Criterion release of 'The Magnificent Ambersons'

[atcolomb]

There is chat on the web that today's Criterion newsletter clue might be the release of Ambersons and if true that would be great news!

[Wellesnet]

Wellesnet has confirmed Criterion acquired the home video rights to the film from Warner Bros. in early 2016 and has since been working on a DVD / Blu-ray release.
http://www.wellesnet.com/criterion-collection-magnificent-ambersons-release/

[atcolomb]

I hope the extras from the laserdisc & new ones will be on the blu-ray and maybe a new commentary by Peter Bogdanovich?

[RayKelly]

I hope the extras from the laserdisc & new ones will be on the blu-ray and maybe a new commentary by Peter Bogdanovich?

Agreed. I would hope we get the same fine extras that were on the laser disc.

[edmoney]

Fantastic news ... for me, I think this will be my most anticipated release on home video ever! My favorite film by Welles and in my top 3 favorite films made by anyone. I think that it's been poorly treated on home video also plays a big part of it for me. We had to wait until 2011 to get an underwhelming DVD release and no earlier than 2018 for a Blu-ray release. Here's hoping that it gets a terrific scan from a 4K restoration. As for an audio commentary, my preference would be to get one from James Naremore, Joseph McBride, and/or Jonathan Rosenbaum.

[jbrooks]

Criterion will surely include the Carringer commentary. It's great. A taste ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCeOFmmuOhQ

[tonyw]

Yes, as long as there are other commentaries as noted above. At a seminar during the Gregg Toland retrospective, I personally heard Carringer denigrate and trash Welles's work on CITIZEN KANE. Rosenbaum, at least, who has criticized Carringer facile Oedipus reading of AMBERSONS definitely should be one of the commentators and Roger Ryan's reconstruction should also be included.

[nickleschichoney]

It would be wonderful if someone could do a more-or-less official reconstruction of Ambersons at some point -- one that features voice-over actors that sound close to the original performers and uses all extant photographs/storyboards for the missing scenes. I appreciate fan-made reconstructions, especially Roger Ryan's, but something comparable to Schmidlin's Greed would be really cool.

[atcolomb]

I know it's a long shot but I hope Journey into Fear might be on the Blu-ray as a extra. Have seen it many times on TCM but to see a nice new print of the film would be great. Speaking of prints I think the original negative of Ambersons is still in existence so that helps in getting the best image for the new release.

[jbrooks]

While we wait on Criterion, there's lots of great stuff -- including an mp3 of the Carringer commentary -- here https://cinephiliabeyond.org/magnificen ... sterpiece/

[tonyw]

Roger Ryan's reconstruction is far more than "fan made." At the Welles Centenary in Woodstock, Il. I heard Joseph McBride praise it. Before university enrollment decline meant the end of my film classes (since the competing College of Mass Communication and Media Arta shows no interest in past achievements) I used to run Jaimie Marzol's "Dinosaur" reconstruction then switch to Raun for his better version of the boarding house scene. Criterion should contract Roger to do a revised version of his excellent reconstruction since more material has come to light.

[nickleschichoney]

Roger Ryan's reconstruction is far more than "fan made." At the Welles Centenary in Woodstock, Il. I heard Joseph McBride praise it. [...] Criterion should contract Roger to do a revised version of his excellent reconstruction since more material has come to light.

I apologize that I've offended. I only meant what I said in the sense that Ryan's admirable work is unofficial and doesn't make use of all the material that's available, as a more archival version would.

[Roger Ryan]

Since I am a fan, I don't have a problem referring to my reconstruction as "fan-made". In fact, at least one "fan edit" - of Brian DePalma's Raising Cain - has gone as far as getting DePalma's endorsement and equal billing with the original theatrical version on the 2016 Scream Factory Blu-ray release.

Of course, these days it's easy for anyone with editing software to rework films to their liking and, if you have all the material available, the result could be mistaken for a director-approved edition if done well. With Ambersons, the situation is different; while you can successfully re-work the sequencing of the existing footage to match how that footage was used in the initial long edit, there are too many truncated scenes and scenes deleted outright for any true reconstruction to appear seamless. Still, I believe recreating the lost material using the extant frame enlargements/production stills/storyboards, voice actors, and the recording of Herrmann's original score is a worthy endeavor that can effectively approximate what Welles originally envisioned. And, yes, I believe a reconstruction of this sort should be "official" with access to all the archival material and a budget.

Other films that have had "reconstructed" versions released (Lost Horizon, A Star Is Born, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World) had soundtracks and/or deleted footage recovered that helped those efforts feel more authentic. With about forty-five minutes of footage (and soundtrack) completely lost, Ambersons was mutilated far worse than the examples I gave above. Its case is, indeed, similar to Greed which had hours of content removed before release. But, as a silent film, the use of still photographs and intertitles to reconstruct Greed feels like a safer bet, an acceptable academic exercise. Recreating an entire soundtrack and visuals for a sound film like Ambersons is a much more radical concept...but a good one!

[jbrooks]

Roger, your verion proves that a "Reconstruction" using voice actors and stills can work and can work beautifully (as yours does).

[atcolomb]

Website Blu-ray.com has a post about Ambersons and the audio commentary to be included with upcoming Criterion release.

http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=23449