952 The Magnificent Ambersons
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952 The Magnificent Ambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons
Orson Welles's beautiful, nostalgia-suffused second feature—the subject of one of cinema's greatest missing-footage tragedies—harks back to turn-of-the-twentieth-century Indianapolis, chronicling the inexorable decline of the fortunes of an affluent family. Adapted from an acclaimed Booth Tarkington novel and characterized by restlessly inventive camera work and powerful performances from a cast including Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt, and Agnes Moorehead, the film traces the rifts deepening within the Amberson clan—at the same time as the forces of progress begin to transform the city they once ruled. Though RKO excised over forty minutes of footage, now lost to history, and added an incongruously upbeat ending, The Magnificent Ambersons is an emotionally rich family saga and a masterful elegy for a bygone chapter of American life.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Two audio commentaries, featuring film scholars Robert Carringer and James Naremore and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
• New interviews with scholars Simon Callow and Joseph McBride
• New video essay on the film's cinematographers by scholar François Thomas
• New video essay on the film's score by scholar Christopher Husted
• Welles on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970
• Segment from Pampered Youth, a 1925 silent adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons
• Audio from a 1979 AFI symposium on Welles
• Two Mercury Theatre radio plays: Seventeen (1938), an adaptation of another Booth Tarkington novel by Welles, and The Magnificent Ambersons (1939)
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Molly Haskell and (Blu-ray only) essays by authors and critics Luc Sante, Geoffrey O'Brien, Farran Smith Nehme, and Jonathan Lethem, and excerpts from an unfinished 1982 memoir by Welles
Orson Welles's beautiful, nostalgia-suffused second feature—the subject of one of cinema's greatest missing-footage tragedies—harks back to turn-of-the-twentieth-century Indianapolis, chronicling the inexorable decline of the fortunes of an affluent family. Adapted from an acclaimed Booth Tarkington novel and characterized by restlessly inventive camera work and powerful performances from a cast including Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt, and Agnes Moorehead, the film traces the rifts deepening within the Amberson clan—at the same time as the forces of progress begin to transform the city they once ruled. Though RKO excised over forty minutes of footage, now lost to history, and added an incongruously upbeat ending, The Magnificent Ambersons is an emotionally rich family saga and a masterful elegy for a bygone chapter of American life.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• Two audio commentaries, featuring film scholars Robert Carringer and James Naremore and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum
• New interviews with scholars Simon Callow and Joseph McBride
• New video essay on the film's cinematographers by scholar François Thomas
• New video essay on the film's score by scholar Christopher Husted
• Welles on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970
• Segment from Pampered Youth, a 1925 silent adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons
• Audio from a 1979 AFI symposium on Welles
• Two Mercury Theatre radio plays: Seventeen (1938), an adaptation of another Booth Tarkington novel by Welles, and The Magnificent Ambersons (1939)
• Trailer
• PLUS: An essay by critic Molly Haskell and (Blu-ray only) essays by authors and critics Luc Sante, Geoffrey O'Brien, Farran Smith Nehme, and Jonathan Lethem, and excerpts from an unfinished 1982 memoir by Welles
- FilmFanSea
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 1:37 pm
- Location: Portland, OR
In the March 2005 Warner Chat at HTF, the following was revealed:ByMarkClark.com wrote: ↑Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:29 pmI thought I had read where Warner was working on a long-overdue SE of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, but I don't see any mention of it on the "Forthcoming Titles" thread. Was I hallucinating?
So nothing definite at this time ...[JeffWilson] Thanks; about THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, any update on the status for this? Last I heard you were looking for better elements? Also, any plans for JOURNEY INTO FEAR (1943)?
[WarnerHomeVideo] Deja vu! We're still looking for great elements on AMBERSONS & JOURNEY.
- porquenegar
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 7:33 pm
They version shown on TCM occasionally is also pretty decent but it could definitely use some restoration work. I wouldn't mind getting a new commentary on Warner's future disc. I'm not crazy about the one on the Criterion LD.
I was recently interested to see that the grand staircase from Amberson was used in Val Lewton's Cat People.
I was recently interested to see that the grand staircase from Amberson was used in Val Lewton's Cat People.
- justeleblanc
- Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 6:05 pm
- Location: Connecticut
- Joe Buck
- Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:59 pm
- Location: New York
I'd like a basic representation of the film, then I'd like a version where everytime there are scenes missing the film is stopped and the scenes are described to us ala Metropolis. Not a entertaining way of seeing it, but for educational sake, something that helps put the story in better perspective.
In fact, forget that, find the damned preview print and restore them. Please Lord, let them be found.
In fact, forget that, find the damned preview print and restore them. Please Lord, let them be found.
- kinjitsu
- Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 1:39 pm
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Edit: link update
If you want the best resource available for this film, you might consider Robert L. Carringer's The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction, an invaluable book for anyone interested in this film. There is also V.F. Perkins' BFI monograph.
Last edited by kinjitsu on Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:39 pm, edited 2 times in total.
- myrnaloyisdope
- Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 7:41 pm
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Magnificent Ambersons?
Any word on this? I know it's been mentioned in some of the HTF Warner chats as being due this year, but I haven't heard anything specific.
So what's going on with it? Will it be like the silents where they keep getting promised, but never delivered?
So what's going on with it? Will it be like the silents where they keep getting promised, but never delivered?
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- Joined: Fri Jul 08, 2005 11:22 pm
Re: Magnificent Ambersons?
Honestly, I think someone is banking on the destroyed footage being found. That's got to be the only explanation. Good luck on that...
- Joe Buck
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- J Wilson
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As I mentioned in another thread on Welles, Beatrice Welles had sued Turner Entertainment a few years ago, claiming she owned the rights to AMBERSONS. That was only cleared up recently, with Turner retaining their rights, so the film should be clear to release, unless other snags have gotten in the way.
- myrnaloyisdope
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- Steven H
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:30 pm
- Location: NC
We'll get the original cut of Ambersons the day they grow asparagus on Mars.
- movielocke
- Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:44 am
I once asked Rick Jewell (author of the RKO story) about Ambersons, and he told me he'd seen the shipping manifests that had the cans sent out to be dumped in the middle of LA harbor when researching the film. so either a zealous vault person (who somehow foresaw Welles' future reverence and didn't care if they lost their job or not) replaced the film with something else and put it in a can or unmarked can it didn't belong in or all the materials the studio wanted cut and had in their possession are lost. The only other realistic possibility is Robert Wise risked his job to preserve a personal copy of his first cut, but I think we would have heard of that before now if he had done so, probably around the time of the Lawrence of Arabia restoration. Or he sent a copy of his cut to Brazil for Orson Welles to view and give notes on. and that copy has survived somehow today.
none of these survival scenarios are very likely to result in an extant copy of Wise's rough cut of the film. but the possibility is there. I imagine the delay has to do with the rights issues mentioned above as well as searching worldwide for the best surviving prints, hoping to discover a King Kong or Kane esque pristine version in some asylum or suchlike.
none of these survival scenarios are very likely to result in an extant copy of Wise's rough cut of the film. but the possibility is there. I imagine the delay has to do with the rights issues mentioned above as well as searching worldwide for the best surviving prints, hoping to discover a King Kong or Kane esque pristine version in some asylum or suchlike.
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- Antoine Doinel
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- Via_Chicago
- Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:03 pm
This is correct, as movielocke has already laid out. Indeed, Bogdonavich has even gone down to Brazil in a vain attempt to locate the editing print that was sent to Welles while he was working on It's All True. Believe me, unless Warner's got it, it ain't turning up. And they don't, so it won't. Sadly. I'll be happy to eat my shoe though if I'm wrong.miless wrote:but Metropolis was actually premiered with its long cut.
Ambersons was still in editing when hacked to pieces.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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- fiddlesticks
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This sudden upsurge in speculation about the lost reels of Ambersons and Metropolis makes me wonder what 125100 is up to these days. 8-)domino harvey wrote:The discovery of Ambersons elements would be impossible to keep secret-- that missing footage is by far the most sought after film in history and someone in the chain would excitedly leak the information before a DVD release broke the news.
- myrnaloyisdope
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