The Magnificent Ambersons

In 1873, in a small Midland town, the magnificence of the Ambersons, the town's wealthiest family, dominates the social scene. Young George Amberson is the spoiled scion of the wealthy Amberson family. Eugene Morgan is a struggling inventor who loves George's mother Isabel, but loses her to the wealthy Wilbur Minafer. After an absence of several years, Eugene returns, now successful having invented an automobile, as a widower with an attractive daughter, Lucy. Eugene attempts to rekindle his love affair with Isabel, but George interferes. This affects not only George's romance with Lucy, but also the fading Amberson fortunes. Alfonso Arau's handsome The Magnificent Ambersons, based on Orson Welles's original screenplay, is a brave attempt to restore the dramatic scenes lost when RKO radically recut Welles's magnificent 1941 masterpiece, but it's less a remake than a new take on the material. Bruce Greenwood makes a gracious and sincere Eugene Morgan, the inventor who woos heiress Isabel Amberson (a vibrant Madeleine Stowe) and finds his rival is her spoiled, arrogant son, George (played with sneering, bug-eyed intensity by Jonathan Rhys Meyers). It hits a few sour notes (notably Meyers and a terribly miscast Jennifer Tilly as the jealous Aunt Fanny), but the "new" scenes explore the sprawl of the city, the falling fortunes of the Amberson dynasty, and the almost incestuous intimacy between mother and son only hinted at in Welles's compromised version. It may lack the grand design and cinematic grace of Welles, but it creates its own gentle take on Booth Tarkington's turbulent novel. --Sean Axmaker

Actors: Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello

Audio Languages: English

Duration: 150 minutes

Number of Discs: 1

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