Criterion release of 'The Magnificent Ambersons'

[tonyw]

Roger, I listened to Carringer when he appeared at Eastern Illinois University to celebrate Gregg Toland's centenary. His remarks about Welles were not positive and he ended his presentation by showing a clip from THE SOPRANOS with Tony's wife and girlfriends asleep after their "great film" evening. The film was CITIZEN KANE!

I've not heard his commentary but, Jonathan Rosenbaum will have an alternative argument if Carringer's commentary is negative. Joe McBride's participation will also be welcome. I'm looking forward to reviewing this for FILM INTERNATIONAL.

[Florinaldo]

I listened to Carringer when he appeared at Eastern Illinois University to celebrate Gregg Toland's centenary. His remarks about Welles were not positive

Carringer is a rather puzzling case. He did some excellent work in the field of Welles scholarship, most notably his essential essay on the scripts of Citizen Kane; as we know, through meticulous research and comparison of successive versions of the script, he fully demonstrated the falsity of the idea that Welles misappropriated his writing credit and stole the spotlight from Mankiewicz (which does not prevent some people from still perpetuating it or alluding to it like Ben M. on TCM).

However, his view on Welles turned rather jaundiced later on, for example in the Ambersons book I referred to last week, sometimes arguing against facts.

Which is why I was wondering why and when his opinion turned, if indeed it did, and if it was already present when he recorded his Laserdisc commentary which will also be on the new BD; perhaps at the time of his early writings he was trying to appear more detached and objective, an approach he eventually abandoned.

Amusingly, his trajectory is somewhat contrary to Simon Callow's; at the start of his multi-volume biography of OW he did not appear to have much respect for the artist and the man, a view which evolved to clear respect for his achievements. Although he still has reservations towards OW as an individual (and indeed it must have been difficult and frustrating to be in his orbit).

[Roger Ryan]

TCM showed The Magnificent Ambersons last night as part of its night of Agnes Moorehead films and it was a new HD transfer, very likely the same one that will appear on the Criterion release in November. The image was impressive with an improved grayscale over previous home video releases and the expected increase in detail.

[edmoney]

TCM showed The Magnificent Ambersons last night as part of its night of Agnes Moorehead films and it was a new HD transfer, very likely the same one that will appear on the Criterion release in November. The image was impressive with an improved grayscale over previous home video releases and the expected increase in detail.

I'm assuming that there was also some clean-up of dust and dirt, removal of scratches, etc.? Also, did you notice more information in the frame (I believe the image on the DVD was a bit cropped)?

[Roger Ryan]

TCM showed The Magnificent Ambersons last night as part of its night of Agnes Moorehead films and it was a new HD transfer, very likely the same one that will appear on the Criterion release in November. The image was impressive with an improved grayscale over previous home video releases and the expected increase in detail.

I'm assuming that there was also some clean-up of dust and dirt, removal of scratches, etc.? Also, did you notice more information in the frame (I believe the image on the DVD was a bit cropped)?

I didn't see the entire film, but from what I saw of it, the image looked very clean. I can't comment on whether there was more information in the frame. One drawback is that all of the programming on my cable system (Spectrum) is heavily compressed, so I was trying to discern the true quality of the HD image while ignoring the blocky artefacts! I was actually talking with the producer of the Criterion Ambersons Blu-ray/DVD yesterday and asked him if the TCM showing was from the new Criterion transfer. He replied that he wasn't aware of the network receiving the upgraded version and suspected it might have been a scan provided by Warner Home Video, one that would have undergone further restoration by Criterion.

[atcolomb]

I saw the first 5 minutes of the same broadcast and i thought it looked just like the previous ones TCM has done. It looks ok just like the dvd release but no big improvement. Every time TCM shows The Magnificent Ambersons i do dvr it and watch it later hoping to see a better print and just thought the Agnes Moorehead tribute broadcast looked the same.

[Roger Ryan]

I admit I haven't been devoted to reviewing all of the TCM Ambersons screenings, so I will defer to "atcolomb" on this one.

[cinescot]

Criterion will be releasing The Magnificent Ambersons in the UK on the 10th December (Othello will also be released on the same day). Ambersons will come in a DigiPack as opposed to the regular Scanavo keep case.

[atcolomb]

Right now on Amazon they have the blu-ray at $23.80 which is a good deal or wait for a better one later with the 50% off Criterion sales.

[edmoney]

A glowing review from DVDBeaver on the upcoming Criterion release: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks for the tip, edmoney.

This is one of THE most highly anticipated release of this year and beyond. It has lived up to its deserved masterpiece film status with a stellar, complete, Blu-ray package from Criterion sporting a gorgeous new 4K-restored transfer and stacked with relevant, insightful extras including two commentaries! It will get plenty of votes in our year-end Poll. This has our absolute highest recommendation. Incredible.

Uh, yeah, that sounds kind of promising, doesn't it?

[edmoney]

You bet. My excitement and anticipation surrounding the announcement of this release is now accompanied by relief that it's shaping up to meet those high expectations.

[Le Chiffre]

Here is the official Wellesnet writeup:
http://www.wellesnet.com/magnificent-am ... vd-beaver/

The extras are really a wow here. Of particular interest is the Dick Cavett show from 1970. I believe Welles made either three or four appearances on the Cavett Show, and we've got links to two of them, but I don't recall that much discussion about Ambersons in the two that we've seen, so this might be one that we haven't.
Here is the UK appearance (1974?):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRfCBY2EdA
...and here is the first one from July 1970, about a month before Wind began shooting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BliGFrpRcLs

I'm also wondering if the Robert Carringer commentary is a new one or the same one he did for the 1986 Criterion laserdisc.

[Wich2]

Is the Campbells' radio version used as a supplement the restored Lilly version?

I'd sure hope so.

-Craig

[MartynH]

I'm sure this has been asked before but does anybody know how many stills of the deleted footage exist? I have seen about half a dozen.