- From "Magnificent Obsession," a Vanity Fair article by David Kamp from April 2000: "On March 11, Robert Wise sent a 132-minute composite print (a print with picture and soundtrack synchronized) to Rio for Orson Welles to review. This is the version that scholars and Wellesophiles consider to be the 'real' Magnificent Ambersons. Curiously enough, the first blow against this version was dealt not by RKO but by Welles himself. Before he'd even received the composite print, he impulsively ordered Wise to cut 22 minutes from the middle of the film, mostly scenes concerning George Minafer's efforts to keep his mother and Eugene apart. Wise complied, and on March 17, 1942, The Magnificent Ambersons, in this form, had its first preview screening, in the Los Angeles suburb of Pomona. Sneak previews are a notoriously unreliable gauge of a film's worth and potential for success, and RKO did The Magnificent Ambersons a particular disservice by previewing it before an audience composed mostly of escapism-hungry teenagers, who had come to see the movie at the top of the bill, The Fleet's In, a feather-light wartime musical starring William Holden and Dorothy Lamour".
- Also available in a computer colorized version.
- There are three alternate versions to The Magnificent Ambersons; none exist anymore:
- the original version, Orson Welles' first cut, is the only one that has any type of record that exists. It was 132 minutes long. It included an extended ball sequence, an extended sequence of Jack and George in the kitchen, a completely different ending, as well as other cuts too numerous to mention. The original last part of the movie was (in order): George and Jack at the Rail Station, George's walk home and comeuppance, Fanny at the boiler, Bronson's office, Eugene and Lucy in the garden, George in the accident, Eugene hears of the accident, Eugene visits Fanny in the boarding house. The cutting continuity, which was recorded five days before the first preview, is included in the book, The Magnificent Ambersons - A Reconstruction.
- The first preview audience saw the original cut for the most part. Welles ordered small cuts and one major cut prior to preview but no record of what they were exists. The movie ends the same way except the scene of Eugene and Lucy in the garden was dropped.
- The second preview audience saw a version that ran about 110 minutes. Twenty minutes of footage was scrapped and the ending went: George and Jack at the railroad station, Fanny's breakdown, Bronson's office, George's walk home, Eugene and Lucy in the garden, George being hit by car, Eugene hearing about the accident, and a shorter version of Eugene visiting Fanny in the boarding house.
- When the previews still weren't to the studio's satisfaction, the film was cut over and over, a new ending was filmed (not by Welles) and the film was finally released at its current run of 88 minutes.
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By what name was The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) officially released in India in English?
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