The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Calificación de los usuarios:

8.0/10   

Director:

Orson Welles

Escritores:

Booth Tarkington (novel)
Orson Welles (screenplay)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

10 julio 1942 (USA)

Género:

Drama

Frase comercial:

From the Man who Made "The Best Picture of 1941"

Plot:

The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.

Plot Keywords:

Spoiled Child | Marriage Proposal | Progress | Pulitzer Prize Source | Small Town

Premios:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Welles' slicing look at the downfall of a careless family parallels the film's treatment in 1942...

Reparto

Joseph Cotten	...	Eugene Morgan
Dolores Costello	...	Isabel Minafer
Anne Baxter	...	Lucy Morgan
Tim Holt	...	George Minafer
Agnes Moorehead	...	Fanny Minafer
Ray Collins	...	Jack Minafer
Erskine Sanford	...	Roger Bronson
Richard Bennett	...	Maj. Amberson
Orson Welles	...	Narrator (voice)

También conocida como:

El cuarto mandamiento (Spain) [es]
Soberbia (Venezuela) [es]

Duración:

88 min | 148 min (original cut) | 131 min (preview)

País:

USA

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Negro y Blanco

Relación de Aspecto:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Clasificación:

USA:TV-PG | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Germany:12 | UK:U

Locaciones de Filmación:

Big Bear Lake, California, USA

Compañía:

Mercury Productions

Trivialidades:

In the newspaper reporting the auto accident that injured George Amberson Minafer, the left hand column is "Stage Views" featuring the picture and byline of "Jed Leland", the theater critic in Citizen Kane (1941), also directed by Orson Welles. Leland was played by Joseph Cotten, who plays Eugene Morgan in this movie.

Errores:

Personal o Equipo Visible: Towards end of long tracking shot with George and Lucy in horse-drawn carriage, portion of rear end of camera car and some sort of filmmaking equipment briefly enters left side of frame.

Citas:

[first lines]
Narrator: The magnificence of the Ambersons began in 1873. Their splendor lasted throughout all the years that saw their midland town spread and darken into a city. In that town, in those days, all the women who wore silk or velvet knew all the other women who wore silk or velvet...

Conexiones de Película:

Referenced in "House Calls: The Magnificent Weatherbys (#2.16)" (1981)

Banda de Sonido:

The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo

Welles' slicing look at the downfall of a careless family parallels the film's treatment in 1942...

People may initially be thrown by the title MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. Some may consider it a stuffy period piece before seeing it if they know only of the novel. Don't make this mistake if you have not witnessed this cinematic milestone. The title, of course, is caustic and refers to the 19th century family sarcastically. Who else but the great Orson Welles could follow up a masterwork like CITIZEN KANE with such a cynical and important drama. The "magnificence of the Ambersons" is neither grand, nor respectable. It is tragic and doomed, epitomized by young "Georgie" (played by Tim Holt), whose main ambition in life is to be a yachtsmen. He is buried under the lore of his family name and he is headed towards his well-deserved "comeuppance".

The film itself, like many of Welles' great pictures, was absolutely butchered by the studio (RKO Pictures) and destroyed the credibility of the young auteur. In many ways, the mess surrounding the film's release, the tragedy and loss of the Ambersons, and the theme of modern technology "taking over" all come together to leave all parties disappointed. Disapproving moviegoers miscalculated the message, led the studio to make the cuts behind Welles' back, and placed a lot of artists in some bad situations. (For an excellent account of this truly remarkable story behind the film, read Joseph McBride's bio "Orson Welles") 50 minutes of film were burned, however, the 88 minutes left for us to see contain some incredible, even revolutionary moments.

Joseph Cotten plays his consummate "2nd place" character, a man unable to have his real true love. (See THE THIRD MAN, NIAGARA) He is in love with an "Amberson" (probably the only righteous family member played by Dolores Costello) but loses out to a more "respectable" man. The essential themes of industrialism and change that will ruin the Amberson family stem from Cotten's position as an inventor. He has created the horseless carriage, or automobile, however primitive, which is continuously trashed by the hateful "Georgie". Cotten's invention is part of the growth and change that many families of the late 19th century may have ignored, only to have their lives passed over and fortunes lost. Plot elements aside, this central theme is the powerful backbone that leads to the inevitable destruction of the narrow-minded Tim Holt.

The latter aspects come across on screen so memorably because of Orson Welles' continued experimentation with film. Incredible b & w photography, at first a hazy glow depicting the early prime years of the Ambersons, then a stark, dark force portraying shame and sadness, is amazing to see. Overlapping dialogue is used even better here than in KANE and Welles' narration is so omniscient and on the mark, relaying the town's thoughts on this once grand family. Long tracking shots throughout the constantly changing town go unnoticed unless seen a couple of times. When you realize the passage of time through these devices, you will be in awe.

Again, there is tragedy in both the film itself and its shoddy release and treatment in 1942. If only Welles stayed in America at the time and protected THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS from the long arm of the near-sighted studio system, he may have had #'s 1 and 2 on the AFI's list of 100 Greatest American films.