanny
• Ray Collins as Jack
• Erskine Sanford as Roger Bronson
• Donald Dillaway as Wilbur Minafer
• Richard Bennett as Maj. Amberson
• Orson Welles as Narrator

Joseph Cotten, circa 1956. ... Dolores Costello Dolores Costello (September 17, 1903 – March 1, 1979) was an American film actress who achieved her greatest success during the era of silent movies. ... Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Tim Holt (February 5, 1919 – February 15, 1973) was an American film actor. ... Moorehead as Endora on Bewitched Agnes Robertson Moorehead (December 6, 1900 – April 30, 1974) was an Oscar-nominated American character actress. ... Movie, stage and radio actor Ray Collins (December 10, 1889 - July 11, 1965) made his screen debut as Boss Jim Gettys in Citizen Kane and was one of the voices in Orson Welles infamous War of the Worlds radio broadcast. ... For the British composer named Richard Bennett, see Richard Rodney Bennett. ... George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an Academy Award-winning American screenwriter, a film and theatre director, a film producer and a actor in film, theatre and radio. ...

Awards

Wins

• New York Film Critics Circle Awards: NYFCC Award; Best Actress, Agnes Moorehead; 1942.

Nominations New York Film Critics Circle Awards are given annually to honor excellence in cinema worldwide by an organization of film reviewers from New York City-based publications. ...

• Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Agnes Moorehead; Best Black-and-White Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Albert S. D'Agostino, A. Roland Fields and Darrell Silvera; Best Black-and-White Cinematography, Stanley Cortez; Best Picture, Orson Welles; 1943.

Other distinguishments Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ...

• In 1991 the film was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry.

The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

Adaptations

The film was remade for television in 2002 and used the same name. The film used Orson Welles' screenplay, was directed by Alfonso Arau, and starred Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gretchen Mol, and Jennifer Tilly.^[5] Alfonso Arau (born January 11, 1932) is a Mexican director of such films as Zapata: The Dream of a Hero, Like Water for Chocolate (Mexico, 1992) (adapted from the novel written by his wife, Laura Esquivel), and A Walk in the Clouds, which starred Keanu Reeves and Anthony Quinn. ... Stowe pictured with John Travolta in 1999s The Generals Daughter Madeleine Stowe (born August 18, 1958) is an American actress. ... Bruce Greenwood (born August 12, 1956 in Noranda, Quebec) is a Canadian actor. ... Jonathan Rhys Meyers,[1] often credited as Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, (born Jonathan Michael Francis OKeeffe on 27 July 1977) is an Irish actor and Golden Globe winner. ... Gretchen Mol, born November 8, 1972 in Deep River, Connecticut, is an American actress. ... Jennifer Tilly (born September 16, 1958 in the Harbor City community of Los Angeles, California)[1] is an Academy Award-nominated American actress and semi-professional poker player. ...

See also

• List of films recut by studio

According to the prevalent framework of film criticism, with Auteur Theory at its core, a film director is viewed as the individual most responsible for the creative aspects of a finished film, and it follows from this that directors should have final editorial control over their films (also known as...

Footnotes

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ... The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is an online database of information about movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, and video games. ...

External links

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• The Magnificent Ambersons at Rotten Tomatoes.

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ... Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...