Review: The Magnificent Ambersons, Time and Regret

Orson Welles' second film, The Magnificent Ambersons is a dark masterpiece of early filmmaking. Despite it's butchered form - almost 50 minutes were destroyed by the studio - it succeeds in creating an atmosphere of social upheaval, unfulfilled love and cruel arrogance derived from an overweening sense of superiority.

The film, based on the book by Booth Tarkington, is set in a Midland town in the post-bellum period of the late 1800s. It portrays the magnificence of the Ambersons, an indisputably well-off family in this small town. The patriarch, Major Amberson, developed a portion of the town, and built a grandiose mansion to house his clan. The early parts of the tale describe the changing times afflicting the town, from personal appearance to architecture. The verbiage of the book is replaced by a visual collage of these social changes. Much like we ourselves find our world buffetted by unceasing change, those fin-de-siecle times had a tumultuous zeitgeist. As a passage in the book describes it,

It was a hairier day than this. Beards were to the wearers' fancy, and things as strange as the Kaiserliche boar-tusk moustache were commonplace. "Side-burns" found nourishment upon childlike profiles; great Dundreary whiskers blew like tippets over young shoulders; moustaches were trained as lambrequins over forgotten mouths; and it was possible for a Senator of the United States to wear a mist of white whisker upon his throat only, not a newspaper in the land finding the ornament distinguished enough to warrant a lampoon. Surely no more is needed to prove that so short a time ago we were living in another age!

The simple town, dealing with these changes, find the Ambersons a surprise and a challenge. Their magnificence is "as conspicuous as a brass band at a funeral". The Amberson heiress, Miss Isabel is much serenaded by many a boisterous town gentleman, but chooses instead a more persistent suitor, Wilbur Minifer, not precisely because she loves him. They have a child, George, who turns out to be a spoilt, arrogant rich brat.

The arrogant boy grows up to be an intolerable rich young man, used to getting his own way, and calling the shots. In one scene, George, played by Tim Holt, tells Miss Lucy, featuring Anne Baxter in her debut, and I'm paraphrasing a bit, "Be ready by 2 P.M. for our sleigh ride". She replies, "I will not be ready at 2". He responds, firmly, "You WILL be ready at 2 for our ride". She acquiesces, only a minor example of his pride and effrontery.

Miss Lucy is the daughter of Eugene Morgan, who, as it turns out, was one of Miss Isabel's jilted suitors, and the one she truly loved. Following the demise of her husband, Mr Minafer, he presses his suit once again. She does not deny him her favors, but her proud son, slams the door on his face literally. His aunt Fanny, played by Agnes Moorehead, delivers a sterling performance of an old maid, destined to suffer in the shadows of her more beautiful and richer sister. This state of affairs persists, set against a backdrop of portending economic ruin, caused by the changing fortunes of the family and coupled with the challenges faced by the upcoming 'horseless carriages'.

Article Author: Aaman Lamba

Aaman Lamba is a Blogcritics editor, as well as the Publisher of Desicritics.org, a Blogcritics network site covering media, politics, culture, sports and more with a global South Asian focus

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