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Select media
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Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
Film details
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Featuring
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Director
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Country
USA
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Year
1942
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Genre
Period drama
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Introduction
“Except for the bastardized, chronologically shuffled ending, which was studio-imposed on the film, Ambersons, fragment by fragment, remains one of the most emotionally and intellectually articulate films ever made.”
Andrew Sarris, You Ain’t Heard Nothing Yet: The American Talking Film, 1927–1949, 1998
Adapted from the 1916 novel by Booth Tarkington, Orson Welles’ second film is an elegy for the passing way of life of an upper-class family living in a small mid-western town in the early 20th century.
After the dazzling experimentation of Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons found Welles’ visual creativity undiminished, again incorporating inventive editing transitions, expressionistic lighting and elaborate camera angles. The Ambersons’ Indianapolis home was created on the RKO studio lot, complete with removable walls to accommodate the ornate cinematography of Stanley Cortez.
Sadly, preview audiences reacted negatively to the film’s melancholy tone, leading RKO to cut an hour and order the filming of a new happy ending while Welles was away in South America. The removed footage was subsequently destroyed.
For a similarly nostalgic glimpse of the effects of progress on life in the mid-west, see Vincente Minnelli’s musical Meet Me in St Louis (1944).
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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narrator
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Eugene Morgan
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Isabel Amberson Minafer
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Lucy Morgan
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George Amberson Minafer
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Fanny Minafer
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Jack Amberson
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Roger Bronson
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Major Amberson
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[Wilbur Minafer]
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[Uncle John]
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[funeral spectator]
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[funeral spectator]
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[funeral spectator]
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[Mary]
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[guest]
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[guest]
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[Mrs Foster]
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[matron]
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[matron]
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[hardware man]
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[nurse]
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[house servant]
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[chauffeur/citizen]
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[citizen]
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[citizen]
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[citizen]
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[wife]
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[drug clerk]
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[George as a boy]
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[Elijah]
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[Reverend Smith]
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[labourer]
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[young man]
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[man in barber shop]
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[youth at accident]
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[cop at accident]
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[policeman]
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[barber]
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[Sam the butler]
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[Fred Kinney]
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[Charles Johnson]
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[landlady]
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[ballroom extra, larger role cut]
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[girl]
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[.]
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[.]
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[.]
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[.]
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Credits
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Direction:
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Director
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[Additional Scenes Director]
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[Additional Scenes Director]
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[Additional Scenes Director]
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Assistant Director
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[Assistant Director]
Production:
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©/Production Company
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Production Company
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[Executive Producer]
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[Producer]
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[Unit Business Manager]
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[Production Assistant]
Writing:
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Screenplay
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Based on the novel by
Photography:
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Director of Photography
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[Additional Photography]
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[Additional Photography]
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[Additional Photography]
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[Additional Photography]
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[Additional Photography]
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[Camera Operator]
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[Assistant Camera]
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[Gaffer]
Stills:
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[Stills]
Special Effects:
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[Process Photography]
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Special Effects
Editing:
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Editor
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[Additional Editor]
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[Additional Editor]
Design:
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Design of Sets
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[Art Director]
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Set Decorator
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[Properties]
Costumes:
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Ladies' Wardrobe Design
Make-up:
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[Make-up]
Music:
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[Music]
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[Additional Music]
Sound:
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Sound Recording
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Sound Recording
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[Sound]
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[Sound]
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[Sound]
Stunts:
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[Stunt Double for Anne Baxter]
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[Stunt Double for Tim Holt]
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The Greatest Films of All Time 2012
Ranked 81st in the critics’ poll