The Magnificent Ambersons (film)

The Magnificent Ambersons
Theatrical release poster by Norman Rockwell[1]
Directed byOrson Welles
Screenplay byOrson Welles
Based onThe Magnificent Ambersons
1918 novel
by Booth Tarkington
Produced byOrson Welles
Starring
CinematographyStanley Cortez
Edited byRobert Wise
Music byNo credit in film
Production
companies
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • July 10, 1942 (1942-07-10)
Running time
88 minutes
148 minutes (original)
131 minutes (preview)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.1 million[2]: 71–72 
Box office$1 million (US rentals)[3]
210,966 admissions (France, 1946)[4]

The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American period drama written, produced, and directed by Orson Welles. Welles adapted Booth Tarkington's Pulitzer Prize–winning 1918 novel about the declining fortunes of a wealthy Midwestern family and the social changes brought by the automobile age. The film stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins, with Welles providing the narration.[5]

Welles lost control of the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons to RKO, and the final version released to audiences differed significantly from his rough cut of the film. More than an hour of footage was cut by the studio, which also shot and substituted a happier ending. Although Welles's extensive notes for how he wished the film to be cut have survived, the excised footage was destroyed. Composer Bernard Herrmann insisted his credit be removed when, like the film itself, his score was heavily edited by the studio.

Even in the released version, The Magnificent Ambersons is often regarded as among the greatest films of all time, a distinction it shares with Welles's first film, Citizen Kane.[6][7] The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1991.[8][9]

  1. ^ "The Magnificent Ambersons, Dolores Costello movie poster, circa 1942". Heritage Auctions. October 27, 2009. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  2. ^ McBride, Joseph, What Ever Happened to Orson Welles? A Portrait of an Independent Career. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2006, ISBN 0-8131-2410-7
  3. ^ "101 Pix Gross in Millions". Variety. January 6, 1943. p. 58. Retrieved July 8, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Orson Welles box office information in France at Box Office Story
  5. ^ Jewell, Richard B.; Harbin, Vernon (1982). The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House. p. 173. ISBN 978-0517546567.
  6. ^ "100 Greatest Films". Filmsite.org. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
  7. ^ Dirks, Tim. "The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) review". Filmsite.org. Retrieved May 20, 2009.
  8. ^ Kehr, Dave (September 26, 1991). "U.S. Film Registry Adds 25 'Significant' Movies". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  9. ^ "Complete National Film Registry Listing". Library of Congress. Retrieved December 4, 2020.

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