The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
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90% of critics liked it
(30 reviews) -
85% of users liked it
(5,722 ratings)
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… More 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. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Orson Welles
- Written By
- Booth Tarkington, Orson Welles
- Genres
- Drama, Classics
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jul 10, 1942 Limited
- Studio
- RKO Radio Pictures
Critic Reviews
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, TIME Magazine
Ambersons is not another Citizen Kane, but it is good enough to remove Director Welles for keeps from the novice or one-picture-prodigy class.
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Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Although reams have been written about the mutilation of Orson Welles' second feature, what remains of it is nevertheless a major accomplishment.
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Manny Farber, The New Republic
While telling this story, haltingly and clumsily, the movie runs from burdensome through heavy and dull to bad. It stutters and stumbles as Welles submerges Tarkington's story in a mess of radio and stage technique.
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Variety Staff, Variety
Orson Welles devotes 9,000 feet of film to a spoiled brat who grows up as a spoiled, spiteful young man. This film hasn't a single moment of contrast; it piles on and on a tale of woe, but without once striking at least a true chord of sentimentality.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
The emotional sense of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is so palpable you can taste it.
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Cast
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Joseph Cotten
as Eugene Morgan
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Dolores Costello
as Isabel Amberson Minafer
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Anne Baxter
as Lucy Morgan
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Tim Holt
as George Amberson Minafer
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Agnes Moorehead
as Fanny Minafer
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Ray Collins
as Jack Amberson
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Erskine Sanford
as Bronson
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Richard Bennett
as Major Amberson
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Donald Dillaway
as Wilbur Minafer
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Edwin August
as Man
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Georgia Backus
as Matron
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Olive Ball
as Mary
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Jack Baxley
as Rev. Smith
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William Blees
as Youth at Accident
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Billy Elmer
as House Servant
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Nancy Gates
as Girl
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Louis Hayward
as Ballroom Dancer
- Maynard Holmes
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Elmer Jerome
as Funeral Spectator
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J. Louis Johnson
as Sam the Butler
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Lew Kelly
as Citizen
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John McGuire
as Young Man
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Philip Morris
as Cop
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Anne O'Neal
as Mrs. Foster
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Charles Phipps
as Uncle John
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Hilda Plowright
as Nurse
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Drew Roddy
as Elijah
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Henry Roquemore
as Hardware Man
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Gus Schilling
as Drugstore Clerk
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Kathrun Sheldon
as Matron
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Dorothy Vaughan
as Funeral Spectator
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James Westerfield
as Cop at Accident
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Bob Cooper
as George as a Boy
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Orson Welles
as Narrator
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Nina Guilberg
as Guest
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Edward Howard
as Chauffeur
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Jack Santoro
as Barber
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Lillian Nicholson
as Landlady
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Bob Pittard
as Charlie Johnson
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Sam Rice
as Man at Funeral
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John Elliott
as Guest
