THE ASTOR REVIEW

Adapted from Booth Tarkington’s novel – a sweeping saga of a prominent wealthy family’s attempt to adapt to the changing times at the close of a decadent age. Though mutilated by studio executives before release, this film remains a masterpiece of directorial artistry, as Welles refined the techniques of shadow, quick-cutting, camera angles, and sound manipulation he used for the previous year’s “Citizen Kane”. Robert Wise was editor.

IMDB SYNOPSIS

The young, handsome, but somewhat wild Eugene Morgan wants to marry Isabel Amberson, daughter of a rich upper-class family, but she instead marries dull and steady Wilbur Minafer. Their only child, George, grows up a spoiled brat. Years later, Eugene comes back, now a mature widower and a successful automobile maker. After Wilbur dies, Eugene again asks Isabel to marry him, and she is receptive. But George resents the attentions paid to his mother, and he and his whacko aunt Fanny manage to sabotage the romance. A series of disasters befall the Ambersons and George, and he gets his come-uppance in the end.