Directed by:
Orson WellesScreenplay:
Orson WellesComposer:
Bernard HerrmannCast:
Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Richard Bennett, Orson Welles (narrator), Nancy Gates (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Orson Welles’s beautiful, nostalgia-suffused second feature—the subject of one of cinema’s greatest missing-footage tragedies—harks back to turn-of-the-twentieth-century Indianapolis, chronicling the inexorable decline of the fortunes of an affluent family. Adapted from an acclaimed Booth Tarkington novel and characterized by restlessly inventive camera work and powerful performances from a cast including Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt, and Agnes Moorehead, the film traces the rifts deepening within the Amberson clan—at the same time as the forces of progress begin to transform the city they once ruled. Though RKO excised over forty minutes of footage, now lost to history, and added an incongruously upbeat ending, The Magnificent Ambersons is an emotionally rich family saga and a masterful elegy for a bygone chapter of American life. (Criterion)
(more)Cast
![Joseph Cotten](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/267/267528_2ea5a9.jpg)
Joseph Cotten
USA
Best movies:
Gaslight (1944)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The 3rd Man (1949)
![Dolores Costello](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/444/444362_00aa8d.jpg)
Dolores Costello
USA
Best movies:
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936)
Noah's Ark (1928)
![Anne Baxter](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/164/349/164349849_77e88d.png)
Anne Baxter
USA
Best movies:
All About Eve (1950)
East of Eden (1981) (series)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
![Tim Holt](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/127/186/127186518_5c2237.jpg)
Tim Holt
USA
Best movies:
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
![Agnes Moorehead](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/267/267529_9ee2bd.jpg)
Agnes Moorehead
USA
Best movies:
Citizen Kane (1941)
Caged (1950)
The Stratton Story (1949)
![Ray Collins](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/049/262/49262654_a525d4.jpg)
Ray Collins
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Heiress (1949)
![Erskine Sanford](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/127/186/127186533_fd346e.jpg)
Erskine Sanford
USA
Best movies:
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
![Richard Bennett](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/277/160277539_992b4c.jpg)
Richard Bennett
USA
Best movies:
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Song of Songs (1933)
Arrowsmith (1931)
![Orson Welles](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/000/267/267527_357cbf.jpg)
Orson Welles (narrator)
USA
Best movies:
Shogun (1980) (series) - narrator
Waterloo (1970)
Citizen Kane (1941)
![Nancy Gates](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/163/523/163523407_2da0a8.jpg)
Nancy Gates
USA
Best movies:
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Nevada (1944)
This Land Is Mine (1943)
![James Westerfield](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/256/159256217_36145c.jpg)
James Westerfield
USA
Best movies:
On the Waterfront (1954)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
The Proud Rebel (1958)
![Gil Perkins](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/370/159370096_d4778b.jpg)
Gil Perkins
Australia
Best movies:
Raging Bull (1980)
Captains Courageous (1937)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
![Dorothy Vaughan](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/159/893/159893450_70195d.jpg)
Dorothy Vaughan
USA
Best movies:
After the Thin Man (1936)
Gentleman Jim (1942)
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939)
![Don Dillaway](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/160/913/160913817_e6d55a.jpg)
Don Dillaway
USA
Best movies:
The People Against O'Hara (1951)
Storm Warning (1951)
Pack Up Your Troubles (1932)
![Lew Kelly](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/229/161229951_eff575.jpg)
Lew Kelly
USA
Best movies:
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
It Started with Eve (1941)
The Little Foxes (1941)
![John Elliott](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w88h116crop/files/images/creator/photos/161/224/161224825_89a905.jpg)
John Elliott
USA
Best movies:
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Anne O'Neal
USA
Best movies:
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Gun Crazy (1950)
John McGuire
Best movies:
White Heat (1949)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
Kathryn Sheldon
USA
Best movies:
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Frontier Marshal (1939)
Philip Morris
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
Citizen Kane (1941)