Hacked about by a confused RKO, Welles' second film (from the novel by Booth Tarkington) still looks a masterpiece.
Comment
02/09/06
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
96
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:23
Fresh:22
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.4/10
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: The sweeping saga of a prominent wealthy family's attempt to adapt to the changing times at the close of a decadent age. Though mutilated by studio executives before studio release, this film... [More]
Starring: Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt
Director: Orson Welles, Freddie Fleck, Robert Wise, Richard Bennett
Reviews for The Magnificent Ambersons
Top CriticWelles' technical brilliance shines through, securing the film its classic status.
03/05/02
Top CriticThe emotional sense of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is so palpable you can taste it.
04/06/07
A masterpiece in every way (but ignore the awkward ending the studio tacked on without Welles's approval).
04/06/07
This is Orson Welles' lost movie, one he might have been able to rescue, had he been less brash -- and a film he and others believed to be superior to Citizen Kane.
04/06/07
Having mastered film technique in Citizen Kane, Welles devotes more attention to the characters, all of which are all individual creations rather than types. It's a deeper, more personal work than Kane even if it lacks the latter's narrative pull.
08/23/06
All in all, The Magnificent Ambersons is an exceptionally well-made film, dealing with a subject scarcely worth the attention which has been lavished upon it.
08/08/06
Top CriticTold in a magnificently opulent cinematic style.
06/01/05
No review available.
11/19/04
Not 'Citizen Kane,' but what is?
10/23/04
No review available.
03/29/04
I must say that I much prefer it to Citizen Kane (1941). So sue me.
02/26/04
A pretty sensational movie.
02/18/04
No review available.
08/22/03
A domestic drama that is every bit the equal of Welles' Citizen Kane.
08/16/03
Ambersons – even in its mutilated form – has a resonance most movies can only dream of.
10/22/02
Oh, what might have been...
07/26/02
little more than a primitive form of soap opera
03/24/01
Welles's second great masterpiece.
01/01/00
Latest News for The Magnificent Ambersons
September 15, 2005:
Hollywood Giant Robert Wise Passes Away at 91
Master filmmaker and 4-time Oscar winner Robert Wise has died at the age of 91. Probably best known as the director of films like "The Sound of Music," "West Side... More...
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