The Magnificent Ambersons 1942
I knew The Magnificent Ambersons was directed by Orson Welles, but didn’t know much else when I borrowed it using a Screen Pass. It is only his second movie, made after Citizen Kane. It is kind of an early version of Dynasty or Dallas as it follows members of a rich family, the Ambersons, through the years. It primarily focuses on a daughter in that family and her spoiled and ambitionless grown son as well as her old flame from her youth. The story centers too much on the spoiled son, who is too unlikeable to carry the film even though he is a great side character. There is no reason even for his mother to like him, let alone the cute daughter of the old flame. Audiences seem to like stories about rich people, especially if they are miserable, so the movie delivers on that, but otherwise doesn’t have much going on. About a third of the movie was cut by RKO without Welles' involvement (it seems like it was a challenge to get Welles to finish a project since Touch of Evil was similar), so who knows if it would have been better if he could have made the movie he wanted. Even at just 88 minutes, it dragged a little, so I‘m not optimistic. Some of the acting is good, but I don’t think the story is told that well and it is mostly depressing and filled with unrelateable and generally unlikeable characters.
Written: 16 Jul 2022