As a young man, Orson Welles made the groundbreaking 'Citizen Kane'. He spent most of the rest of his life failing to make the films he wanted: 'The Magnificent Ambersons', his second movie, was, in his opinion, ruined in the final edit, which he did not control. It's still an interesting movie, full of playful innovations in the way it's put together. And the plot (adapted from a novel) is also unusual, the story of a the spoiled and tyrannical son of a rich (but impoverishing) family who ruins the lives of those around him because of his desire that everything should stay as it has always been. The protagonist, George, is always shot in a way that emphasises his face but makes him look cold; but in most films, such an unsympathetic character would be a secondary one, not the figure carrying the film. It's hard to imagine how this film might have been pereceived by its original audience; today, in spite of its originality, it inevitably feels dated and stagey, although nonetheless interesting if only for its ambition.
Review of The Magnificent Ambersons
