US 88m Dir: Orson Welles
Based on: The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
Orson Welles had a very clear vision for this film but unfortunately it was tampered with by the studio. The third act, some forty minutes of footage, was cut and an ending was tacked on that was more upbeat. Welles was unfortunately unable to fight the cuts and the footage has been lost.
Even in this state, The Magnificent Ambersons is still lauded by many as one of the best films of all time, comparable to Welles' previous film Citizen Kane.
Broadly, the film is about the declining fortunes of the Ambersons, a wealthy midwestern family. George (Tim Holt) is the result of a passionless marriage and is spoiled rotten, meaning that as an adult he has no desire to do anything and can't even conceive of the idea of working. When George eventually becomes the oldest member of the family there is nothing left and he lives a miserable existence.
A large theme of the film is about the social changes brought on by the automobile age. The film starts with the development of early cars in the late 19th century before ending around about the present day (of 1942). The excised third act would have focused on this aspect a bit more with George noticing just how much the city has changed. I think generally the film takes a negative stance to these changes, a sense that things were better in the old days (though George very much deserves his comeuppance). This feeling of how the automobile age had affected the world feels similar to how many of us feel about the internet age so there's still a certain relevancy here.
I think this film is exceptionally well directed and it feels much more modern and more interesting visually than other films of it's era. Welles was an exceptional director. Like with <i>Citizen Kane</i> the set of the Amberson house is really impressive, complete with walls that could be lifted in order to allow the camera to pass through them in a continuous take.
Unfortunately, I was less impressed with the script. I suspect that's largely down to the fact that this was butchered by the studio. Welles himself said without that third act that this version of the film is "all about some rich people fighting in their house". It certainly felt that way to me, though I did wonder if even the complete version would still have felt like this or whether that third act would have done enough to push things along. The tacked on ending is really appalling- this is a film which doesn't need a happy ending and the fact that they created one with the most significant character silently lying behind a closed door really doesn't help.
I think that this film perhaps feels a bit dated now, in a way it probably hasn't done until the last fifteen years. Most critics writing about this film until then would have lived through at least some of the social changes depicted in this film, or at least the continued social changes that the automobile made. But history has moved on and it's no longer the car that is affecting social change in the same way. There's certainly interesting comparisons to be made with the social changes of the internet age but to me at least this is beginning to have the feel of a historical artefact.
For me, this is no-where near as good as Citizen Kane, although perhaps it might have been if Orson Welles had been able to have the final cut.
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