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The Magnificent Ambersons

1942

Orson Welles

Tim Holt, Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Agnes Moorehead ...

7.6

7,346

Drama 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 ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"Welles makes the story even more powerful through his extraordinary mise en scene and some of the finest acting to be found in American movies"	POS
United Kingdom	Philip French The Guardian	"A flawed masterpiece, as brilliant a study of social change as Visconti's 'The Leopard' (...) This is Welles's warmest, most personal film"	POS
United States	T.M.P. The New York Times	"[Welles] has an eloquent, if at times grandiose, flair for the dramatic (...) 'The Magnificent Ambersons' is an exceptionally well-made film"	POS
United States	Jim Emerson rogerebert.com	"OK, 'Ambersons' isn't 'Kane' -- it's not as much fun as 'Kane' (few movies are), but it's every bit as accomplished and it goes deeper into its characters and its evocation of the past."	POS
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"The film retains enough brilliance to make us glad it's been re-released (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"The film as it stands is a vision of a lost world of graces and traditions that are as alluring as they are confining, as beautiful as they are useless"	POS
United States	Ignatiy Vishnevetsky AV Club	"[It] continues to enchant (...) Masterly. It’s the movie that all other films about families in decline are measured against."	POS
United Kingdom	Geoff Andrew Time Out	"A masterpiece, astounding for its almost magical re-creation of a gentler age (...) With immaculate period reconstruction, and virtuoso acting shot in long, elegant takes"	POS

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