The quest to see if the lost, longer cut of The Magnificent Ambersons still exists is underway in Brazil and The Lost Print team will be filing updates on social media for fans to follow.
In a nearly minute-long video shot at Cinelandia in Rio de Janiero, director Joshua Grossberg introduced a member of the research team and discussed an upcoming interview.
He posts on Twitter with the handles @j_grossberg and @LostPrintMovie; and on Instagram as @josh_grossberg and @LostPrintMovie.
Grossberg, producer Gary Greenblatt and cameraman Matthew Reber arrived in Brazil on October 13 for what is expected to be a four-to-six week shoot and hunt. The U.S. team has been joined by Brazilian cinematographer Janice D’Avila (The Edge of Democracy, Elena) and a group of researchers, who will follow leads Grossberg has uncovered over the past two decades.
The Lost Print team will comb through various archives, interview collectors and piece together the puzzle that may reveal the existence or ultimate fate of the missing print. The documentary, which will air next year on TCM, will detail that hunt, as well as explain how Welles lost control of the film.
If a copy of the 131-minute rough cut of The Magnificent Ambersons somehow still exists, the print would likely be in Brazil.
With editing underway on Ambersons, RKO ordered Welles to Brazil in February 1942 to direct the ill-fated It’s All True. According to RKO memos and cables, two groupings of Ambersons footage were shipped to Brazil so Welles could finish editing the film. However, after a test audience reacted badly at a preview, RKO ordered a happier ending to be shot in Welles’ absence and cut the movie down to 88 minutes.
The excised footage and outtakes stored in RKO’s vault in Southern California were subsequently destroyed.
Grossberg has theorized the rough cut sent to Brazil may be in the hands of private film collectors there.
More than two years after Welles left Brazil, RKO instructed Cinedia Studios in Rio, which Welles used as a base in 1942, to junk the reels of The Magnificent Ambersons left behind. Cinedia owner Adhemar Gonzaga, a cineaste and film collector, notified RKO he had followed their orders.
During a trip to Brazil a quarter of a century ago, Grossberg met Michel do Esprito Santo, an archivist. He claimed he saw a Welles print in a film can at Cinedia, though he could not confirm it was The Magnificent Ambersons.
The archivist searched for it later, but it was gone — possibly trashed or sold to a private collector.
Grossberg has identified four private collectors who bought films from the Cinedia warehouses.
My head researcher, Josa and I, explore Cinelandia in Rio as we look for the #lostprint of #TheMagnificentAmbersons
The hunt is taking us to some unexpected places.
Follow @lostprintmovie and stay right here for more updates!#FindThePrint@LostPrintMovie @tcm @Wellesnetcom pic.twitter.com/eZOYEFpdO1
— Joshua Grossberg (@j_grossberg) October 21, 2021
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