The Magnificent Ambersons
Short description
Set in Indiana in the late nineteenth century, The Magnificent Ambersons follows three generations of a wealthy American family whose sense of position seems unshakeable until the world around them changes. Eugene Morgan, once rejected as a suitor by Isabel Amberson, returns to town years later as a successful automobile manufacturer, while the Amberson fortune has faded. Isabel, now widowed, is drawn to him again, but her spoiled son George, who has grown up indulged and self-absorbed, sets himself against the match. His romance with Eugene's daughter Lucy adds another strand to the conflict between old money and a new age.
The film was Orson Welles's second feature as director, following Citizen Kane a year earlier, and he also wrote, produced and narrated it, adapting Booth Tarkington's novel for RKO Radio Pictures and Mercury Productions. Joseph Cotten plays Eugene, with Dolores Costello as Isabel, Tim Holt as George, Anne Baxter as Lucy, and Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins among a credited cast of 48. Running 88 minutes, it earned an 8.9 out of 10 from 47 critics, while audiences rate it 7.6 on IMDb from 29,000 votes and 7.3 on TMDB from 496.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the original ending (Welles considered it one of the best scenes in the entire film), Eugene visits Fanny in the boarding house, talks about George’s recovery, and mentions that he has reconciled with his daughter; then, as he leaves the boarding house, the camera pulls back, and it is visible that it is the Ambersons’ mansion converted into a boarding house.
- While Orson Welles (1915-1985) was abroad, the RKO Radio Pictures film company cut 50 minutes from the film and added a happy ending. The excised material was eventually destroyed. Among fans of the film, the lost original version gained the status of a kind of "Holy Grail." Some high-profile Hollywood figures searched for the material in the archives of Paramount Studios (which included the archives of RKO Radio Pictures), and throughout Los Angeles. The searches were conducted, in particular, by Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Henry Jaglom, and William Friedkin (the latter searching for many years, especially since he was married to Sherry Lansing, the head of Paramount Pictures). As of 2018, the searches had been unsuccessful.
- The sets for the Ambersons’ mansion were among the most expensive sets for their time. At Welles’ insistence, the interior of the mansion was built with the finest details, with walls and ceilings as if it were a real mansion. This allowed the cinematographer to freely film in the rooms from any angle.
- Before filming the scene in which George and Uncle Jack tease Fanny about her infatuation with Eugene, Orson Welles rehearsed it with the actors for four days. No notes about what and how should happen were recorded for the actors anywhere. The director simply discussed their respective characters with the actors and told them to improvise on camera. Eventually, the four-minute scene was filmed in one take.
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