The Magnificent Ambersons - videos, teasers and stills from filming

All videos, teasers and footage from the filming of the film "The Magnificent Ambersons"

The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Timing: 1:28 (88 min)

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All about film

Video 1

Photo 14

Actors and characters

The Magnificent Ambersons

English

2:30

What's left behind the scenes

While Orson Welles (1915-1985) was abroad, the RKO Radio Pictures film company cut 50 minutes from the film and added a happy ending. The excised material was eventually destroyed. Among fans of the film, the lost original version gained the status of a kind of "Holy Grail." Some high-profile Hollywood figures searched for the material in the archives of Paramount Studios (which included the archives of RKO Radio Pictures), and throughout Los Angeles. The searches were conducted, in particular, by Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola, Henry Jaglom, and William Friedkin (the latter searching for many years, especially since he was married to Sherry Lansing, the head of Paramount Pictures). As of 2018, the searches had been unsuccessful.
In the original ending (Welles considered it one of the best scenes in the entire film), Eugene visits Fanny in the boarding house, talks about George’s recovery, and mentions that he has reconciled with his daughter; then, as he leaves the boarding house, the camera pulls back, and it is visible that it is the Ambersons’ mansion converted into a boarding house.
The sets for the Ambersons’ mansion were among the most expensive sets for their time. At Welles’ insistence, the interior of the mansion was built with the finest details, with walls and ceilings as if it were a real mansion. This allowed the cinematographer to freely film in the rooms from any angle.
Before filming the scene in which George and Uncle Jack tease Fanny about her infatuation with Eugene, Orson Welles rehearsed it with the actors for four days. No notes about what and how should happen were recorded for the actors anywhere. The director simply discussed their respective characters with the actors and told them to improvise on camera. Eventually, the four-minute scene was filmed in one take.

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