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    The Magnificent Ambersons

    Reviewed by
    maverick@

    I had difficulty in developing affection for this film. It may have simply been the soundtrack. For some the melancholy music may generate tears suitable for the melodrama. My reaction was closer to nausea. Tim Holt was the key player on screen. Holt played a spoiled, self centered rich kid with an in-your-face arrogance. Another character in the film said to him "don't be so theatrical". Right on! Joseph Cotton received top billing and played his part solidly, as did Dolores Costello. The camerawork was beautiful throughout, a big plus to this film.

    6
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    maverick@  12.5.2014 age: 50+ 470 reviews

    I couldn't help but notice your lone film review of The Magnificent Ambersons. In part, I agree with a few things you have said, but the film, the ENTIRE film (not what you might have seen on television) is such a towering victory in the Welles canon of film, better even than Citizen Kane, but no one will ever now know this as RKO, the releasing studio massacred the film in the day by truncating it to a mere 90 minutes. I did not find fault with the performances as they match what was envisioned in the Booth Tarkington (sp) novel. And the role of Agnes Moorehead was so severely edited that she went from a lead to a supporting player. By the way, Miss Moorehead won Best Actress from The New York Film Critics in 1942 for the full and complete Ambersons.

    I rarely reply to anyone about anything they have written but I felt obliged to let you know what a blessing the complete version of Ambersons truly is in the Welles canon of films.

    This has nothing to do with your very legitimate views of the film! It was what you felt about the feature. I just wrote my sketchy memories of the film in a restored version I saw in New York some 10 years ago! Everything about this masterpiece transported me to another world including the unbelievable score by, I believe, Bernard Hermann!

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    pietroantoni@  29.1.2018 age: 36-49 14,551 reviews

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