The Magnificent Ambersons | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Name: The Magnificent Ambersons
Released: 1942-7-10
Cast: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead

The Magnificent Ambersons

PG-13
1h 28m
1942

89%

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A spat between wealthy, young Isabel Amberson and her beau, the brash inventor, Eugene Morgan, launches a chain of events that will haunt two families for generations in Orson Welles classic The Magnificent Ambersons. After quarreling with Eugene (Joseph Cotton), Isabel (Dolores Costello) marries a man she does not love and devotes her life to her son, George (Tim Holt). Over the years, Eugene becomes a millionaire in the new automobile industry; George grows into an insufferable young man; and Eugene and Isabel, both widowed, resume their relationship. Eugene proposes to Isabel, but George, who has never had to work, disdains the self-made Eugene. He bars his mother from seeing the one man she has ever loved. Yet, even though George has prevented Eugene from ever marrying Isabel, Eugene rescues George when tragedy strikes the Amberson family.

Director:

Orson Welles

Producer:

Orson Welles

Writer:

Orson Welles

Cast:

Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Richard Bennett

Rotten Tomatoes® Score

TOMATOMETER®

89%

Critics Consensus: Assembled with bold visual craft and penetrating insight, The Magnificent Ambersons further establishes writer-director Orson Welles as a generational talent.

Reviews

InSession Film

Dave Giannini

Despite its faults, The Magnificent Ambersons stands tall as an example of great filmmaking. The performances, Welles’s direction, and the production design make this picture worth your viewing.

After the neorealistic revolution of Citizen Kane's cinematographic achievement, then, The Magnificent Ambersons becomes the consecration, in some sort of stripped-down and ultimately classical way, of a new mode of screen narration.

The Magnificent Ambersons is a deliciously photographed time capsule, with Albert S. D'Agostino's impressive set designs belying the craftsmanship and detail which went into recreating turn-of-the-century Indianapolis.

Welles has a knack for heart-rending stories rife with comeuppance, tragedy, remembrance, doomed romance, and, most superbly, the pleasures of forgiveness and closure.

True, there are wonderful authentic period touches, excellent dramatic photographic work and fine direction of a wonderful cast. Welles has employed so much subtlety, however... that the resultant effect is vague and even meaninglessly depressing.

July 24, 2020

FULL REVIEW