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The Magnificent Ambersons (1942, Orson Welles)
I still like the movie and one can see Welles' genius in it, but I can't say that I love it. I don't know it just seems to be lacking something. Who knows what this film would be like if Orson hadn't lost control of it?
"Welles said he would not have gone to South America without the studio's guarantee that he could finish editing The Magnificent Ambersons there. "And they absolutely betrayed me and never gave me a shot at it."
Orson Welles's would repeatedly experience his genius being edited and tossed aside by Hollywood studio types. Still there's much to appreciate in the film especially up until the last act. The bulk of the film is pure Orson and shows his cinema style and ability to build characters with deep motivations.
I'd give the first hour, which Orson did a 5/5, I rate it slightly lower thanks to the studio forced happy ending.
Director: Orson Welles
Post Production Directors: Fred Fleck & Robert Wise(uncredited for the happy ending scene)
Writers: Booth Tarkington(novel), Orson Welles(screen play)
Cast: Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello,
Length: 1h 28min
Genre: Drama, Romance
1941 would mark a low note in American history with the attack at Pearl Harbor and the start of World War 2. That attack would in a chain of events cause Orson Welles to loose control of his second film The Magnificent Ambersons, as RKO studio cut nearly 40 minutes of Welles' original material and forced a reshooting of the ending...which recently in the 'happy ending' to his movie. All of this took place the following year when Orson was in Brazil working on a film that was suppose to strengthen U.S. South American relations (ironically that film was never completed.)
After a disastrous screen preview of The Magnificent Ambersons in Pomona, California, where the audience hated the film so much that the decision was made to edit it....Due to wartime travel restrictions, Orson who was in Brazil could not readily renter the USA in time to edit his own film, prompting his long time friend Robert Wise to do the job. The rest is history as Orson's down trodden ending was replace with the infamous 'happy ending', against Welles's wishes.
Post Production Directors: Fred Fleck & Robert Wise(uncredited for the happy ending scene)
Writers: Booth Tarkington(novel), Orson Welles(screen play)
Cast: Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello,
Length: 1h 28min
Genre: Drama, Romance
1941 would mark a low note in American history with the attack at Pearl Harbor and the start of World War 2. That attack would in a chain of events cause Orson Welles to loose control of his second film The Magnificent Ambersons, as RKO studio cut nearly 40 minutes of Welles' original material and forced a reshooting of the ending...which recently in the 'happy ending' to his movie. All of this took place the following year when Orson was in Brazil working on a film that was suppose to strengthen U.S. South American relations (ironically that film was never completed.)
After a disastrous screen preview of The Magnificent Ambersons in Pomona, California, where the audience hated the film so much that the decision was made to edit it....Due to wartime travel restrictions, Orson who was in Brazil could not readily renter the USA in time to edit his own film, prompting his long time friend Robert Wise to do the job. The rest is history as Orson's down trodden ending was replace with the infamous 'happy ending', against Welles's wishes.
In the original ending, which Orson Welles considered one of the best scenes in the film, Eugene visits a now withdrawn Fanny in her new home, a boarding house filled with noisy eccentrics. That provided an ironic counterpoint to his good news about George's recovery and his reconciliation with Eugene's daughter, an effect heightened when he leaves the boarding house, and the camera pulls back to reveal that it is the converted Amberson's mansion.
I still like the movie and one can see Welles' genius in it, but I can't say that I love it. I don't know it just seems to be lacking something. Who knows what this film would be like if Orson hadn't lost control of it?
From Wiki as quoted from an interview with Orson Welles in the 1993 documentary It's All True.
"Of course I expected that there would be an uproar about a picture which, by any ordinary American standards, was much darker than anybody was making...There was just a built-in dread of the downbeat movie, and I knew I'd have that to face, but I thought I had a movie so good — I was absolutely certain of its value, much more than of Kane...""Welles said he would not have gone to South America without the studio's guarantee that he could finish editing The Magnificent Ambersons there. "And they absolutely betrayed me and never gave me a shot at it."
Orson Welles's would repeatedly experience his genius being edited and tossed aside by Hollywood studio types. Still there's much to appreciate in the film especially up until the last act. The bulk of the film is pure Orson and shows his cinema style and ability to build characters with deep motivations.
I'd give the first hour, which Orson did a 5/5, I rate it slightly lower thanks to the studio forced happy ending.