Things irrevocably lost continue to intrigue writers, artists, and, of course, cinephiles. One of the great “lost” works of the 20th century, Orson Welles’s original 1942 cut of The Magnificent Ambersons, adapted from Booth Tarkington’s novel, suffered the brutal indignity of studio reediting. However, Michael Koresky of Reverse Shot confronts the myth and examines how the architecture of genius can be discerned even when battered by censorship.
Yet for every ghastly change…there is another tampered-with scene that nevertheless plays superbly… most memorably, Major Amberson’s overwhelming exit, featuring his poetically rambling “we came out of the sun” monologue, delivered in close-up with the crackling flames from a fireplace reflecting on his face, made inadvertently haunting by an unauthorized abrupt fade out.
Read the entire article at Reverse Shot.