Welles' first-rate narration and the solid introduction to the Amberson family were promising. Regrettably, the story never really takes off and Holt's insipid performance doesn't give us an in to the unlikable lead character of George. There's a lot left to admire (staging/framings, Baxter) and a few scenes stand out (Cotton being turned away at the deathbed of his beloved, Baxter laughing off Holt's theatrical goodbye) but in the end this is a merely okay melodrama with some very nice touches.

Welles himself isn't on screen in this one. The portentous Expressionism of Stanley Cortez's lighting, which transforms and denatures the bygone Midwest, is a more tangible force than Progress; and this alone accounts for the feeling of debilitation and desperation that pervades the cavernous home of American aristocracy, with its steep staircases, tiered balustrades, chilly foyer, and its unseen ghosts of forefathers and traditions.

A perfectly interesting, but ultimately not that exciting Orson Welles film. Sporadically funny as well as confusing and bewildering, the plot bounds along at a fair pace, but aside from the (no doubt impressive) cinematographic improvements this film brought, there is little to really grab the imagination.

The studio butchering left the first half somewhat choppy and confusing, but riding it out and keeping my imagination going, by the time I was nearing the end the missing elements had become phantom limbs, and I found some sense of wholeness. A few of the shots rival Kane for wow-factor, yet they're all so masterfully subtle that they never threaten to pull you out of it. I'm not going to dwell on what could have been; I'm glad just to have another beautiful work by Welles.

The film is expertly put together. The lighting both shrouding and revealing, the sets and costumes glorious, rich in detail and splendid to look at, the film's ability to charm, to entertain, to move. But the studio have left their mark - I would like to see someone try and come up with a more out of place, silly, cloying ending. Still everything up until the regretably grotesque treatment the studio gave to such an otherwise excellent film is precisely that - excellent.

46

Wish we could see the director's cut.

Marred by a studio-butchered ending, but possibly even greater than Kane. An elegaic film, filled with sadness for a vanished age. Dolores Costello is luminous, Joseph Cotton is excellent, and Agnes Moorehead's scene of emotional breakdown is incredibly moving.

#51

Eh... Welles tries so hard to add interest on this movie by inserting his directing tricks here and there, but in the end the rather dull premise makes it forgettable at most. I appreciate the efforts of Welles trying to give some relevance to which basically is the same beaten story about the spoiled kid who needs a lesson, but I can't say he is specially brilliant at this. Not even his tricks work, because they are made to reinforce feelings the plotline doesn't manage to transmit.

There's a lot to like-the film is directed brilliantly, the acting is great, and the sets are great. But the story is just too messy in it's cut down form and the ending is really bad.

Manages to be a very good movie despite having been recut by the studio against Welles' will -- the "happy ending" isn't the problem so much as getting there -- a turn that should have taken place over a good chunk of the movie instead happens seemingly overnight, among other skimmed-over plot points. It's still a very good film in its own right, and there's no guarantee that the original cut would have been better, but the viewer can't help wonder "what if?"

Beautiful staging in depth and at times a clever narrative structure but nonetheless an incredibly unengaging story, overrated. 10 points for the ending credits.

Terrific filmmaking at times, but it really does feel tampered with.

Don't know how they can say this is some kind of major triumph. Plodding and dull.