Discuss The Magnificent Ambersons
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A disappointment
posted by Strange BedfellowsSTAFFMOD on May 28, 2020 at 3:42 PM
I had heard of this film but oddly never got around to watching it. I have to say that even allowing for the time it was made there is a peculiar flatness to this movie - Joseph Cotton was completely underused and seemed to become 15 years younger by the final scene. Tim Holt who played the grown up spoilt child Georgie was supposed to be in his twenties but looked to be in his forties (shades of Leslie Howard in Gone with the Wind) and I don't think even in those days he would have been allowed to speak to his family elders the way he did. His mother was supposed to be in her forties but looked decades older - and somehow arrived at the point of death for no reason at all - but at least Georgie got both legs broken and the girl and forgiveness at the end. All of it was overdone - there was no subtlety whatsoever - typical Orson Welles - who never impressed me with anything he did - including the vastly overrated Citizen Caine.
Reply by genplant29
on May 28, 2020 at 4:45 PM
This is a movie I've seen at least a few times throughout my lifetime, that I like the look and the cast of, but that the movie, overall, for some reason has always left me decidedly underwhelmed and not caring.
The only Orson Welles film that I'm a true enthusiast of is The Third Man. That movie is excellent, and always completely interests and impresses me.
Reply by bratface
on May 28, 2020 at 8:27 PM
This is my favorite Welles 'helmed' film & I agree with SB that Citizen Kane is HIGHLY overrated.
Reply by genplant29
on May 28, 2020 at 8:34 PM
I agree, that Citizen Kane is overrated. It's artistically striking though.
Reply by bratface
on May 28, 2020 at 8:40 PM
I also think It's A Wonderful Life is just sentimental claptrap!
Reply by genplant29
on May 28, 2020 at 8:45 PM
I, to a certain extent, do. I enjoy it though.
Reply by bratface
on May 28, 2020 at 8:54 PM
Oh shoot, I was hoping for shock & outrage!
Reply by genplant29
on May 28, 2020 at 8:55 PM
Reply by catmydogs
on May 28, 2020 at 10:59 PM
Magnificent Ambersons is better than the vast majority of films currently in theaters. (Tongue in cheek)
The novel is exceptional, btw. It won the Pulitzer, too. The Third Man is my favorite film involving Welles. What a masterpiece! I’ve watched it countless times!
Reply by znexyish
on May 29, 2020 at 2:51 AM
IAWL is Shlock and Aww.
I also think that "Lady from Shanghai" starts out fine then turns into gibberish. I dont mind TMA. The story is that the studio took over recut and mutilated Orsons original work. Who knows? Maybe they were right.
Reply by genplant29
on May 29, 2020 at 10:54 AM
cat, you may be interested in some of these threads from 2017 and 2018.
Reply by rooprect
on August 18, 2022 at 11:20 AM
!!! Attention everyone who was underwhelmed by this movie (including me) !!!
The 88 min version, which as of 2022 is the only version that exists, is a total hack job done by the studio RKO behind Orson Welles's back. The original cut was 135 mins, meaning RKO chucked nearly 50 mins.
The incongruous "happy ending" was added, per RKO's order, without Welles. Welles's vision was much darker and more powerful. The original ending, which Welles called his best work (and I believe it, going by the description and witness accounts) focused on Agnes Moorehead's character--the real tragic protagonist of the story--in a long continuous scene where she comes to grips with her downfall and complicity in the whole Amberson tragedy. She delivers a powerful monologue, the capstone of the film, as she stands in a cluttered boarding house where she's forced to live. The camera pulls back away from her closeup, backs out of the room, down the hall, and out the door to a wide shot which delivers the punchline of the entire story. The slovenly boarding house where she lives is actually the Amberson mansion, converted to a poor house.
Don't blame Welles. He was furious when he heard of the butchering. And I would be too.
To this day some insiders insist that the lost footage is somewhere, and it's one of the great treasure hunts of Hollywood. But more likely, as most people say, RKO deliberately destroyed the original footage because they didn't want to give Orson Welles any chance of restoring his original vision. This is Hollywood suits' meddling at their worst.