Review of The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) by Jonathan Rosenbaum for Chicago Reader — 10 Jul 1997

For the most part, this is a very close adaptation of Booth Tarkington's underrated novel about the relentless decline of a wealthy midwestern family through the rise of industrialization, though Welles makes the story even more powerful through his extraordinary mise en scene and some of the finest acting to be found in American movies.