Ambersons on DVD - current availability

[LamontCranston]

Wasn't someone looking in Brazil for the print RKO sent Welles?

[Roger Ryan]

Wasn't someone looking in Brazil for the print RKO sent Welles?

The answer to the "what ever happened to the 'Ambersons' print sent to Brazil?" question seems to have been answered by a memo recently uncovered by Catherine Benamou.

Here's an excerpt from Jeff Wilson's Sept. 20th, 2007 blog entry regarding the University Of Michigan's Welles Exhibit:

"[Included in one of the exhibit's showcases was] the order to destroy the prints (one a 10 reel print, the other a 14 reel print) of Ambersons that had been sent to Welles in Rio, which was itself sent to RKO’s Brazilian office in 1944, more than two years after Welles had left them behind."

I'll add that this was a full two years after RKO destroyed the excised footage and negatives from their Culver City vaults. The memo to destroy the two prints was dated "Dec. 1944", but there was a handwritten note added at the top (written in 1946) stating that the prints had indeed been destroyed and that this was no longer an issue.

As Jeff noted in a subsequent post, there is a slim possibility that one or both of the prints were actually retained by someone and RKO's Brazilian office simply lied about following through with the head office's orders, but given the history of this film with RKO, I would seriously doubt it.

[Tony]

Magnificent Ambersons has now dropped on this august list from #92 to #138 of 200, being surpassed by such masterpieces as "the Incredible Shrinking Man", "Tammy and the Bachelor", "Bachelor in Paradise", "The Mating Game" and "Godzila" (1985).

Let's not hold our breaths!

[Dan]

Magnificent Ambersons has now dropped on this august list from #92 to #138 of 200.... Let's not hold our breaths!

Tony, Ambersons is to be released on DVD sometime in 2008. No date announced yet, and no DVD specifics either.

Check out these links for more info:

Warner "chat": http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/ ... fchat.html

Wellesnet thread: http://wellesnet.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1388

[Tony]

I'll believe it when it's in my hot little hand.