Produced by Albert E. Smith for Vitagraph
Released 1 Feb 1925
Also released in a condensed version as Two to One - both versions preserved at the Library of Congress and UCLA.
Currently available on VHS - see Links sources.
Genre: Drama
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Magnificent Ambersons by Boothe Tarkington.
Alice Calhoun portrays Isabel Minafer, and her frequent co-star, Cullen Landis, is the adult George Minafer in this adaption of a very popular novel at the turn of the twentieth century. Ben Alexander is young George Minafer. (Ben co-starred as Jack Webb's balding sidekick on the 1950's television series "Dragnet"). Allan Forrest, Wallace MacDonald, Charlotte Merriam, Kathryn Adams, Aggie Herring and William J. Irving are also featured in the ensemble cast.
The film chronicles three generations of a mid-Western American family that is slowly but steadily corrupted by greed and doomed romances. The Ambersons are the leading family in a small Indiana town; their home is a showplace, and their views are news. Major Amberson's daughter, the beautiful Isabel, is unable to decide between two suitors until one of them, Eugene Moran, publicly disgraces himself by proclaiming his affection in a drunken serenade. Mortified by his own foolishness, Eugene leaves town. Family and societal pressures influence Isabel, who then marries the remaining suitor, Wilbur Minafer, whom she does not love. When Wilbur suddenly dies, Isabel focuses all of her affection on her son, George, who grows from a spoiled, indulged brat into a shallow, self-centered, hypocritical, parochial young man.
After a number of years, Eugene, now a widower, returns to the town, having made a fortune in the manufacture of the new-fangled automobiles. George falls in love with Eugene's daughter, but resents Eugene's obvious attachment to his mother. George also scoffs at Eugene's source of success, and constantly berates Eugene publicly.
Isabel's father, Major Amberson dies, and it is learned that the family fortune is dissipated. The grand estate is sold to developers, and George is forced to work. The only job he can find is menial, and he and his mother move into a tiny flat on the wrong side of town. But Eugene continues his persistance in his wooing of Mrs. Minafer, and George is still enamored of Eugene's daughter, Lucy.
Leaving work one day, dog-tired from hard labor, George steps in front of a fast-moving motor vehicle, operated by none other than Eugene. Fortunately, he is only slightly injured, but he still must recover in hospital. His mother is frantic with worry, and George takes advantage of his mother's fretting in his usual, coniving, manipulative manner. He requests that his mother refuse Eugene's proposal of marriage. She is obviously heartbroken, but agrees. She then leaves the hospital and drags herself home to the dreary little apartment. Eugene drops by to inquire about George's welfare, and Isabel breaks the bad news to him that they cannot see each other anymore. Eugene respects her rejection, and leaves. Isabel is so distraught by the stress that she forgets that she has been going through the motions of cooking her dinner on the tiny stove. A fire erupts, quickly overtaking the entire building, and she is trapped on the third floor. When the fire company arrives, they are unable to reach her with their ladders. Eugene happens to hear the sirens and returns. He, of course, gallantly rescues Mrs. Minafer, but she is rushed to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
When George hears of the near tragedy from the nurses, and is reassured when a fireman tells him of Eugene's gallant rescue of his mother, he agrees to allow his mother to marry her true love. George and Lucy are also united, and everyone supposedly lives happily ever after.
Even in its long version, it is difficult to tell the story of this lengthy novel due to the limited amount of reels typically used in the times of silent film. But audiences in the 1920s loved this movie, which even by modern standards, is quite well done. The novel itself still holds up as fine literature and is a wonderful study of societal pressures and human nature. The film was re-made to great acclaim about ten years later by Orson Welles under the original book title, The Magnificent Ambersons.
Copyright Vitagraph Co. of America 1/24/25 LP21072
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