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The Magnificent Ambersons


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No wonder you had Magnificent Ambersons taken away!

Neil

Orson, while we're at it, what do you think of my idea that Spielberg should remake The Magnificent Ambersons (according to original script, of course)?

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Alex Cremers

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No wonder you had Magnificent Ambersons taken away!

Neil

Orson, while we're at it, what do you think of my idea that Spielberg should remake The Magnificent Ambersons (according to original script, of course)?

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Alex Cremers

I like Spielberg a lot, but I don't think he's the right guy. However, if he has my "lost" 43 minutes of footage, then my opinion would change.

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Orson, while we're at it, what do you think of my idea that Spielberg should remake The Magnificent Ambersons (according to original script, of course)?

I like Spielberg a lot, but I don't think he's the right guy. However, if he has my "lost" 43 minutes of footage, then my opinion would change.

Well, I think he's the only director who has the "power" to make The Magnificent Ambersons happen. Also, substantially, I think Spielberg could pull it off. Of course, due to its subject, it will be a financial flop but I'm confident that it will make a more interesting remake than War Of The Worlds. I only hope that, if and when it happens, a certain Tom Cruise won't be involved.

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Alex Cremers

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Peter Bogdanovich is the only director I would want to touch a remake of that film. We were very good friends and I think he would do his best to see my vision come to light. So Peter directs and Steven produces... sounds good to me.

On a side note, if you or anyone else has yet to see The Cat's Meow, I highly recommend it. I love the roaring twenties as is, and Peter really captures that era well. In the words of Hitch, it's a delicious little film.

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There has never been anything remotely interesting about "The Magnificent Ambersons" to me. Spielberg should just do more sci fi, action and suspense. War of the Worlds has me craving more. In fact, he should be directing Transformers. Or he should make a movie of "Strider",a beautiful looking 16 bit arcade action game from 1989, with great character, vehicle, environment and enemy designs.

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There has never been anything remotely interesting about "The Magnificent Ambersons" to me. Spielberg should just do more sci fi, action and suspense. War of the Worlds has me craving more. In fact, he should be directing Transformers. Or he should make a movie of "Strider",a beautiful looking 16 bit arcade action game from 1989, with great character, vehicle, environment and enemy designs.

I couldn't disagree more. Spielberg should be going in the direction he is right now with Munich and hopefully Lincoln. He has done enough Sci-Fi over the past four years for me with Minority Report being my favorite. I want to see him constantly challenging himself in doing different projects in genres he may not be comfortable with. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed Catch Me If You Can so much. He can always revisit Sci-Fi at any point down the road.

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Actually, I am very interested in Munich. And I did like Terminal and Catch Me. Lincoln won't be edgy enough methinks. I hope it does not gloss over the oddities and hypocracies of the man. If there is not a scene of Lincoln sleeping in bed with a man, or if he is shown as a staunch abolitionist, I am boycotting it. Actually, that's lie, as I will watch it no matter what. FUN WITH IDIOCY!

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Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan proved that Spielberg can be edgy when he needs to be. I have a feeling Munich will as well.

In regards to Lincoln, those are some interesting comments Jeshopk. Where exactly was he a hypocrite if I may ask? Because he "supposedly" slept with men? That was never proven as anything but rooming with other males. Even if he did have homosexual relations, it doesn't change the impact and importance of what he did to abolish slavery.

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There has never been anything remotely interesting about "The Magnificent Ambersons" to me. Spielberg should just do more sci fi, action and suspense. War of the Worlds has me craving more. In fact, he should be directing Transformers. Or he should make a movie of "Strider",a beautiful looking 16 bit arcade action game from 1989, with great character, vehicle, environment and enemy designs.

Why not make him direct Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jessy?

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Why not make him direct Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jessy?

Because that movie is already a masterpiece. Funny that this is considered baiting in relation to you, Alex. LOL

Seriously, though if you wanna trash Transformers you can go ahead and say Spielberg has bad taste because he loves it. Unless you consider him to be a liar.

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Where exactly was he a hypocrite if I may ask? Because he "supposedly" slept with men? That was never proven as anything but rooming with other males.

No, I was referring to his stance on slavery changing over time and... well, we can not exactly talk politics here can we. Long story short, he was not always an abolitionist. Hypocrite is a strong word, though, as slavery was so normalized in those times that it was quite a political battle to take sides against it publicly and hope to hold office.

As for the sleeping with men thing, Lincoln wrote letters to his beloved buddy. I just think it would be interesting to include, if handled with more finesse than "aLEXANDER"

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Spielberg has bad taste because he loves it.

Indeed, that's Spielberg's bad taste talking. There are two sides in him. Sometimes he's a genius and other times he's the worst of the lot. I suppose that goes with the territory of being a genius. The highs are really high and the lows really low. Truth is, it's been quite a while since he showed his genius side. The Magnificent Ambersons could be exactly the material for triggering this side.

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Alex Cremers

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Spielberg would be a much better director if he only listened to Alexcremers.

Sometimes he has to wast his (and my) time to support the more interesting projects. I hope "Munich" finally shows a more spirited Spielberg. Of course, it's possible that the flame has gone out, but Spielberg surprised us before.

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Alex Cremers

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Spielberg surprised me with WOTW

Negatively or positively? Or with the choice of movie or with the style of the movie?

I could not hate WOTW more. Williams' score atleast was nearly all released, which was the best part of the movie.

I wonder why directors are now-a-days so keen on making remakes of the old movies? There has been a whole bunch of these remakes over the past 10 years and none have been very good. E.g. Burton's Planet of the Apes was below mediocre, Gozilla was horrible, WOTW boring and in the end waste of my time. And now PJ is making King Kong. What is it with these poeple? Have good scripts and stories run out or are directors fulfilling their childhood dreams?

-Incanus who really does not like remakes-

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I enjoyed War of the Worlds, but it lost me with the basement scene. That sequence was entirely too long and I feel the film never really recovered from that point. I think that Spielberg is going through a period where he is having trouble finding the right endings. A.I., The Terminal and War of the Worlds are examples of that.

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Positively, and with both the choice and style.

WOTW was not boring.

Perhaps it didn't gave the ID4 sugar rush you and Alex were craving for, but it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

I most definately did not like ID4 (I hate Emmerich movies as a rule) :|

WOTW was shallow and rather a collection of scenes of aliens butchering people than a good movie. The ending is for me something of an anticlimax (I know I am a cynical person). Bacteria and microbes killed the aliens who supposedly had planned this invasion for God-knows-how-many years and had not bothered to study the planet so far to find out they would not survive there. LOL

I know the book is dated but the ending is too absurd for me to gobble down. Talk about a Deus ex machina effect.

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I remember a scene in WOTW when Rachel has something in her hand, and she says something like "when my body is ready to expel it, it will". Something like that. That's more or less the way I see the demise of the aliens. Planet Earth stroke back. I for once loved the ending, for how un-flagrant and unconventional it was. And the first hour of the movie was the best piece of film making I watched this year. The tension and the building-up are unrelenting.

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Sorry, but if you see that there is a problem with his endings, I think that is YOUR problem.

Look, people either hate or love AI because of the ending, don't generalize about it. I, for one, love it.

As for The Terminal, the ending is quite clear. It simply says, life goes on, much like Catch Me If You Can did. What is the problem with that? Accept it.

WOTW ending, don't feel like discussing it, but I can say that it surprised me the first time, but by the third time, it seemed natural to me.

Igor

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Sorry, but if you see that there is a problem with his endings, I think that is YOUR problem.

Look, people either hate or love AI because of the ending, don't generalize about it.  I, for one, love it.

As for The Terminal, the ending is quite clear. It simply says, life goes on, much like Catch Me If You Can did. What is the problem with that? Accept it.

WOTW ending, don't feel like discussing it, but I can say that it surprised me the first time, but by the third time, it seemed natural to me.

Igor

Excuse me for having a different opinion from yours. And do not generalize me as not liking A.I. because I mentioned a problem I had with the ending. I liked it very much despite what I thought was a bit rushed and thrown together. The problem for me is, the film should have ended with David at the bottom of the ocean. The ending we see was a bit anti climatic for me after that. But that is my opinion. If you liked the ending, then great, I respect that.

I don't see where I mentioned a problem with Catch Me If You Can. In fact, if you read the entire thread, you would have seen where I praised the movie. I think the ending was perfect.

As for The Terminal,in case you didn't know, Spielberg filmed a different ending (the one we see now) at the last minute after a screening in May, a month before it was to be released. Obviously he had a problem with making his mind up on that film and my opinion was more or less based from that mixed with the two others mentioned.

You don't want to discuss War of the Worlds? I will. I absolutely loved the movie up until the end. I mentioned thinking the basement sequence was too long, but I enjoyed the first half enough to carry me through it. The problem I have with the ending is the fact that there was a tripod right down the street and destruction everywhere else around,yet the townhouse on Beacon Hill was untouched. When Cruise's ex opened the door, it was almost as if they had no idea what was happening. Like they were inside playing chess and sipping tea. Again, I can get past that, but to me where Spielberg wussed out a bit was showing Robbie. I'm not saying it wasn't plausible for him to get in Boston before Ray and Rachel. The problem is, the audience believed him to be dead which is how it should have stayed.

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I should tell you that the first time I ever saw The Magnificent Ambersons, I was totally blown away by its central theme, even though 50 minutes of it were missing. Of course, I understand that not everyone is intrigued with the sad core of this film, but any movie buff has got to admit that some scenes are quite baffling. In a way, it's the blueprint for the Dallas series.

Georgewindow_small.jpg

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Alex Cremers

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I will admit that WOTW was not all bad, but the ending was the most grating point. I liked the apocalyptic and despperate athmosphere of the beginning half of the movie very much. There was no monument destroying or silly fight scenes with the aliens wheere humans would have won just by the tenaciousnes of our species. Pure destruction and the sense of relentless horror were great but after awhile the momentum was lost and the movie begins to crawl. Family drama was weak and unfortunately obligatory in every Spielberg film. Tom Cruise disgusts me and lowered the level of the movie a notch.

The finale may be quite poetic and hopeful and to some surprising but the sudden death of the aliens was so stupefying. I thought: "Was this it? THey came, they trashed the place and just died away?"

Nature strikes back is a very wonderful thought but I do not think this movie benefited from a sudden bitter but happy end.

The ending where Robbie comes back was once again something Spielberg should have left out. Way too schmaltzy and sugary. The fact that the houses where the family was staying in Boston were untouched and they all looked so flegmatic and unemotional was just one fault amoung all the others.

Good beginning faulty and weak ending.

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I did not believe him to be dead.

We never saw him die remember.

I am aware of the fact that we never saw him die. Yes it was an assumption on my part while watching the film, but every single person I talked to that saw it felt the same way. I realize that it is plausible that Robbie got there ahead of Ray and Rachel, but cinematically, it makes no sense.

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In your humble opinion.
Thanks.... forgot that part. :|
BTW what happened with Othello, why couldn't you get any money for that?

To be honest, I'm not sure. Guess I tampered with it too much.

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Interesting post Orson.

Well, all I can suggest is the following: Now that you know how WOTW starts and ends, try watching it again. As you surely know, this time you won't still be taking in the story first hand, so there will be no surprises and so on. Then, maybe, just maybe, you can accept the ending more, because you will be seeing it from Spielberg's view, not the audience's.

In fact, you could also try that with AI, with the view that there is a certain theme going on in there about the demise of humanity. In certain aspects, the film starts with so many of them on the screen (yes, I mean sheer numbers), climaxes in Rouge city and the flesh fair, and then we go on to more 'alien' territory with the destroyed city of New York, etc... until it is only David and his counterparts in a rather somber view of apocalypse. Quite lonely, sobering if you ask me. Keep in mind, it is a fairy tale, that helps ALOT!!!

As for The Terminal, I do know that another ending was filmed, but in no way does that imply that there is a problem with it. There are countless examples of artists struggling with endings and beginnings... and I just mentioned Catch Me If You Can, because its ending feels similar in many aspects to me.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your views on these films.

Have a nice day,

Igor

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I'm surprised no one has even mentioned me to direct a re-make of that ludicrous movie THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS! I'm already talking to Ira Newborn about doing a Naked Gun-style Main Titles.

Hitch, viewing those 53 minutes of so-called "lost" footage on his moviola. Oh shit, the projector's caught fire. LOL

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In your humble opinion.

BTW what happened with Othello, why couldn't you get any money for that?

I'm afraid Shylock wouldn't lend him any more ducats. 8O

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Hitch, viewing those 53 minutes of so-called "lost" footage on his moviola.  

Excuse me, it's not "lost" but destroyed. When put through the same ordeal, I wonder what will be left with any of "your" movies, Hitch?

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Magnificent Ambersons has already been remade, a couple years ago as a TV-movie. Welles' original script was used, he is credited as the screenwriter. I, too, was taken with the original film (and score) and the spliced-on ending is quite obvious.

I'm still holding out hope though that somehwhere there is a print that includes those 50 minutes. I've read a lot about the film though, and some "eyewitnesses" who saw the full film say that it was not the masterpiece Welles' claimed it would be and that it did need to be trimmed. Either way, fascinating to think how movie history may have turned out if the film were left alone.

As for Spielberg, I'd like to see him continue to juggle fantasy films and serious films, just no more Terminals please. I like his Jurassic Park to Schindler's List and War of the Worlds to Munich kind of years.

Jeff

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As for Spielberg, I'd like to see him continue to juggle fantasy films and serious films, just no more Terminals please.  I like his Jurassic Park to Schindler's List and War of the Worlds to Munich kind of years.  

I too like his fantasy films, but only the ones he took seriously, such as Duel, Jaws, CE3K, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and ET.

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Alex Cremers

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I too like his fantasy films, but only the ones he took seriously, such as Duel, Jaws, CE3K, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and ET.

Those days are long gone, my friend. Either Spielberg takes them too seriously (A.I., Minority Report etc.) or not seriously enough (Jurassic Park, Lost World, Last Crusade).

By the way, how did Duel get in there? I like it - don't get me wrong - but it doesn't belong in there with the rest of those masterpieces.

Jeff

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Yes it does, you can clearly see the genesis of his later films in that.

Duel is good, the mark a gifted director on the rise (a pretty fast rise!) but it is basically Jaws without characters and character development - both of which make Jaws the classic that it is.

Jeff

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As for The Terminal, I do know that another ending was filmed, but in no way does that imply that there is a problem with it. There are countless examples of artists struggling with endings and beginnings... and I just mentioned Catch Me If You Can, because its ending feels similar in many aspects to me.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your views on these films.

Have a nice day,

Igor

When I mentioned that, it wasn't so much to deabte what the right ending was as to point out that he panicked at the last minute. Just seemed to me that although there were no alternate ending shot on the films I mentioned, he may have had the same problem. But that is pure conjecture on my part. For the record, I saw The Terminal in the theater on opening weekend and really liked it. I felt that I had to defend it to a lot of people who felt blah about it. And as far as the ending goes, I think he went with the only that would work. He didn't go the safe route by having Viktor and Amelia walk off into the sunset and for that I commend him.

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I'm surprised no one has even mentioned me to direct a re-make of that ludicrous movie THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS!  I'm already talking to Ira Newborn about doing a Naked Gun-style Main Titles.  

Hitch, viewing those 53 minutes of so-called "lost" footage on his moviola.  Oh shit, the projector's caught fire.  LOL

I should have known you had it all along, you studio suckup.

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Those days are long gone, my friend.  Either Spielberg takes them too seriously (A.I., Minority Report etc.) or not seriously enough (Jurassic Park, Lost World, Last Crusade).

At long last, I have found a soulmate. 8O

By the way, how did Duel get in there?  I like it - don't get me wrong -  but it doesn't belong in there with the rest of those masterpieces.

Well, it's a classic TV movie. Really, the first time I watched it, the movie had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Damn, just an old truck and a salesman. Great! And Weaver laughing whilst looking at the truck's death has to be one of Spielberg's best endings.

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And with Weaver laughing whilst looking at the truck's death has to be one of Spielberg's best endings.

I like the part where you see young Steven reflected in the phonebooth!

Jeff

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Was that a mistake or a hidden cameo? You can see him in TLW as well.

Spielberg talks about that scene in the DVD extras, although I think we just marvels at Weaver's timing rather than talk about his reflection. Not very sure.

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Hitch, viewing those 53 minutes of so-called "lost" footage on his moviola.  

Excuse me, it's not "lost" but destroyed. When put through the same ordeal, I wonder what will be left with any of "your" movies, Hitch?

It wasn't destroyed. That's the studio made you believe. How gullible you are. As for me going through the same ordeal, yeah I wonder what became of the leg crossing interrogation sequence from TOPAZ?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Turner Classics is airing a Joseph Cotten marathon featuring five movies. The Magnificent Ambersons is of course on the list, but last at 3:15 am. How dare they air that piece of crap Shadow of a Doubt before my torn to shreds film. Damn you Turner... damn you and all your evil cohorts.

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Turner Classics is airing a Joseph Cotten marathon featuring five movies. The Magnificent Ambersons is of course on the list, but last at 3:15 am. How dare they air that piece of crap Shadow of a Doubt before my torn to shreds film. Damn you Turner... damn you and all your evil cohorts.

TCM is the only channel that would even consider airing a Joseph Cotten marathon!

Jeff - who just recently watched Hush, Hush... Sweet Charlotte

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I thought at first it would be a marathon about me. What a silly notion. I set my alarm for 3 am today only to find it's on tomorrow.

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