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 title by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins. Welles provides the voiceover narration.
Tarkington's novel originally had been filmed in 1925 by Vitagraph Pictures, starring Cullen Landis, Alice Calhoun, and All...
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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 title by Booth Tarkington and stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead and Ray Collins. Welles provides the voiceover narration.
Tarkington's novel originally had been filmed in 1925 by Vitagraph Pictures, starring Cullen Landis, Alice Calhoun, and Allan Forrest, and directed by David Smith. Welles adapted it for the radio in 1939 for the Mercury Theatre of the Air. The only actor from that production who also appeared in the film was Ray Collins.
Welles lost control of the editing of The Magnificent Ambersons to RKO, and the final version released to audiences differed significantly from his vision for the film. More than an hour of footage was cut by the studio, and a new, happier ending was shot and tacked on. Although Welles's extensive notes for how he wished the film to be cut...
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