93/100

"Rosebud" in motion. Within its artificial snowflakes are the rampaging feelings of jealousy and the crumbling foundations of success, and in that sense, it's the film that is inseparably Orson Welles. The Magnificent Ambersons is flawed in a truly fascinating way, and while Welles' original cut could've been, as he claimed, better than Citizen Kane, we will never know. And yet, the tattered vision of The Magnificent Ambersons glows with unrestrained darkness and distinct beauty.

Above all, It proves that the soul of true art can be lessened, but never removed. Family is everything, even if demons roam the shadows.

*Was a 93, now a 100*

"George Amberson-Minafer walked home through the strange streets of what seemed to be a strange city. For the town was growing... changing... it was heaving up in the middle, incredibly; it was spreading incredibly. And as it heaved and spread, it befouled itself and darkened its skies. This was the last walk home he was ever to take up National Avenue, to Amberson Edition, and the big old house at the foot of Amberson Boulevard. Tomorrow they were to move out. Tomorrow everything would be gone."

A nostalgia for the living. My favorite of Welles' films, which puts it right at the top of almost everything, really. Its cracks and fissures of space, structure (both familial and societal), and movement convey a deep-focus eruption of decay, one which observes like a ghost on its first day, curious and forever yearning.

"I wrote the script and directed it. My name is Orson Welles. This is a Mercury Production."

--the most heartbreaking line in the film.

Legitimately furious about the studio edits, which are more glaringly obvious than I'd imagined them to be, and the fact that focus groups weren't outlawed as a result of this. Feels like if FWWM stopped halfway through and the rest of the film was a slideshow strung together out of The Missing Pieces. Giving this an 8/10 out of respect for what's left of Welles' version, but I don't know if I could rewatch it given how frustrating the cuts are.

#ReleaseTheWellesCut

unrelated to the film but i wonder if the title of The Royal Tenenbaums was inspired by this? lol

Watched this right on the heels of Citizen Kane, having enjoyed that film far more than I expected, albeit wishing it were an hour longer, as there seemed to be more scenes of characters telling Kane what kind of man he'd become than actual depictions of him as such a man. My want for an extra hour is even greater toward The Magnificent Ambersons, a film more ostentatiously cut to pieces than any I've seen in a while; William Alland's line at the end of Citizen Kane about the preceding events being a jigsaw puzzle seems much more apt here.

George is kind of a butthead.

Watching the reassembled second film from Orson Welles made me again realize just how far he was ahead of his time. The camera work and direction in The Magnificent Ambersons is so good, I was shocked. The camera moves in a way different from anyone else in 40s. While it is a shame that the studio interfered in the way they did, the film still mostly works, and I appreciated its commentary (that is before the ending literally upends all of that). Overall, a great film from one of the greats.

I have yet to see a "bad" Orson Welles film. What I love most about his movies is the camera movement and lighting. He makes you feel almost like a ghost watching the characters. You move so smoothly and poetically through the story, it's hard to not be interested in what's going on.

This "ruined" masterpiece truly is amazing even with the hectic cuts and all but sacrificed second half. I loved it. It seems a bit more mature than Kane, from a story perspective, much more cold and cynical too. Really remarkable. One that I will want to and probably will, watch again and again.

DVD

Georgie Minafer is the Kyle Ron of 1901 

NEW CANON CHRISTMAS LIST 

Definitely loses its magic, but what’s there is pretty great.