952 The Magnificent Ambersons

[Roger Ryan]

I don't know that I would fully endorse the Pasadena preview edit as it loses two of my favorite scenes (the auto factory scene and George and Uncle Jack arguing in the bathroom) plus it starts monkeying around with the sequencing by placing George's last walk home/"comeuppance" scene after the scenes with Fanny at the water heater and George's visit to Bronson's law office. This alteration affects how one views George's change in behavior: he has already been humbled by the death of his mother and the loss of his financial security, but the last walk home and his self-reflection while kneeling bedside is supposed to prepare the viewer for how George is putting his own needs aside to care for his aunt in the subsequent scenes with Fanny and Bronson (as originally sequenced in the initial long edit).

Personally, I would find ways to cut footage from the first half of the film to bring it to a two-hour length. The FOTA boy's club scene should definitely go as should the barn scene between Eugene and Lucy. I would also delete the tail end of the first porch scene with George fantasizing about Lucy. This is all theoretical, of course, but having seen the full recent reconstruction a number of times, it strikes me that the entire second half of the film (from Eugene's dinner with the Ambersons) to the end credits plays wonderfully and is paced appropriately for the tragedy the story becomes. It's definitely a case of the drama becoming more involving with the scenes extended instead of being truncated to shorten the running time.

... I liked Holt fine - it's not a titanic performance that dominates the movie, but does it really need to be? You look at Schrader's films, he doesn't really do many ensembles. All the ones I've seen are strongly focused on one person and their struggles. I don't think The Magnificent Ambersons would play as well if it were shaped like that - George may be the most pivotal character of the film and the driving force behind the dramatic turns, but the movie always felt like it was much greater in scope than just these people and what happens to them individually. This isn't Kane where his life and actions impact history and the world at large - as prestigious as this family may be in this Midwestern town, they're ultimately above no one and equally at the mercy of time and change.

Yes, this is why it's misleading to claim that the cut 40 minutes or so were focused on Tim Holt's George - that footage being deleted weakened the sense that it is an ensemble drama as you lost material which emphasized the Major's financial problems, Jack's efforts to keep the family afloat, and Fanny's growing isolation. In the attempt to reduce the running time and create a more briskly-paced drama, the released version ended up focusing more on George's actions than was originally intended.

[hearthesilence]

Personally, I would find ways to cut footage from the first half of the film to bring it to a two-hour length...having seen the full recent reconstruction a number of times, it strikes me that the entire second half of the film (from Eugene's dinner with the Ambersons) to the end credits plays wonderfully and is paced appropriately for the tragedy the story becomes. It's definitely a case of the drama becoming more involving with the scenes extended instead of being truncated to shorten the running time.

And of course the great tragedy there is that the changes in the released cut accumulate very quickly in the back half of the film, i.e. through that entire stretch where it was especially damaging.