The Magnificent Ambersons (BFI Film Classics) [Paperback]

V.F. Perkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 2008

This work presents the author's own insight to Orson Welles's film "The Magnificent Ambersons". Second only to "Citizen Kane" in work, this film can never be seen as he intended it after being heavily cut by RKO. However, it remains a remarkable picture of dynastic ruin and social change.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A magnificently passionate book" -- Sight and Sound

"Exquisite." -- Time Out

About the Author

Through his collaboration on Movie magazine in the '60s, and his book Film as Film (1972) V. F. Perkins helped revolutionize British film criticism. A pioneer also in Film Studies, he has lectured on Film at Warwick University since 1978.

Product Details

• Paperback: 77 pages
• Publisher: British Film Institute (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0851703739
• ISBN-13: 978-0851703732
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Intelligent, but very Academic, October 28, 2001

By 

Mad Dog (Canada) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Magnificent Ambersons (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book if you're up to the challenge of reading it.

A one sentence example:

"In long-take technique, as used here, the characters' experience of change, of simultaneity and sucession, convergence and seperation, anticipation, process and consequence is made more dependent on the being and doing of the actors."

And there are plenty more where that came from!

Orson Welles considered "The Magnificent Ambersons" (the film) to be better than "Citizen Kane". Unfortunately it was butchered by the studio (with some assistance by Robert Wise), losing between forty-four and fifty minutes of Welle's original cut. Even more tragic is the fact that this missing footage has never been recovered.

In this slim (74 page) volume Perkins has attempted to analyse not just the film that exists, but to put it in the context of the film that was supposed to be -- not an easy task. He makes most of these comparisons via the reconstructed "editing script", interviews (from other sources) with Welles, and then formulates some assertions of his own. As a result, we get an insight not only into the film that exists, but to the vision that it might have been.

For those who like the more theoretical aspects of film and film history, I think you'll find some interesting ideas. Perkins has studied the material extensively, and makes some telling observations (albeit, many of them worded like the quote above).

But be warned, this book is NOT a catalog of anecdotes about the making of "Ambersons". If youy looking for the gossip, inuendoes, and tales of carnage, look elsewhere.

Bottom line: this is an excellent text-book. But as with all text-books the reader has to make an effort.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting range of ideas, January 22, 2000

By 

"parsonsgfys" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magnificent Ambersons (BFI Film Classics) (Paperback)

This book offers an insightful study of Welle's most accomplished work. It also stands as a testimony to what could have been had the studio RKO not interfered during the editing stage of the film.

Perkins apparent love of the filmic medium helps to wrap this book into tightly wrought 74 pages which though brief, covers alot of ground.

An excellent companion to the film.