THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS

 

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) was written, produced, and directed by Orson Welles and is based on the 1918 Booth Tarkington novel of the same name. The Ambersons were the wealthiest family in Indianapolis at the end of the 19th century. Young Isabel Amberson (Dolores Costello) has been courted for some time by Eugene Morgan (Joseph Cotton), but after he accidentally embarrasses her because of a public mishap, Isabel childishly decides that she will marry Wilbur Minafer instead. She doesn’t love Wilbur and their marriage is a dull routine, so Isabel channels all her time and devotion into their one child, George. George grows up being given anything he wants and he soon morphs from an annoying child into an extremely spoiled and self-centered young man (Tim Holt). George is universally disliked throughout the town, and most residents look forward to him one day getting his comeuppance.

It's now the early 1900’s and during a large gala held at the Amberson home, George meets a young lady named Lucy (Anne Baxter) who is visiting from out of town. He becomes smitten with her until he learns that her father was his mother’s former beau, Eugene Morgan, who is now a widower. Soon Wilbur Minafer will lose a substantial amount of the family fortune through poor investments and then he dies. Eugene and Isabel find their former romance rekindling, much to the disdain of Wilber’s sister Fanny (Agnes Moorehead). Fanny is what that era referred to as a spinster, and she had hoped to woo Eugene for herself. Meanwhile, George continues to try and win over Lucy.

In a nutshell, George despises Eugene’s affection for his mother and forces her to decide between them. She chooses her son and abandons her budding second romance. Meanwhile, Lucy rejects George completely, considering him a man with no ambition or character. Isabel dies, brokenhearted and George and Fanny discover that almost the entire Amberson fortune has been lost. They will soon be homeless, and George will be forced to find a job. A short time later, he is injured in an automobile accident. This is ironic because it was investments into the “horseless carriages” that provided Eugene his own fortune and led to much of the demise of the Amberson’s wealth.

I was disappointed that this tale wraps up with an unsatisfying conclusion (I won’t spoil) that dissipates the satisfaction the viewer wants from watching George’s silver spoon existence come to an end. There’s no real conflict in the story and it just seems to build upon the same themes over and over. It turns out that the ending of the film was forced by the studio, who reshot it when Orson Welles was out of the country. Welles is said to have hated how his original concept was mangled without his consent or input.

The acting is superb, with Agnes Moorehead receiving a Best Supporting Actress nod. The cinematography and sets were grand and the story rife with illustrations of classism at the turn of the century. That said, the “it all still works out” finale just made the Ambersons a little less magnificent.