Orson Welles’ followup to Citizen Kane (1941) was utterly different from Kane in style and texture, but just as brilliant in its own way. Writer/director Welles does not appear on camera, but his voiceover narration superbly sets the stage for the movie’s action, which fades in valentine fashion on Amberson Mansion, the most ostentatious dwelling in all of turn-of-century Indianapolis. Its mistress is the haughtily beautiful Isabel Amberson (Dolores Costello). When Isabel’s beau, erstwhile inventor Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten), inadvertently humiliates her in public, she breaks off the relationship and marries colorless Wilbur Minafer (Donald Dillaway). The neighbors are certain that, since Isabel can’t possibly love Wilbur, she will spoil her children rotten. As it turns out, she has one child, George Minafer (Tim Holt), and that one is enough as far as the rest of Indianapolis is concerned. There are those who live for the day that the arrogant, insufferable George will get his comeuppance. When George returns home from college, his mother and grandfather (Richard Bennett) hold a gala reception in his honor. Among the guests is the older-and-wiser Eugene, now a prosperous automobile manufacturer, and his pretty daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter). George takes to Lucy immediately, but can’t warm up to Eugene, especially after learning from his uncle Jack Amberson (Ray Collins) and his maiden aunt Fanny (Agnes Moorehead) that Eugene and Isabel had once been sweethearts. After the death of Wilbur Minafer, the widowed Eugene feels emboldened enough to propose to Isabel again. This time she is willing, but the obstreperous George refuses to allow his mother to see Eugene. His imperious bullheadedness will lead to tragedy for all concerned–and, at long last, a chastened George Minafer will indeed receive his comeuppance. The film’s real villain is not George but that old intangible bugaboo called “Progress.” As the automobile age comes to fruition, the elegant, cloistered lifestyle of the Ambersons fades from view, finally disappearing altogether. This is superbly foreshadowed in the “winter outing” sequence (filmed in an L.A. icehouse) in which George’s two-horse sleigh is abandoned in favor of Eugene’s clunky horseless carriage. Welles evokes performances that his actors seldom (if ever) matched in later years; even the very limited Tim Holt is wholly believable-and even a bit pitiable-as the blinkered George Amberson Minafer. The current version, however, is but a pale shadow of Welles’ original concept. Out of time and overbudget, the movie previewed badly and was eventually sliced down to an abrupt 88 minutes (by, among others, editor Robert Wise, who would go on to direct such films as West Side Story and The Sound of Music). Even though the film therefore must be regarded as a marred masterpiece, the remaining two-thirds of Welles’ original concept is still a thrilling cinematic experience, especially whenever Agnes Moorehead is on the screen., As Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenebaums opens, FilmFour presents a double bill of films in honour, the first featuring a similarly dysfunctional family. Orson Welles second film after Citizen Kane should have equalled if not surpassed his materpiece but it was slashed by Rko from 132 to 88 minutes and a happier ending was imposed. Even so, enough remains for it to one of cinema’s classics. Set at the turn of the century in the Midwest, the film concentrates on George Amberson Minafer (Tim Holt), spoilt grandson of family patriarch Major Amberson (Richard Bennett). The family’s majestic house at the edge of town reflects their status but as times change and industry rather than old money begins to rule, slowly, their aristocratic pretensions are punctured and destroyed., George Amberson is a spoiled little brat who becomes horrified when his recently widowed mother reunites with Eugene Morgan, the wealthy man she left decades earlier in order to marry George’s dad. Now George does his very best to split them up but is interrupted by his own feelings for Eugene’s daughter., The excellent follow-up to Orson Welles’ cinema classic ‘Citizen Kane’. George, the wilful son of the proud Amberson family, destroys his mother’s hopes of marrying her first love, who has become a widower. Refusing to move with the times, he also causes his own financial ruin. Though directed by Welles, the film was actually re-cut and re-shot by others., Orson Welles’ acclaimed period drama still mesmerises in its depiction of the extended Amberson clan, a staunch bunch of traditionalists who are forced from glory to humility over the course of several decades, thanks to the changes in the increasingly modern world around them., Orson Welles’ period drama telling the story of a wilful son of the proud Amberson family who destroys his mother’s hopes of marrying her first love – a recent widower. Refusing to move with the times, he not only causes his mother to suffer but also brings about his own financial ruin. Based on the novel by Booth Tarkington., Orson Welles’ follow-up to “Citizen Kane” is this Best Picture nominee, an epic tale of the gradual decline of an old-monied Indianapolis family in the face of turn-of-the-century industrialization. The Ambersons’ magnificent lives are apparent as the film opens, as is their sense of propriety. Welles, who directed, produced and adapted the screenplay from Booth Tarkington’s novel, also provides the narration. Remade as a 2002 made-for-cable film., Period drama telling the story of a wilful son of the proud Amberson family who destroys his mother’s hopes of marrying her first love – a recent widower. Refusing to move with the times, he not only causes his mother to suffer but also brings about his own financial ruin. Based on the novel by Booth Tarkington.
Q&A :
Q: Who are the main cast members in “The Magnificent Ambersons ” ?
A: The main cast includes Joseph Cotten,Dolores Costello,Anne Baxter,Agnes Moorehead,Ray Collins,Richard Bennet,Erskine Sanford,Tim Holt,J. Louis Johnson,Donald Dillaway,Charles Phipps,Dorothy Vaughan,Elmer Jerome,John H. Elliott,Nina Guilbert,Sam Rice,Olive Ball,Kathryn Sheldon,Nina Guilberg,Anne O’Neal,Henry Roquemore,Mel Ford,Lillian Nicholson,Bobby Cooper,Drew Roddy,Jack Baxley,Nancy Gates,James Westerfield,Edwin August,Jack Santoro,Gus Schilling,Georgia Backus,Hilda Plowright,Bob Pittard,Billy Elmer,Maynard Holmes,Lew Kelly,John McGuire,Edward Howard,William Blees,Philip Morris,Louis Hayward,Harry Wild,Orson Welles,Mark-Lee Kirk,Mark Robson,Darrell Silvera,Al Fields,Vernon Walker,Harry J. Wild,Vernon L. Walker,Robert Wise,Albert S. D’Agostino,Stanley Cortez,Booth Tarkington,Edward Stevenson,Jack Moss,Russell Metty.
Q: When Did the “The Magnificent Ambersons” Released?
A: The Movie “The Magnificent Ambersons” originally aired on and released in the year of 1942.
Q: What Languages are available to watch “The Magnificent Ambersons” ?
A: Is also available in eng language.
Q: Where to watch “The Magnificent Ambersons” ?
A: “The Magnificent Ambersons” is Avaiable on Netflix. as its Netflix Originals.
