The Magnificent Ambersons

Orson Welles followed up his monumental Citizen Kane with this similarly-themed film about money, privilege, self-destruction and---say it with us---comeuppance. One of the most-influential directors of all time didn't even get to finish The Magnificent Ambersons though because the studio took it away from him in post-production. We can't have a talented-but-iconoclastic kid go and make 2 masterpieces in a row, right?! As good as this truncated version is, you have to wonder what might have been if they let Welles finish it his way. Joseph Cotten, Tim Holt and the rest of the actors are pretty solid, but the direction, the camerawork and the overall filmmaking are the strongest part of this family-focused classic. So put the car before the horse as our 441st Ellises' Analysis hashes out the magnificence of the Ambersons. And to make your listening experience that much tastier, get a whack of Sparkplug Coffee and use our promo code ("top100project") to get a 20% discount. Also, tweet us (@moviefiend51 and @bevellisellis) and check out Ryan's podcast about sports movies ("Scoring At The Movies").