The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

My Review

“The Magnificent Ambersons” is a multi-generational drama of an aristocratic Midwestern family in decline during the rise of the industrial revolution. Director-screenwriter Orson Welles did a “magnificent” job of adapting the 1918 Booth Tarkington novel of the same name to the big screen. It has incomparable production values, great writing, and memorable performances from his own “Mercury Theater” actors. This was only Welles’ second film after “Citizen Kane” (1941).

The cast includes Joseph Cotton, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Dolores Costello, Erskine Sanford, Richard Bennett, Don Dillaway, and Orson Welles as the narrator. “The Magnificent Ambersons” was a box office bomb for producer Orson Welles, Mercury Productions, and RKO Radio Pictures. It received four Oscar nods for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (Moorehead), Best Cinematography/Black-and-White (Stanley Cortez), and Best Art Direction.