By RAY KELLY
When TCM announced last year it was backing Joshua Grossberg’s hunt for the fabled lost, longer cut of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons, the documentary on that expedition was slated for release this summer.
Thing have changed.
Grossberg tells Wellesnet work is still underway and he intends to return to Brazil in a few weeks with a crew to shoot additional footage.
“This has been a long time passion of mine — literally going back decades — and my team and I know everyone is eager to see the results. Those will be coming in due course as part of our film, The Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons.”
“For now, I kindly ask for your patience. Making a documentary is often a lonely endeavor and delays are not unexpected when we still are seeking a final round of financing to finish the film,” Grossberg said. “But I do have good news to share: we are working on planning a follow up shoot in Brazil later this summer as part of our efforts. And editing is commencing as we speak and we hope to finish our exposé in the fall.”
French producer Ilann Girard, whose credits include The March of the Penguins and the Stanley Tucci drama Final Portrait, has come aboard as executive producer, making The Lost Print an international co-production, he said.
“We are thrilled to have him,” Grossberg said.
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 (14 reels and another 10), as well as 10 reels of Journey Into Fear, 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.
More than two years after Welles left Brazil, RKO instructed Cinedia Studios in Rio de Janiero, which Welles used as a base in 1942, to junk the reels of The Magnificent Ambersons and Journey Into Fear 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 and film collector, who claimed to have seen 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 been tracking down collectors and searching archives in South America.
His hunt for the fate of the footage and the story of Welles’ fall from grace in Hollywood make up the documentary.
“I am more excited than ever to tell you — the people who keep Orson’s legacy alive — the incredible story behind his most personal picture. So stay tuned and please follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @lostprintmovie.”
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