The Magnificent Ambersons: A Reconstruction

Rating:
Summary: required reading minus the Oedipus at Kenosha introduction
Review: This is about as close as we're ever going to get to know how Ambersons was constructed and as such is required reading for any cineaste. However, one should read Carringer's introduction with a bucket of salt. The idea that Welles couldn't complete this rendition of Hamlet because of unresolved conflict with his own family I find a bit hard to swallow. I'd say circumstances (RKO's management shuffle, the war effort, Nelson Rockefeller being a tool, Orson's big mouth/ego) had more effect on the collapse of Ambersons than Welles' mom. Still, well worth the price for the cutting continuity.