155. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Directed By Orson Welles

Synopsis

George is a pillock. His mother loves Morgan and he is just a prick about it. Eventually it all goes tits up and George gets his comeuppance.

Review

This could have been a truly great film if it were not for the clearly rushed and tacked on ending. For the first about 70 minutes the film works perfectly, Welles is a master director and the originality of the camera placements together with the sparse use of lighting and the great use of shadows give the film an unique look. But then this will always be an incomplete work because of its ending.

The film was supposedly 40 minutes longer than it ended up being, and that must have been for good reason, it just feels rushed with the ending that the studio tacked on to it. Not only rushed but incongruous with the rest of the story, it ends in an up note that was clearly never supposed to be in the film.

The film is a story of inexorable destruction of an old way of life, the fact that the last couple of minutes give a little hint of hope and happiness are completely wrong. It was supposed to end in a dreary way with everything fucked, it's like ending a funeral march with a little polka.

The film had such potential... and it is really worth watching for everything except for the last 10 minutes of it. So do watch it, strongly recommended.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The original rough cut of the film was approximately 135 minutes in length. Welles felt that the film needed to be shortened and after receiving a mixed response from a preview audience, Robert Wise, the film's editor, removed several minutes from it. The film was previewed again, but the audience's response did not improve. This resulted in RKO deleting over 40 additional minutes and re-shooting the ending sequence, replacing Welles' original ending with a happier one, one that more closely resembled Tarkington's. Welles did not approve of the cuts, but because he was simultaneously working in Brazil on another project for RKO, his attempts to protect his version ultimately failed. Details of Welles' conflict over the editing are included in the 1993 documentary It's All True.

Scene from the film: