The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons is one of those period epics that involves both a small and grand story all in one. Simple characters and a simple love story are at the heart of it, but millionaires and decades of feuding dramatize it all. When Joseph Cotten and Dolores Costello are young and in love, their ever-lasting happiness is thwarted by her silly common sense. She thinks he’s too impetuous to make a steady husband, so she marries Don Dillaway instead. Their paths go in very different directions, and she realizes her mistake.
The second part of the movie takes place decades later, so expect a lot of age makeup on the actors. Tim Holt takes over as the lead, and he’s about as likable as Louis Hayward was in My Son! My Son! His love interest is Anne Baxter; will history repeat itself or will the young couple get together? You’ll also see Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, and hear the narration of the film’s director, Orson Welles.
When you watch this movie, you’ll be struck with a very unique directing style from Orson Welles that promoted naturalism above all else. He let the camera run while people walked in and out of the frame, and he didn’t space out the screenplay to let each and every line of dialogue take the spotlight. Actors carried out simultaneous conversations in the foreground and background of the frame, letting audiences strain their ears to pick up every tidbit as they might if they were eavesdropping in real life. Modern indie movies often employ those techniques, but in 1942, they just weren’t done.
In his first original score (even though he won an Oscar for The Devil and Daniel Webster, it wasn’t original music), Bernard Herrmann wrote a really beautiful and complex theme that also sounded very authentic to the time period. This is one of those movies that really stands the test of time. It’s high quality and all the pieces come together to convince the audience that it could have been created at any time – one of the sure signs that it can be watched an enjoyed at any time, too.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Alexandra Colon" for posting!
More Joseph Cotten movies here!
The second part of the movie takes place decades later, so expect a lot of age makeup on the actors. Tim Holt takes over as the lead, and he’s about as likable as Louis Hayward was in My Son! My Son! His love interest is Anne Baxter; will history repeat itself or will the young couple get together? You’ll also see Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, and hear the narration of the film’s director, Orson Welles.
When you watch this movie, you’ll be struck with a very unique directing style from Orson Welles that promoted naturalism above all else. He let the camera run while people walked in and out of the frame, and he didn’t space out the screenplay to let each and every line of dialogue take the spotlight. Actors carried out simultaneous conversations in the foreground and background of the frame, letting audiences strain their ears to pick up every tidbit as they might if they were eavesdropping in real life. Modern indie movies often employ those techniques, but in 1942, they just weren’t done.
In his first original score (even though he won an Oscar for The Devil and Daniel Webster, it wasn’t original music), Bernard Herrmann wrote a really beautiful and complex theme that also sounded very authentic to the time period. This is one of those movies that really stands the test of time. It’s high quality and all the pieces come together to convince the audience that it could have been created at any time – one of the sure signs that it can be watched an enjoyed at any time, too.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Alexandra Colon" for posting!
More Joseph Cotten movies here!