The Magnificent Ambersons (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Magnificent Ambersons

Theatrical Poster
Directed by Orson Welles
Produced by Orson Welles
Written by Booth Tarkington (novel)
Orson Welles
Narrated by Orson Welles
Starring Joseph Cotten
Dolores Costello
Anne Baxter
Tim Holt
Agnes Moorehead
Ray Collins
Cinematography Stanley Cortez
Editing by Robert Wise
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Release date(s) July 10, 1942 (US)
Running time 88 minutes
148 minutes (original)
131 minutes (preview)
Country United States
Language English
Budget $850,000 (est)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American film written and directed by Orson Welles, his second feature production. It is based on the 1918 novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins. Welles provided the voiceover narration. Welles had previously adapted Tarkington's novel for the radio in 1939, for the Mercury Theatre of the Air. The only actor from that production who also appeared in the film was Ray Collins.

Welles famously lost control of the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons, and the final version released to audiences differs significantly from his vision for the film. Over 40 minutes were cut by the studio, RKO, and a new, happier ending was shot and tacked on to the film. Although Welles' extensive notes for how he wished the film to be cut survived, the excised scenes have not. Nevertheless, even in its radically altered form, the film is often regarded as among the best American films ever made, a distinction it shares with Welles' first film, Citizen Kane.

In 1991, The Magnificent Ambersons was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film was included in Sight and Sound's 1972 list of the top ten films ever made.[1] and again in 1982 [2].

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film tells the story of the Ambersons, an upper-class family who live in Indianapolis. One day the matriarch 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 decides to marry the bland Wilbur Minafer (Donald Dillaway) instead.

People in town are certain that Isabel can't possibly be in love with Wilbur. She has one child, George Minafer (Tim Holt), whom she spoils. As George grows up, many in the town long for the day when the arrogant, immature mama's boy will get his "comeuppance."

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 is now a prosperous automobile manufacturer. He brings his daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter) with him. George takes to Lucy right away, but he takes a dislike 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.

After the death of Wilbur Minafer, the widowed Eugene decides to ask Isabel for her hand in marriage. This time, she is willing, but George selfishly manipulates his mother into rejecting Eugene. George's haughty attitude leads to tragedy for everyone--and, at long last, George Minafer receives his comeuppance.

[edit] Production

The Magnificent Ambersons was in production at RKO's Gower Street studios in Los Angeles from 28 October 1941 through 22 January 1942 on a set constructed like a real house, but in which walls could be rolled back, raised or lowered to allow the camera to appear to pass through them in a continuous take.[3] RKO later used many of the film's sets for its low-budget films, including the series of horror films produced by Val Lewton. Location shooting for Ambersons took place at various places around the Los Angeles area, including Big Bear Lake, the San Bernardino National Forest and East Los Angeles. Snow scenes were shot in the Union Ice Company ice house in downtown LA.[4][5][3] The film was made on an estimated budget of $850,000.[6]

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 March 17th preview audience in Pomona, Robert Wise, the film's editor, removed several minutes from it.[7] The film was previewed again, but the audience's response did not improve. Because Welles had conceded his original contractual right to do the final cut in a negotiation with RKO over a film that Welles was obliged to direct but never did, RKO was able to take over the editing of the film once Welles had delivered a first cut. This resulted in RKO deleting over 40 additional minutes and re-shooting the ending in late April and early May, directed by assistant director Fred Fleck, Robert Wise and Jack Moss, the business manager of Welles' Mercury Theater. The retakes replaced Welles' original ending with a happier one that more closely resembled Tarkington's. Welles did not approve of the cuts, but because he was simultaneously working in Brazil on another project for RKO – Nelson Rockefeller had personally asked him to make a film in Latin America as part of the wartime Good Neighbor Policy[8] – his attempts to protect his version ultimately failed. Details of Welles' conflict over the editing are included in the 1993 documentary It's All True. [3]

The negatives for the excised portions of The Magnificent Ambersons were later destroyed in order to free vault space.[9] A print of the rough cut was sent to Welles in Brazil, but 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.[9]

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 the film's title, 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.[3] 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, and demanded his name be removed from the credits.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards

Wins

Academy Award Nominations

  • 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

Other

[edit] Adaptations and predecessors

The film was remade for television in 2002 under the same name, using Orson Welles' screenplay. It was directed by Alfonso Arau, and starred Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gretchen Mol, and Jennifer Tilly.[10] Tarkington's novel had been filmed before Welles' production: in 1925, Vitagraph Pictures released Pampered Youth a silent film directed by David Smith and starring Cullen Landis, Alice Calhoun and Allan Forrest.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ BFI | Sight & Sound | Top ten | Archive
  2. ^ BFI | Sight & Sound | Top ten | Archive
  3. ^ a b c d e TCM Notes
  4. ^ IMDB Filming Locations for The Magnificent Ambersons
  5. ^ TCM Overview
  6. ^ IMDB Business Data for The Magnificent Ambersons
  7. ^ "The standard story is that the audience was hostile and disapproving, which sent the studio into a panic over what they considered Welles' excesses. But critic/historian Jonathan Rosenbaum has examined the 125 original comment cards and reports that 53 were positive; in fact, many were overwhelmingly enthusiastic." Frank Miller & Lang Thompson, "Why 'The Magnificent Ambersons' is Essential"
  8. ^ Frank Miller & Lang Thompson "Why 'The Magnificent Ambersons' Is Essential"
  9. ^ a b IMDB It's All True
  10. ^ IMDB The Magnificent Ambersons (2002)

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


v • d • e
Films directed by Orson Welles

Citizen Kane (1941) • The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) • The Stranger (1946) • The Lady from Shanghai (1947) • Macbeth (1948) • Othello (1952) • Mr. Arkadin (1955) • Touch of Evil (1958) • The Trial (1962) • Chimes at Midnight (1965) • The Immortal Story (1968) • The Other Side of the Wind (1972) • F for Fake (1974)