HOLLYWOOD STOCK EXCHANGE
THE ENTERTAINMENT MARKET
THE ENTERTAINMENT MARKET
I watched Ambersons again. And it's necessary to say, in a film filled with outstanding acting perfomances..
Agnes Moorehead's performance in this film is a towering achievement. It is OBVIOUSLY one of the very greatest performances given by an actor in the history of the movies. I mean, she is just staggering in this. Your brain melts when you watch her, she is truly unforgettable in this film.
I've watched her in this seveeral times in my life now. I used to think, is she over doing it? Is she just hamming it up?
No. Once you understand what this movie is about, what it's trying to show and tell you, the enormity of her emotions are note perfect. By the end, when she's hysterically screaming out "it's COLD! I wish it would burn me!", while your mind races back to the magpies at the beginning of the film "hot and cold running water, upstairs an down"; well, it's just magnificent stuff, in a film filled with magnificent stuff.
Watch her closely when her brother is finally gone. SHE is gone; she knows it in her soul, the love of her life is about to be gone for once and for all, and there's nobody to protect her from maybe flat out losing her mind.
there is some Cinematography in this movie that just makes my head spin. I think of George on his knees, at his dead mother's bedside, saying "mother forgive me, God forgive me", and then the camera pans back and.....
My God.
You know, I decided to really try and screw with myself by watching this right now during the heart of this economic depression we're going through, deciding to watch the magnificence of the Ambersons do the long and slow crash and burn. And even though it did make me feel even worse about myself in many ways, in others it brought some measure of satisfaction in knowing that at least i tried and my heart is full in many ways. At least I know I'm not George Minifer, even though it's true that there's nothing like the past.
PS: One other thing. I've read interviews of Robert Wise (the editor of this film) a few times now, about the editing and re-shooting of this film once Welles had left for South America to do his American duty. And you just know, when he describes the test screening, where the audience is "laughing at Aggie Moorehead's over the top performance and what were we going to do with it?", that he doesn't recognize what this story is even about. And that he had the ability to change Welles' vision of this story. And that makes me sad. c
I watched Ambersons again. And it's necessary to say, in a film filled with outstanding acting perfomances.. May 19, 22:22
Magnificent Ambersons is my favorite Welles movie. {nm} May 20, 22:36
Cool. It's got a quality that just grows and grows on you. The more I've watched it, the more impressed I am by it. {nm} May 21, 21:09
