The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American drama film written and directed by Orson Welles. His second feature film, it is based on the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins. Welles provides the voiceover narration.
Welles lost control of the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons to RKO, and the final version released to audiences differed...
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The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1942 American drama film written and directed by Orson Welles. His second feature film, it is based on the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins. Welles provides the voiceover narration.
Welles lost control of the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons to RKO, and the final version released to audiences differed significantly from his rough cut of the film. More than an hour of footage was cut by the studio, and a new, happier ending was shot and substituted. Although Welles's extensive notes for how he wished the film to be cut have survived, the excised scenes were lost.
Even in its radically altered form, the 1942 film is often regarded as among the best American films ever made, a distinction it shares with Welles' first film, Citizen Kane.
In 1991, The Magnificent Ambersons was selected for preservation in the United States National Film...
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