Roger Ryan's Magnificent Ambersons reconstruction

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Another thing I'd like to see used in a reconstruction is the audio from the radio episode corresponding to the cuts in the film. This would make for a crazier patchwork, so that would make it more suitable for Jaime's version. You would gain Orson speaking narration that was cut and Ray Collins delivering dialogue that was cut. You'd also end up with Walter Huston speaking Eugene's lines, but at least Welles directed the scene. I understand now about the editorial choices Roger made, and I agree with letting the extant scenes stand by themselves without inserting every cut line, though I'd love to hear the line about the elephants restored. So, two valid approaches. I wouldn't mind seeing Jaime's Frankenstein cut.

[jaime marzol]

as i remember, last time i heard the radio show there was only one small sound byte that i could use. i loved the radio ambersons. walter huston is great as eugene.

[Roger Ryan]

Maybe this is heresy, but I'm not a huge fan of the radio version of "Ambersons". Welles miscast himself as George; his whiny portrayal made me appreciate Tim Holt's admittedly stiff performance even more! In cutting the story down to fit in an hour broadcast, Welles eliminated the character of Aunt Fanny altogether, which is interesting given how much Welles fell in love with the character when putting together the film version. As Jaime pointed out, there is very little usable audio from the radio show that was not duplicated in the released film version.

[Oscar Christie]

Just wondering.

More or less, how much would the rights to Ambersons go for if T-W were willing to sell the picture?

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Very little usable from Ambersons radio broadcast? Probably. But some. Bits of narration. Jack and Eugene talking at the ball in Georgie's honor. I forget what else. I'll double check.

Yes, Orson was very whiney as Georgie. It was a stock voice he used for teenaged boys. He also emplyed it for I'm a Fool and Seventeen. Quite dreadful.

I tried reading Carringer's essays in his reconstructed screenplay book. He sure hates Orson. Arrogant, superior, judgemental, prissy little biographers wiping their refuse on their subjects are all too common.

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Well, I listened to the radio version last night and found several things which could be used in a "Mom's Kitchen" restoration. They don't match exactly with the screenplay, but could come fairly close with some editing. The page numbers correspond to Carringer's published reconstructed screenplay:

pg 50: part of the Town Chorus delivering the line comparing the Amberson mansion to the White House

pg 97: Jack ("Fred" in the radio version) and Eugene discuss Georgie at the ball, including the dialogue about him being a "tin god" and Isabel considering him an "angel"

pg 111: Eugene and Lucy discuss Isabel marrying Wilbur during their drive home

pg 121: Eugene and Lucy discussing Georgie at the conclusion of their drive

pg 177: Georgie's outburst at the dinner in response to having been found offensive: "I don't think I could survive that"

pp 189-191: several chunks of the bathtub scene, including Ray Collin's great line about "badness in the bad mouths and silliness in the silly mouths"

pg 206: George and Isabel discuss Eugene's letter. Reshot and rescripted for the film, this is closer to Welles' version

pg 209: Isabel's letter to Eugene, completely absent from the release version

pg 239: Jack and Georgie at the train station, part of the missing first half of the scene

pg 245: deleted narration for Georgie's last walk through the Amberson mansion

Certainly a bit there that could be used. At least Welles' directed it. At least Ray Collins appears as Jack. I'm considering making an audio "Frankenstein" as it would be easy and I don't have the video-editing technology at the moment to do anything more.

I tried watching the release version of Ambersons last night. I couldn't stand it. The film is not merely butchered; it's turned to mincemeat. The scene order is random and meaningless - there's no logical or emotional line to it. Roger's version restores that, and it's surprising how powerful it was originally.

I did watch Roger's version again. I was surprised to find that for the RKO cut, they deleted Bernard Herrmann's music for certain scenes and played them "dry" with just the dialogue. They work so much better with the music restored; they're very intense that way.

I noticed Roger redubbed the dialogue for the scene of Georgie's accident, even though original dialogue existed. I guess he did it to maintain a consistant sound for the entire reconstructed scene, so that's fine.

Hey! I only noticed this for the first time last night. Does anyone recognize that shot of the microphone used at the end of the credits? It was reused from the Citizen Kane trailer. Funny I hadn't picked up on it before.

Roger's reconstruction of the boarding house scene is brilliant. The morbid counterpoint of the fatalistic "Two Black Crows" record is terrifying and disturbing.

I like using narration from the book to end the film - it gives it closure. Welle's quick end would have been another allegory for death and left the viewer hanging, confused, confounded and wondering - but that may have been his intent.

[Roger Ryan]

The decision to end my reconstruction with narration (while a practical way to offer closure to the story due to the lack of visual material) was partly influenced by my love of Christopher Husted's essay of the "rising/falling" action of the 131 min. edit. Excerpted in the liner notes to the CD issue of the Herrmann's original score, Husted convincingly argued that the true climax of "Ambersons" is George slamming the door in Eugene's face, which surprisingly comes mid-way through the film. Husted goes on to suggest that Welles developed a series of scenes for the first half of the film which are "mirrored" in the second half after the unorthodox climax. An example would be the scene just prior to the "climax" where George unwraps the framed photograph of his father and the scene immediately after where Isabel comments to George about the framed photograph. Other examples would the two veranda scenes (in the first, Fanny dismisses the idea that automobiles will amount to anything; in the the second, she excitedly discusses investing in auto headlights with Jack), the two stairway scenes (in the first, Fanny eggs George on about confronting Eugene; in the second, she admonishes him for it) the two kitchen scenes, the two "George & Lucy walk/ride through town" scenes, etc.
These sequences are ordered in a way that scenes appearing near the beginning of the film are "mirrored" by scenes placed near the film's end. For example, the young George strikes Roger Bronson in the stomach very early on in the story and much later, after the "fall of the Ambersons", he goes to Bronson to ask him for a job. Note as well that George the college student tears through the streets in his carriage endangering the citizens who mock him; later he is struck down himself on the same streets and is unrecognized. At the same time, scenes appearing closer to Husted's "climax" will have their "paired" scenes in much closer proximity to each other (the aforementioned "framed photograph" and "stairway" scenes).
Where Welles broke with this model slightly was in not including closing narration (apart from the "read" credits). While he does reintroduce himself as the narrator just prior to Major Amberson's death (interestingly, the first line of audible dialogue heard after Welles' previous narrative passage introducing the "Last Ball" is "...I suppose that's where they'll lay the Major out when his time comes" spoken by Uncle John), Welles avoided "mirroring" his opening narration at the film's end.
Extending the Husted model of symmetry a bit, I chose a passage from Tarkington's novel which represented the exact opposite of the passages Welles chose to open the film. Since Welles honored the model throughout the rest of his adaptation, I didn't think this was an inappropriate addition.

[Glenn Anders]

Yes, Roger, that's how I read the form of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. It's like a ladder, like life for most of us, going up steps in generally hopeful or "funny" events (or the memory of them) and going down the other side, with the consequences and regrets of missed or misunderstood opportunities. Herrmann's complete score expresses that structure so clearly, and your edition catches it visually.

Glenn

[Knowles Noel Shane]

Wow, I never even noticed the mirror/ladder structure before. How ignorant. Now I have to watch your version the third time, Roger. It will probably make me cry again.

[jaime marzol]

removed by order of the vatican, and alice cooper.

[tonyw]

Thanks Jaimie. I'm looking forward to receiving this material since it will be very useful for my Welles class next semester and beyond. Both you and Roger have done a really great job which shows what can really be done outside institutional constraints by those who respect the man and his work.

[mteal]

Has anyone seen the latest issue of Sight and Sound Magazine? Near the front is a write-up of the Locarno festival which contains some very nice words for Roger Ryan's version, as well as the revelation that the Munich museum is contemplating their own TMA restoration! It'll be interesting to see how that pans out.

[jaime marzol]

that would be fabulous. it's about time. and the good thing about it is that since there will never be a definitive version, newer versions will improve on older versions, and we will constantly get better versions to watch once some one puts out the first version.

[Store Hadji]

Good thing I read that post before you deleted it.

Do you want sound clips from the radio version which correspond exactly to the deleted dialogue, things which are close, or extra things which aren't in the reconstructed screenplay but could be used anyway (think Ambersons - The Extended DVD Release - though not the horrible A&E thing, forget that.) Maybe you want it all, so you can pick and choose.

I started pulling out sound clips and listing them in a word document with page references to Carringer. Still Frankenstein for sure, but you can just plug them in on top of a still, pretty easy. Do you prefer the clips as WAVs or MP3s? I can email them in either case. Please advise.

[jaime marzol]

sorry, hadji, alice cooper emailed me complaining that the pope had emailed him, and how could i do such a thing, and if i didn't delete the post the pope was going to ask back for all the mp3s he sent alice, and alice sent me. what could i do?

in your package i will include the 2 dvds, you decide.