Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

RoboGarrett This is a brilliant movie, not for people with low attention spans which means a lot of modern audiences won't get it, or won't bother to try. It's a pretty deep and convoluted and dramatic story about a lot of characters and their relationships. Would love to see the long version of this one, the long lost Orson Welles director's cut.

Antonius Block I wanted to love it as a classic, but for me, 'The Magnificent Ambersons' fell well short of that. There are certainly positive aspects: Director Orson Welles was an artist and there are several beautiful shots, camera angles, and tracking sequences that are nice to see. Joseph Cotten is full of grace as an automobile inventor who loves an Amberson widow, but has to contend with her hothead son (Tim Holt), who is as spoiled as they come. The scene where he calmly and rationally responds to an attack on cars is good. It's ironic that Holt's character loves Cotten's daughter in turn, and Anne Baxter plays that part well, including a scene where she feigns indifference to his leaving town and toys with him, even though it's killing her inside. Lastly, Agnes Moorehead turns in probably the best performance in the film as the boy's frustrated aunt.On the other hand, the main character - the spoiled, entitled son – is so unlikeable that it makes watching often unpleasant. The film feels emotionally sterile, and there is little believability in the connections between characters. There is a dark bleakness that pervades the film, in part because of the story of this family's fall from grace while the world changes around them, but also in part because of Welles' heavy-handed treatment. The plot is arguably not very plausible in several places, and is certainly tedious in the second half of the film. The studio's taking control and editing the final cut – butchering it, it sounds like – is a travesty, that sort of thing always is, but even at 88 minutes, the film seems to drag on too long, and in what seems like a smug, theatrical way. I'm not convinced that if I was subjected to 60 more minutes, Welles' original cut, that I wouldn't have fallen asleep, based on the 88 that I did see. It was OK to see once, but I would never recommend it, or watch it again.

Sergeant_Tibbs Fresh off the heels of soon to be hailed as greatest film ever made Citizen Kane, even fans of Orson Welles have to admit it's a little downhill from here. His followup film The Magnificent Ambersons could even be called more ambitious than Kane. It seems like it would've been if the full length version were its current incarnation. The way the film is approached feels like it needs that bloated 2 and a half hour running time with its overly lush frames and on-the-edge acting. Unfortunately, despite the film's presence, it struggled to engage me in the bigger picture plot at every turn. However, some scenes work their own little bubbles and are really quite thought-provoking and poignant. The performances are undeniably brilliant for that reason but it's a shame the script was so butchered, even though it still garners acclaim in its current version. Fascinating way to deliver credits though. The Magnificent Ambersons is a magnificent mess.7/10

utgard14 Ambitious story about a family resistant to change at the turn of the 20th century. In particular the son George (Tim Holt), who resents his mother (Dolores Costello) rekindling a romance with an old flame (Joseph Cotton) and does everything he can to prevent it. That's an oversimplified plot summary as there's a lot going on in this film. Orson Welles' follow-up to Citizen Kane that was notoriously taken out of his hands and heavily edited by the studio. How good Welles' original version was we'll never know but the version that remains is pretty great. Wonderful cast, beautiful cinematography, brilliant direction by Welles. Definitely a classic that everybody should see at least once.