The Magnificent Ambersons (2002)
Review by Igraine
Film:
DVD:

Written by Orson Welles, based on a novel by Booth Tarkington
Directed by Alfonso Arau
Starring James Cromwell, Madeline Stowe, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Gretchen Mol, Jennifer Tilly

Features:

• Making-of featurette
  
• Cast bios/filmographies
  

The Ambersons, led by their patriarch Major Amberson (Cromwell), are a wealthy family that helped to build a Midwestern community. Through real estate investments, Amberson has built a town that is now--at the turn of the last century--on the brink of change. That change is due to the encroaching modernization of everything around them, and in the face of this, the family struggles with its own wealth, arrogance, and pride. They resist the coming shift, but as everybody knows--a tree that doesn't bend will simply break.

This much-vaunted film exists because of a dispute between Orson Welles and RKO Pictures. For the original 1942 version, Welles saw his vision mangled when the studio cut it up and reshot the ending. Welles' notes for how he had wanted the film to look survived, however, and thus here we have what's supposed to be the realization of the director's definitive vision. This is, of course, a far cry from the last time we've seen something restored to Welles' original intent--namely the 1998 re-release of Touch of Evil--which was re-edited from his notes. I'm sure snagging the director of Like Water for Chocolate to bring the thing to the small screen seemed like a great idea.

Overall, though, the film is just plain boring. I found myself wandering around looking for something to do while watching it. It does not grasp your attention, let alone hold it. The cast is simply average at best, which is more than I expected after learning that Jennifer Tilly was cast in this film--just not a big fan. Madeleine Stowe and James Cromwell do not live up to their standards in this film and could have found much more depth in their characters. Based on Stowe's comments before the film aired on A&E, though, I'm wondering how much of Arau's hand or lack of hand there was in all of these problems. The story is slow moving and doesn't involve the viewer at all and the dialogue seems to be trying too hard to be "period"--which is an odd way for it to seem since, well, it is Welles' screenplay we're dealing with here.. Instead of feeling anything for these characters, I wanted to curl up next to a fire reading the phone book just so I could say that I got a little bit of entertainment for the day.

I think the DVD gets the treatment it deserves: there's really nothing to it. The special features are weak. The list includes the biographies of main cast members as well as that of Orson Welles. The 'Making of' special featurette is typical, filled with some behind the scenes snippets and some interviews with some of the cast and crew who simply regurgitate the plot to you rather than taking the time to talk about anything substantive; you know, just straightforward propaganda for the film and raving about Orson Welles and his vision.

Overall, the film doesn't live up to the hoopla and the DVD really doesn't help matters either. I'd advise you to just skip the whole thing.