The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Cast

Orson Welles
as Narrator
Anne Baxter
as Lucy Morgan
Agnes Moorehead
as Fanny Minafer
Joseph Cotten
as Eugene Morgan

Get more information about The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) on IMDb

Genres & Description

Drama Romance

7.9 / 10

The young, handsome, but somewhat wild Eugene Morgan wants to marry Isabel Amberson, daughter of a rich upper-class family, but she instead marries dull and steady Wilbur Minafer. Their only child, George, grows up a spoiled brat. Years later, Eugene comes back, now a mature widower and a successful automobile maker. After Wilbur dies, Eugene again asks Isabel to marry him, and she is receptive. But George resents the attentions paid to his mother, and he and his whacko aunt Fanny manage to sabotage the romance. A series of disasters befall the Ambersons and George, and he gets his come-uppance in the end.

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Comments on this trailer
Comments may include spoiler!

Elizabeth MMH

The direction of this scene is exquisite. - @Sunday, January 14, 2018 3:18 PM

hambone31000

Brilliant scene that sums up the entire movie. For one brief period in history, the car is primitive and the horse is supreme. But that changes . Time reverses the horse and automobile scenario. The Ambersons don't change with the times. Reminds me of the time of early movies. The sound was bad and some said people would see plays, no one would pay to see movies and that movies would die quickly. I guess some could interpret a lot of meaning to this. The Ambersons are conservatives or something? - @Friday, April 28, 2017 10:00 PM

David Ryan

Genius! - @Monday, December 5, 2016 10:49 PM

Charles Buxton

I interpret George Minafer's difficulty in push starting the automobile and repeatedly getting a face full of exhaust as an allusion to his industrial accident later in the movie. - @Sunday, February 21, 2016 8:37 PM

Monophylos Fortikos

Such a great scene. George Minafer is one of cinema's most famous brats but damned if you don't feel sorry for him here, going in a minute from winter wonderland to a faceful of carbon monoxide and everyone but him seems to think it's hilarious. - @Thursday, December 31, 2015 9:26 AM

projectstreet

George was mad he didn't get that pussy - @Friday, November 6, 2015 6:41 AM

pelverud1

Or whomever said they had the original cut: idealcleaning, these comments keep rearranging, damn google and their meddling! - @Thursday, December 5, 2013 5:16 AM

pelverud1

Pax, watch when older, you may get it then. Also, the film is so truncated from the original as to be criminal. Anyway, read comments by others on these clips and on net, the juxtaposition of a soon to be forgotten idyllic world to industrialization and dirty, annoying machines and factories...the importance of ALWAYS pursuing your passions and true love at all costs and many other "things" make this film a real treat, but others can do better than me. This is art at its best: puzzling, annoying, yet willing to reveal its treasures to those with the patience to unravel its charms. And yes, GEORGE is annoying, but he should have never been born, his mother should have married her true Eugene! - @Thursday, December 5, 2013 5:15 AM

pelverud1

Tomboycarol does not have what he says he has, just trying out an elaborate, and in poor taste I may add, TROLLING of these comments. - @Thursday, December 5, 2013 5:07 AM

PaxAmericana24

I know I'm asking to be flamed, but in all seriousness, I have to ask what makes this film so spectacular? I've watched it not once, not twice, but thrice and I think it's pretty terrible. So I want to know what people like about it so much? Georgie had to be one of the most revolting and detestable creatures I've ever seen to the point where I wanted him to fall out of a carriage and break his neck. - @Thursday, October 17, 2013 2:40 PM

Jeff Bertucen

@ChopstickBrando ...What is 'Lawrence of Arabia.. - @Wednesday, July 18, 2012 1:06 PM

PleasantGuitar

Reminds one of the start of the snowmobile age - @Friday, May 13, 2011 4:33 PM

marienoreene

@Tomboycarol the copy of the original version or this uploaded version? - @Saturday, July 3, 2010 5:11 PM

marienoreene

@thetenia still thank you so much for that wonderful info... and for the response too... god bless... - @Saturday, July 3, 2010 5:10 PM

thetenia

@marienoreene I very much wish I could, unfortunately after that footage was edited out it was lost. Also, about 45 minutes of additional footage as well. We will never get the chance most likely to see what a lucky few took for granted. - @Saturday, July 3, 2010 12:30 PM

marienoreene

@thetenia hi there... could you possibly post that scene. thanks... - @Saturday, July 3, 2010 3:20 AM

Matthew Lee

I have been reading about Orson Welles, and in one book written about him it suggests that the original script had a sad or bad ending. Maybe you have one of the original copies! - @Tuesday, June 30, 2009 12:34 AM

goback3spaces

Yes, I read it many years ago. As you may know, Welles's film is somewhat fragmentary, and reading the book will help you to fill in some missing parts of the family saga. The whole novel is beautifully written. The only surprising element is the very end, which I won't give away but which isn't hinted at by Welles's movie. So I say: yes, read the book! - @Saturday, June 27, 2009 3:41 AM

NGS712

goback: Have you read Tarkington's novel? If so, how was it? :) - @Saturday, June 27, 2009 3:35 AM

smichelle65

Dolores Costello (Isabelle)=Drew Barrymore's grandmother. - @Sunday, June 21, 2009 6:43 PM

goback3spaces

There's something erotic about this whole sequence, the visible breath, the endless movement, the tumbling into the snow, the nubile Lucy and the eager Georgie. Tarkington's genius meets Welles, who is an equal. Thank God this sequence survives. - @Monday, April 6, 2009 5:50 PM

NGS712

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I can't believe there isn't an American DVD available. That's just ridiculous. - @Sunday, October 5, 2008 5:58 AM

SteveDurnin

Note you can see the actors breath - the scene was shot in an icehouse. Brilliant attention to detail. - @Tuesday, August 19, 2008 7:09 PM

ohrmets

Take note of the cuts between the sleigh ride and Morgan trying to start his automobile. The sleigh ride is idyllic, with lovely bells playing in the background. It represents the soon-to-be surpassed era of inherited, idle luxury the Ambersons inhabited. In contrast is Morgan's dirty and unreliable machinery, which represents industrialization and the changing times that would soon leave the idle rich behind. After all, the sleigh crashes and they all have to leave in the automobile! - @Saturday, August 2, 2008 4:42 PM

thetenia

I don't know if some fans here might be interested, but Robert Wise, the editor, once talked about the original ending. In it, Gene (Joe Cotton) goes to see Fanny in her boarding house. He talks about Georgie and gives basically the same speech about being true to his true love, only now fanny is insane. Gene goes to leave, in his automobile, and looks back at fanny standing in the window. The camera pulls back to reveal, The Amberson Mansion. Now a rundown boardinghouse. - @Thursday, March 6, 2008 3:07 AM

Doug Blanchard

I also think this scene is enchanting. I read somewhere (I forget where) that this whole scene was filmed in an ice factory in Los Angeles. Part of the credit for the magic of this scene belongs to the uncredited composer, Bernard Herman; one of his best film scores. - @Monday, February 18, 2008 12:18 AM

BodaciousWickerman

This is da second best scene afta da party at da mansion scene. - @Tuesday, February 5, 2008 5:59 PM

Shaid Shahid

Its a great scene, magical. One of my favourite scenes in the film. The iris fade out is full of feeling. - @Monday, January 28, 2008 10:06 PM

Doglover

Sorry i meant Lucy{Anne Baxter} - @Monday, January 21, 2008 10:06 PM

Doglover

I have a copy of this classic,its a great shame it got chopped about,although its still worth watching for the great performances alone.I particulary love the scenes between spoilt Georgie{Tim Holt}and Isobel{Anne Baxter}. - @Monday, January 21, 2008 9:45 PM