Review of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) by Davey M — 19 Feb 2008

It's a lovely little movie about the sad, fleeting relationship between past and present, with a plot that sort of resembles Wuthering Heights on sleeping medication. Joseph Cotton is great as ever.

Unfortunately, though much remains of Orson Welles' deft and beautiful touch as a writer and director (his opening and closing narration sequences are absolute perfection on film), the film is clearly and distractingly incomplete in the bastardized studio cut (RKO burned Welles' extra footage).

This and the unfortunate casting of Tim Holt. Though excellent in many films, Holt doesn't have the presence or the depth to carry a film--at least not this early in his career. But you can tell a movie's good when I focus mostly on its shortcomings--there is so much of Ambersons that is wonderful and beautiful.