The Magnificent Ambersons

Thematic 2001: Fast Forward Curated by Kent Jones

Orson Welles’s adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s novel about the fall of an “old money” Indianapolis family at the turn of the century resulting in part from the invention of the automobile. Every moment in this exquisite, heartbreaking meditation on time is fully and completely felt. With Tim Holt as the pampered son who gets his “comeuppance,” silent star Dolores Costello as his fragile mother, and Joseph Cotton as her long-suffering suitor.

Director

Orson Welles

Release Year

1942

Festival Year

2001

Country

United States

Run Time

88 minutes