The Magnificent Ambersons [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

The Magnificent Ambersons [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Orson Welles Cast: Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
, Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello
, Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter
, Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead
Orson Welles
The Magnificent Ambersons [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

The Magnificent Ambersons [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Orson Welles Cast: Joseph Cotten
Joseph Cotten
, Dolores Costello
Dolores Costello
, Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter
, Agnes Moorehead
Agnes Moorehead
Orson Welles

Blu-ray (Black & White)

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Overview

Orson Welles' followup to Citizen Kane (1941) was utterly different from Kane in style and texture, but just as brilliant in its own way. Writer/director Welles does not appear on camera, but his voiceover narration superbly sets the stage for the movie's action, which fades in valentine fashion on Amberson Mansion, the most ostentatious dwelling in all of turn-of-century Indianapolis. Its mistress is the haughtily beautiful Isabel Amberson (Dolores Costello). When Isabel's beau, erstwhile inventor Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotten), inadvertently humiliates her in public, she breaks off the relationship and marries colorless Wilbur Minafer (Donald Dillaway). The neighbors are certain that, since Isabel can't possibly love Wilbur, she will spoil her children rotten. As it turns out, she has one child, George Minafer (Tim Holt), and that one is enough as far as the rest of Indianapolis is concerned. There are those who live for the day that the arrogant, insufferable George will get his comeuppance. When George returns home from college, his mother and grandfather (Richard Bennett) hold a gala reception in his honor. Among the guests is the older-and-wiser Eugene, now a prosperous automobile manufacturer, and his pretty daughter Lucy (Anne Baxter). George takes to Lucy immediately, but can't warm up to Eugene, especially after learning from his uncle Jack Amberson (Ray Collins) and his maiden aunt Fanny (Agnes Moorehead) that Eugene and Isabel had once been sweethearts. After the death of Wilbur Minafer, the widowed Eugene feels emboldened enough to propose to Isabel again. This time she is willing, but the obstreperous George refuses to allow his mother to see Eugene. His imperious bullheadedness will lead to tragedy for all concerned--and, at long last, a chastened George Minafer will indeed receive his comeuppance. The film's real villain is not George but that old intangible bugaboo called "Progress." As the automobile age comes to fruition, the elegant, cloistered lifestyle of the Ambersons fades from view, finally disappearing altogether. This is superbly foreshadowed in the "winter outing" sequence (filmed in an L.A. icehouse) in which George's two-horse sleigh is abandoned in favor of Eugene's clunky horseless carriage. Welles evokes performances that his actors seldom (if ever) matched in later years; even the very limited Tim Holt is wholly believable-and even a bit pitiable-as the blinkered George Amberson Minafer. The current version, however, is but a pale shadow of Welles' original concept. Out of time and overbudget, the movie previewed badly and was eventually sliced down to an abrupt 88 minutes (by, among others, editor Robert Wise, who would go on to direct such films as West Side Story and The Sound of Music). Even though the film therefore must be regarded as a marred masterpiece, the remaining two-thirds of Welles' original concept is still a thrilling cinematic experience, especially whenever Agnes Moorehead is on the screen.

Product Details

Release Date: 11/27/2018
UPC: 0715515223515
Original Release: 1942
Rating: NR
Source: Criterion Collection
Region Code: A
Presentation: [B&W]
Sound: [Dolby Digital Mono]
Language: English
Time: 1:28:00
Sales rank: 9,212

Special Features

New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack Two audio commentaries, featuring scholars Robert L. Carringer and James Naremore and critic Jonathan Rosembaum New interviews with film historians Simon Callow and Joseph McBride New video essays by scholars François Thomas and Christopher Husted Director Orson Welles on The Dick Cavett Show in 1970 Segment from a 1925 silent adaptation of The Magnificent Ambersons Audio from a 1978 AFI symposium on Welles, and audio interviews with Welles conducted by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich Two Mercury Theatre radio plays: Seventeen (1938), an adaptation of another Booth Tarkington novel by Welles, and The Magnificent Ambersons (1939) Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
Joseph Cotten Eugene Morgan
Dolores Costello Isabel Amberson Minafer,Actor
Anne Baxter Lucy Morgan
Agnes Moorehead Fanny Amberson
Ray Collins Jack Amberson
Richard Bennett Maj. Amberson
Erskine Sanford Benson
Tim Holt George Amberson Minafer
J. Louis Johnson Sam the Butler
Donald Dillaway Wilbur Minafer
Charles Phipps Uncle John
Dorothy Vaughan Woman at Funeral
Elmer Jerome Man at Funeral
John Elliott Guest
Nina Guilbert Guest
Sam Rice Man at Funeral
Olive Ball Mary
Kathryn Sheldon Matron
Anne O'Neal Mrs. Foster
Henry Roquemore Hardware Man
Mel Ford Fred Kinney
Lillian Nicholson Landlady
Bobby Cooper George as a Boy
Drew Roddy Elijah
Jack Baxley Rev. Smith
Nancy Gates Girl
James Westerfield Cop at Accident
Edwin August Man
Jack Santoro Barber
Gus Schilling Drugstore Clerk
Georgia Backus Matron
Hilda Plowright Nurse
Bob Pittard Charlie Johnson
Billy Elmer House Servant
Maynard Holmes Citizen
Lew Kelly Citizen
John McGuire Young Man
Edward Howard Chauffeur/Citizen
William Blees Youth at Accident
Philip Morris Cop
Louis Hayward Ballroom Extra
Orson Welles The Narrator,Narrator
Bob Cooper George as a Boy
Nina Guilberg Guest
Bernard Herrmann Composer
Roy Webb Composer

Technical Credits
Orson Welles Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Vernon L. Walker Special Effects,Special Effects
Booth Tarkington Screenwriter
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