The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) - full transcript

The magnificence of the
Ambersons began in 1873.

Their splendor lasted
throughout all the years...

that saw their midland town
spread and darken into a city.

In that town, in those days...

all the women who wore silk or velvet knew
all the other women who wore silk or velvet.

And everybody knew everybody
else family horse and carriage.

The only public conveyance was the streetcar.

A lady could whistle to it
from an upstairs window...

and the car would halt
at once and wait for her.

While she shut the window...

put on her hat and coat,
went downstairs, found an umbrella...



told the girl what to have for dinner
and came forth from the house.

Too slow for us nowadays...

because the faster we're
carried, the less time we have to spare.

During the earlier years of this period...

while bangs and bustles were
having their way with women...

there were seen men
of all ages to whom a hat...

meant only that rigid tall silk thing
known to impudent as a stovepipe.

But the long contagion
of the derby had arrived.

One season, the crown of this hat would
be a bucket, next it would be a spoon.

Every house still kept its boot-Jack.

But high-top boots gave way
to shoes and congress gaiters.

And these were played through fashions that
shaped them now with toes like box ends and...

now with toes like
the prows of racing shells.

Trousers with a crease
were considered plebeian.



The crease proved that the
garment had lain upon a shelf...

and hence, was ready-made.

With evening dress, a
gentleman wore a tan overcoat.

So short that his black coattails hung
visible 5 inches below the overcoat.

But after a season or two he lengthened
his overcoat to it touched his heels.

And he passed out of his tight
trousers into trousers like great bags.

In those days, they had time for everything.

Time for sleigh rides and balls
and assemblies and cotillions.

And open house on New Year's,
and all day picnics in the woods.

And even the prettiest of
all vanished customs, the serenade.

Of a summer night, young men would bring
an orchestra under a pretty girl's window.

And flute, harp, fiddle,
cello, coronet, bass viol...

would presently release their
melodies to the dulcet stars.

Against so homespun a background
the magnificence of the Ambersons...

was as conspicuous as
a brass band at a funeral.

- There it is.
- The Amberson mansion.

- The pride of the town.
- Well, well.

Sixty thousand
dollars for the woodwork alone.

- Hot and cold running water?
- Upstairs and down.

Stationary washstands in
every last bedroom in the place.

- Is Miss Amberson at home?
- No sir, Mr. Morgan.

- Miss Amberson is not home.
- Well, thanks Sam.

No sir, Miss Amberson ain't
home to you Mr. Morgan.

Thanks.

- I guess she's still mad at him.
- Who?

- Isabel.
- Major Amberson's daughter.

Eugene Morgan's her best beau.

Took a bit too much to drink
the other night right out here.

And stepped clean through the
bass fiddle serenading her.

Well, well.

I haven't seen her
since she got back from abroad.

Isabel?

Well sir, I don't know as
I know just how to put it.

But she's kind of a
delightful looking young lady.

Wilbur? Wilbur Minafer?

- I never thought he get her.
- Well, what do you know?

Well, Wilbur may not be any Apollo as it
were but he's a steady young businessman.

Wilbur Minafer.

Looks like Isabel is pretty
sensible for such a showy girl.

To think of her taking him.

Yes, just because a man
any woman would like a

thousand times better was
little wild one night at a serenade.

What she minds was his making a
clown of himself in her own front yard.

Made her think he didn't care much about her.

She's probably mistaken but it's too
late for her to think anything else now.

The wedding will be a
big Amberson style thing.

Raw oysters floating in scooped out
blocks of ice and a band from out of town.

And then Wilbur will take Isabel on that
carefullest little wedding trip he can manage.

And she'll be a good wife to him.

But they'll have the worst spoiled
lot of children this town will ever see.

- How on earth you figure that out Mrs. Foster?
- She couldn't love Wilbur, could she?

Well, it'll all go to her children.

And she'll ruin them.

The prophetess proved to
be mistaken in a single detail merely.

Wilbur and Isabel did not have
children, they had only one.

Only one but I'd like to know if he isn't
spoiled enough for a whole carload.

Again, she found none to challenge her.

George Amberson Minafer, the major's
one grandchild was a princely terror.

Hey. Why...

Golly, I guess you think you own this town.

There were people, grown people they
were who expressed themselves longingly.

They did hope to live to see the day, they
said when that boy would get his comeuppance.

- His what?
- His comeuppance.

Something is bound to take him
down someday, I only want to be there.

Yeah, look at that girly-curly.
Yeah, look at that girly-curly.

Say bub, where you
steal your mother's old sash?

Your sister stole it for me. She stole it
off our old clothesline and gave it to me.

You go get your hair cut.
Yeah, and I haven't got any sister.

Yeah. I know you haven't at home.
I mean the one that's in jail.

I dare you to get out of that pony cart.

I dare you outside that gate.

- Dare you halfway here, I dare you.
- Here I come...

- Father, mother...
- Boy, boy...

Why don't you pick on someone
your own size, you big bully?

And you, quit it.

Hey boy.

Mother.

- Boy, boy.
- Mother.

That be enough of that.

You stop that, you.

I guess you don't know who I am.

Yes I do, and you're a
disgrace to your mother.

You shut up about my mother.

She ought to be ashamed
as a bad boy like you...

You pull down your vest, you Billy goat, you.

Pull down your vest and
wipe off your chin and go to...

What?

This was heard not only by myself but by
my wife and the lady who lives next door.

He's an old liar.

Georgie, you mustn't say liar.

Dear, did you say what he says you did?

Well, Grandpa wouldn't wipe a
shoe on that old storyteller.

Do you must...

I mean, none of us Ambersons
wouldn't have anything to do with him.

- That's not what we're talking about.
- I guess if he wanted seeing of us,

he have to go around to the side door.

- No, you shouldn't say...
- Please, Father.

From his letter, he doesn't seem
a very tactful person but...

- He's just riffraff.
- Oh, you mustn't say so.

And you must promise me never
to use those bad words again.

I promise not to.

Unless I get mad at somebody.

Wait till they send him away to school.

Then he'll get it.

They'll knock the stuffing out of him.

But George returned with the same stuffing.

Got any sense? See here, does
your mother know you're out?

Turn down your pants, you would be dude.

When Mr. George Amberson Minafer came home
for the holidays in his sophomore year...

nothing about him encouraged any hope
that he had received his comeuppance.

Cards were out for a ball in his honor.

And this pageant of the tenantry was the
last of the great long remembered dances...

that everybody talked about.

Hello, there.

Suppose that's where They will put
the major when his time comes.

Now, don't you look at me like that major.

- Georgie, you look fine.
- Sam.

There was a time though,
in your fourth month that you...

were so puny nobody thought you'd live.

- Where's Fanny?
- Remember very well indeed.

Isabel.

- Eugene.
- Your boy Isabel?

- George, this is Mr. Morgan.
- Remember you very well indeed.

George, you never saw me before in your life.

But from now on, you're
going to see a lot of me, I hope.

- I hope so too Eugene.
- Where's Wilbur?

You'll find him in the game
room with some of the others.

- He never was much for parties, remember?
- Yes, I remember.

- I'll come back for a dance.
- Please do.

- Eugene Morgan, Major Amberson.
- Well, well, well.

Remember you very well indeed.
Remember you very well indeed.

- Miss Morgan.
- Jack.

- Gene.
- Remember you very well indeed.

You don't remember her either Georgie.

But, of course you will.
Miss Morgan is from out of town.

You might take her up to the dancing, I
think you pretty well done your duty here.

Be delighted.

What did you say your name was?

- Morgan.
- Oh?

- Well, I'm certainly glad you're back.
- It's nice to be back too Jack.

- It's been a long time.
- Who's that?

Oh, I didn't catch his name
when my mother presented him to me.

- You mean the queer-looking duck?
- The who?

- The queer-looking duck.
- Oh, I wouldn't say that.

The one with him is my Uncle Jack, honorable
Jack Amberson, I thought everybody knew him.

He looks as though everybody
ought to, seems to run in your family.

I suppose must everybody does know him.

On this part of the country especially,
Uncle Jack is pretty well-known.

- He's a congressman.
- Oh really?

Oh yes, the family always
likes to have someone in Congress.

A sort of good thing in one way.

- Hello Lucy.
- Hello.

- Hello Lucy.
- Hello Argyle.

- Hello Lucy.
- Hello.

How all these ducks get to know you so quick?

Oh, I've been here a week.

Seems to me you've
been pretty busy, most of these...

- Hello Lucy.
- Hello.

Most of these ducks, I don't know
what my mother invited them for anyway.

Don't you like them?

Oh, used to be president of a club that we
had here and some of them belonged to it.

But I don't care much for
that sort of thing anymore.

I really don't see why
my mother invited them.

Maybe she didn't want to
offend their fathers and mothers.

I hardly think that my mother need worry
about offending anybody in this old town.

Must be wonderful Mr.
Amberson, Mr. Minafer I mean.

- What must be wonderful?
- To be so important as that.

- Oh, that isn't important.
- Good evening.

Good evening.

Anybody that really is
anybody ought to be able to do...

about as they like in
their own town, I should think.

- Hello.
- Well...

- How's that for a bit of freshness?
- What was?

That queer looking duck
waving his hand at me like that.

- He meant me.
- Oh, he did?

Everybody seems to mean you.

- See here, are you engaged to anybody?
- No.

- Certainly seem to know a good many people.
- Papa does.

He used to live here in
this town before I was born.

- Where you live now?
- We lived all over.

What you keep moving around so for?

- Is he a promoter?
- No, he's an inventor.

Oh? What's he invented?

- Georgie.
- Grandfather.

Just lately he's been working on
a new kind of horseless carriage.

Horseless carriage? Automobile? Well, well.

- Don't you approve of them Mr. Minafer?
- Oh yes, they're all right.

- You know, I'm just beginning to understand.
- Understand what?

What?

What it means to be a
real Amberson in this town.

Papa told me something about it before we
came but I see he didn't say half enough.

Did your father say he knew
the family before he left here?

I don't think he meant to boast
of it, he spoke of it quite calmly.

Most girls are usually pretty fresh, they
ought go to a man's college for about a year.

They get taught a few things about freshness.

Look here, who sent you those
flowers you keep making such a fuss over?

- Lucy.
- He did.

- Who's he?
- The queer looking duck.

I come for that dance.

Oh him, I suppose he's some old widower.

- Some old widower.
- Yes, he is a widower.

I ought to told you before, he's my father.

Oh, that's a horse
on me, if I'd known he was your...

This is our dance.

Better guess I won't insist on it.

- George dear, are you enjoying the party?
- Yes Mother, very much.

Will you please excuse us? Miss Morgan.

- Eggnog anybody?
- Not for me sir.

I see you kept your promise Gene.

Isabel, I remember the
last drink Gene ever had.

The fact is, I believe if he
hadn't broken that bass fiddle...

Isabel never would've taken Wilbur.

- What do you think, Wilbur?
- I shouldn't be surprised.

If your notion is right, I'm
glad Gene broke the fiddle.

- What do you say about it Isabel?
- By jingo, she's blushing.

Who wouldn't blush?

The important thing is that Wilbur did
get her and not only got her but kept her.

There's another important
thing, that is for me.

In fact, it's the only thing that makes me
forgive that bass viol for getting in my way.

- Well, what's that?
- Lucy.

- You having a good time?
- I don't suppose you ever gave up smoking.

- No sir.
- Well, I got some Havanas.

Your ears burn, young lady?

Would you care for
some refreshment Miss Morgan?

Yes, thanks.

- What did you say your name was?
- Morgan.

- Funny name.
- Everybody else name always is.

I didn't mean it was really funny...

that's just one of the
crowd's bits of horsing at college.

I knew your last name was
Morgan, I meant your first name.

Lucy.

Well...

- Lucy a funny name too?
- No.

- Lucy is very much all right.
- Thanks.

Here they are, here they are Henry.

- Are they?
- Thanks for what?

Thanks about letting my name be Lucy.

Goodbye, I got this dance with her.

- With whom?
- With Isabel, of course.

Eighteen years have passed, but have they?

Tell me, you danced with
poor old Fanny too this evening?

- Twice.
- Wilbur?

My gosh, old times...

- certainly are starting over again.
- Old times?

Not a bit, there aren't any old times. When
times are gone, they're old, they're dead.

There aren't any times but new times.

- What are you studying in school?
- I beg your pardon.

- What are you studying in school?
- College.

- College.
- Oh, lots of useless guff.

- Why don't you study some useful guff?
- What you mean useful?

Something you use later in
your business or profession.

I don't intend to go
any business or profession.

- No?
- No.

- Why not?
- Oh, just look at them.

It's a fine career for a man, isn't it?

Lawyers, bankers, politicians.

What they ever get
out of life I'd like to know.

What they know about
real things? What did they ever get?

- What do you want to be?
- A yachtsman.

- What good are they? They always break down.
- They do not always break down.

Oh, of course, they do.

Horseless carriages, automobiles.

People aren't going
to spend their lives lying on their...

backs in the road
letting grease drip in their faces.

No, I think your father
better forget about them.

Papa would be so grateful
if he could have your advice.

I don't know that I done
anything to be insulted for.

You know, I don't mind
you being such a lofty person at all.

I think it's ever so
interesting, but Papa is a great man.

Is he? Well, let us
hope so. I hope so, I'm sure.

- How lovely your mother is.
- I think she is.

She's the gracefullest woman.
She dances like a girl of 16.

Most girls of 16 are
pretty bad dancers, anyhow...

I wouldn't dance with
one of them unless I had to.

The snow is fine for sleighing, I'll be
by for you in a cutter 10 minutes after 2.

- Tomorrow?
- Thank you, Isabel.

- I can't possibly go.
- Bravo, bravisimo.

- Papa?
- Lucy?

I'll get your things.

If you don't, I'm going to
sit in a cutter in your front gate.

If you try to go out with anybody else,
he has to whip me before he gets to you.

Hey you two, I
think you ought to take this...

in case you break
down in that horseless carriage.

- Uncle Jack.
- Good night, Isabel.

- Come here.
- Fanny, where are you going?

- Oh, just out to look.
- Think you'll be warm enough Lucy?

- Well?
- Oh, nothing.

You hold this.

Who is this fellow Morgan?

Why, he's a man with a
pretty daughter Georgie.

He certainly seems to
feel awfully at home here.

The way was dancing
with Mother and Aunt Fanny.

Well, I'm afraid your Aunt Fanny's heart
was stirred by ancient recollections Georgie.

- You mean she used to be silly about him?
- Oh, she wasn't considered, singular.

He was, he was popular.

Oh, you take this same passioned interest
in the parents of every girl you dance with?

Oh dry up, I only wanted to know.

Lucy, about that sleigh ride...

I want to look at that darn
automobile carriage of yours Gene.

- Fanny, you'll catch cold.
- Going to ride that thing tomorrow...

I want to see if it's safe.

- Good night Isabel.
- Good night Eugene.

- You be ready at 10 minutes after 2.
- No, I won't.

Yes, you will, ten minutes after 2.

- Yes, I will.
- Oh, Eugene.

- Show us how it works.
- If it dos work.

- Come on, Lucy.
- I'm coming Papa.

- I hope you're going to be warm.
- Got a blanket for you here Eugene.

- Good night.
- Good night.

Good night.

- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.

- Papa?
- What?

Papa, do you think George is
terribly arrogant and domineering?

Lucy, all he's still only a boy.

Plenty of fine stuff in him.

Can't help but be, he's
he's Isabel Amberson's son.

You liked her pretty well once I guess Papa.

Yes, do still.

- I know that isn't all that's worrying you.
- Well, several things.

I've been a little
bothered about your father too.

- Why?
- It seems to me he looks so badly.

He isn't any different than the way
he's looked all his life, that I can see.

He's been worrying about
some investments he made last year.

- I think the worry is affected his health.
- What investments?

See here, he isn't going into
Morgan's automobile concern, is he?

Oh no, the automobile
concern is all Eugene's.

No, your father's rolling mills...

- Hello dear, have you had trouble sleeping?
- Look here Father.

About this man Morgan,
and his old sewing machine.

Doesn't he want to get
Grandfather to put some money into it?

- Isn't that what he's up to?
- You little silly.

What on Earth are you talking about?

Eugene Morgan is perfectly able to
finance his own inventions these days.

I'll bet he borrows money from Uncle Jack.

- Georgie, why do you say such a thing?
- Just strikes me as that sort of a man.

- Isn't he, Father?
- Was a fairly wild young fella 20 years ago.

He was like you in one thing
Georgie, he spent too much money.

Only he didn't have any mother to
get money out of a grandfather for him.

But I believe he's
done fairly well of late years...

and I doubt if he needs anybody else
money to back his horseless carriage.

- What's he brought the old thing for then?
- I'm sure I don't know, you might ask him.

I'll be in to say good night dear.

- Aunt Fanny?
- What in the world is the matter with you?

I suppose you don't know
my father doesn't want to go on that...

- horseless carriage trip tomorrow.
- What do you mean?

You're his only
sister and yet you don't know.

Well, he never wants to
go anywhere that I've ever heard of.

What is the matter with you?

He doesn't want to go because
he doesn't like this men Morgan.

Oh, good gracious.

Eugene Morgan isn't in your father's
thoughts at all, one way or the other.

- Good night.
- Why should he be?

- Good night.
- Good night.

Hey, you two at it again?

What makes you and everybody
so excited over this man Morgan?

- This man Morgan.
- Excited?

- Excited?
- Oh, shut up.

Can't...

can't people be glad
to see an old friend without...

silly children like you
having to make a to-do about it?

I've just been suggesting to your mother
that she might give a little dinner for them.

- For who?
- For whom Georgie.

For whom Georgie.

For Mr. Morgan and his daughter.

Oh look here,
don't do that, mother mustn't do that.

- Mother mustn't do that.
- It wouldn't look well.

Wouldn't look?

See here Georgie Minafer, I suggest...

that you just march
straight on into your room.

Sometimes you say things that
show you have a pretty mean little mind.

- What upset you this much?
- Shut up.

I know what you mean.

You're trying to insinuate
that I get your mother to invite...

- Eugene Morgan here on my account.
- I'm going to move to a hotel.

Because he's a widower.

- What?
- What?

I'm trying to insinuate you're setting your
cap for him and getting mother to help you?

Is that what you mean?

You attend to your own affairs.

I will be shot, I will. I
certainly will be shot.

Do you think you'll get it to start?

- What's wrong with it Gene?
- I wish I knew.

Jack push, not in front, there. You see.

Jack, push, come on Jack, push.

Come on, push.

- Come on, push. Come on Jack.
- Get a horse, get a horse.

Get a horse.

Look out, Lucy.

- What's happened to them?
- Oh, Georgie.

Don't get excited Isabel. Lucy.

- Are you all right?
- Georgie.

They're all right Isabel, the
snow bank is a feather bed.

- Georgie...
- Lucy dear.

I'm fine Papa.

- Nothing the matter with them.
- Oh, Georgie.

They're all right Isabel.

- Are you sure you're not hurt Lucy dear?
- Georgie...

- Don't make a fuss Mother.
- George, that terrible fall.

Please Mother please, I'm all right.

Are you sure Georgie?
Sometimes one doesn't realize the shock.

- Oh Isabel.
- We just got to be sure dear.

- All right Mother, what's the matter?
- Let me brush you off dear.

You look pretty spry Lucy.

- All that snow becomes you.
- That's right, it does.

- That darned horse.
- Pendennis will be home long before we will.

All we got to depend on is
Eugene Morgan's broken down chafing dish.

- She'll go.
- Come on Fanny.

All aboard.

- You have, have to sit on my lap Lucy.
- All right.

Stamp the snow,
you mustn't ride with wet feet.

They're not wet.

For goodness' sake, get in, you're standing
in the snow yourself, get in Mother.

You're the same Isabel I used to know,
you're a divinely ridiculous woman.

George, you'll push when
we get started, won't you?

George?

Divinely and ridiculous, just
counterbalance each other, don't they?

Plus one and minus one equal nothing.

So you mean I'm nothing in particular?

No, that doesn't seem to
be precisely what I meant.

- We're going.
- Must be an accident.

- Come on Georgie, push.
- I'm pushing.

Push harder.

- Oh God.
- Hooray.

- Come on Georgie, push.
- What do you think I'm doing?

Your father wanted to prove that his horseless
carriage would run even in the snow.

It really glad too,
you know. It's so interesting.

He says he's going to have wheels all
made of rubber and blown up with air.

I should think they explode.
But Eugene seems very confident.

Oh, it seems so like old
times to hear him talk.

Here we go.

♪ As I walked along the Bois de
Boulogne with an independent air. ♪

♪ You can hear the girls declare, he must
be a millionaire, he must be a millionaire ♪

George, you tried to swing underneath me
and break the fall when we went over.

I knew you were doing that, was nice of you.

Wasn't much of a fall to speak of.
How about that kiss?

♪ You can sigh and wish to die
and see them wink the other eye. ♪

♪ At the man who broke
the bank at Monte Carlo. ♪

♪ As I walked along the Bois de
Boulogne with an independent air. ♪

♪ You can hear the girls declare,
he must be a millionaire. ♪

Wilbur Minafer, quiet man.

Town will hardly know he's gone.

- Where did Isabel go to?
- She was tired.

Never was becoming to her to look pale.

- Look out.
- Oh boy, strawberry shortcake.

It's first this season, hope it's big enough.

You must known I'm coming home.

- What you say?
- Nothing.

- Sweet enough?
- Fine.

I suppose your mother is been
pretty gay at the commencement.

- Going a lot?
- How could she in mourning?

All she could do is sit around, look on.

- So Lucy could either, for that matter.
- How did Lucy get home?

On the train with the rest of us.

Quit balling your food.

You drive out to their house
with her before you came here?

No, she went home with her father.

Oh, I see.

Don't eat so fast George.

So...

Eugene came to the station to meet you?

Meet us? How could he?

I don't know what you mean.

- Want some more milk?
- No, thanks.

I haven't seen him while
your mother is been away.

Naturally, he's beneath himself.

Did you see him?

Naturally, since he made
the trip home with us.

He did? He was with you all the time?

Only...

on the train, in the last three days before
we left, uncle Jack got him to come along.

- You're going to get fat.
- I can't help that.

You're such a wonderful housekeeper.

You certainly know how
to make things taste good.

I don't think you'll stay single long if
some of these bachelors or widowers...

- around town for just one...
- It's a little odd.

What's odd?

Your mother's not mentioning
that Mr. Morgan is been with you.

Didn't think of it, I suppose.

- But I'll tell you something in confidence.
- What?

Well, struck me that Mr. Morgan was looking
pretty absent minded most of the time.

And he certainly is
dressing better than he used to.

Oh, he isn't dressing
better, he's dressing up.

Fanny, you ought to be
a little encouraging when a...

prized bachelor begins
to show by his haberdashery...

what he wants you to think about him.

Jack tells me the factory
is been doing quite well.

Quite well?

- Honestly, Aunt Fanny...
- Why listen, you...

I shouldn't be a bit surprised
to have him request...

and interview and declare
that his intentions are honorable.

And ask my permission to pay his
addresses to you, what I'd better tell him?

Oh, Aunt Fanny?

- Oh Fanny, we were only teasing.
- Oh, let me alone.

- We didn't mean anything.
- Let go of me, please.

- Please, please let me alone.
- We didn't know you got so sensitive with all this.

It's getting so you can't joke
with her about anything anymore.

It all began when we found out father's estate
was all washed up, he didn't leave anything.

I thought she feel better when
we turned over his insurance to her.

Gave it to her
absolutely without any strings to it.

But now...

Yeah.

Think maybe we've been teasing
her about the wrong things.

Fanny hasn't got much in her life.

You know George, just being an aunt isn't...

really the great career
it may sometimes seem to be.

Really don't know of
anything much Fanny has got.

Except her feeling about Eugene.

They're now turning out
a car and a quarter a day.

- Isn't that marvelous?
- Yeah.

- What's marvelous?
- Turning out a car and a quarter a day.

Oh, this noise.

Mother. Mother?

All this noise and smell
seems to be good for you.

You ought to come here
every time you get the blues.

Oh, she never gets the blues George.

I never knew a person of
a more even disposition...

- No, it's this place.
- I wish I could be more like her..

Wouldn't anybody be delighted to see an old
friend take an idea out of the air like that?

An idea most people laughed at him for.

And turn it into such a splendid
humming thing as this factory.

Remember this?

Our first machine.

- The original Morgan Invincible.
- I remember.

How quaint.

Of course, I'm happy.

- So very, very happy.
- Just look at the Morgans now Mrs. Minafer.

It's beautiful, just beautiful.

Did you ever see anything so lovely?

- As what?
- As your mother.

She's a darling.

And Papa looks as if he were going
to either explode or utter loud sobs.

It's just glorious.

It makes us all happy Eugene.

Give him your hand Fanny.

There.

If brother Jack were here...

Eugene would've his three oldest and
best friends congratulating him all at once.

We know what brother
Jack thinks about it though.

I used to write verse about 20 years ago.

- Remember that?
- I remember that too.

I'm almost thinking I could do it again.

To thank you for making a factory
visit into such a kind celebration.

Isabel, dear.

- Yes, Eugene?
- Don't you think you should tell George?

- About us?
- Yes.

- It's still time.
- I think he should hear it from you.

He will dearest, soon.

Soon.

I'll still take a horse any day.

- Oh, don't.
- Why?

- You want trot his legs off?
- No, but...

No, but what?

I know when you make him walk...

it's so you can give all your
attention to proposing to me again.

- George, do let Pendennis trot again.
- I won't.

Get up Pendennis, go on, trot, commence.

But Lucy, if you are the
prettiest thing in this world...

when you going to say we're really engaged?

Not for years, so there's the answer.

Lucy? Dear, what's the matter?

Look as if you're going to cry.

You always do that whenever
I get to talk about marrying me.

- I know it.
- Well, why do you?

One reason is because I have a
feeling it's never going to be.

- You haven't any reason or...
- It's just a feeling.

I don't know, everything is so unsettled.

You aren't the
queerest girl, what's unsettled?

Well, for one thing George, you
haven't decided on anything to do yet.

Or at least if you have,
you never spoken of it.

Lucy, haven't you
perfectly well understood...

that I don't intend to go into
a business or adopt a profession?

- Then what are you going to do George?
- Why, I expect to lead an honorable life.

I expect to contribute my share to charities
and to take part in, well, in movements.

- What kind?
- Whatever appeals to me.

I should like to revert to the questions I
was asking you, if you don't mind.

No George, I think we...

- Your father is a businessman.
- He's a mechanical genius.

It's your father's idea. That I ought to go into business
and you oughtn't to be engaged to me until I do?

Isn't it you father's idea that I ought...

to go into business and you
oughtn't to be engaged to me until I do?

No, I never once spoken to him about it.

But you know that's the
way he does feel about it.

Yes.

Do you think that I'd be much of a man...

if I let another man
dictate to me my own way of life?

George, who's dictating your way of life?

I don't believe in the whole world scrubbing
dishes, selling potatoes, trying law cases.

No, I daresay I don't care any more for
your father's ideals than he does for mine.

- George.
- Giddy up, Pendennis.

Well, seems to be recovered.
Looks in the highest good spirits.

- I beg your pardon?
- Your grandson.

Last night he was
seen inclined to melancholy.

What about?

Not getting remorseful about all
the money he spent in college, is he?

- I wonder what he thinks I'm made of.
- Gold.

He's right about that part of you Father.

- What part?
- Your heart.

I suppose that may account for how
heavy it feels nowadays, sometimes.

This town seems to be rolling right over
that old heart you mentioned just now yet.

Rolling over it and burying it under.

- I miss my best girl.
- We all do.

Lucy is on a visit Father, she's
spending a week with a school friend.

She'll be back Monday.

George, how does it happen
you didn't tell us before?

He never said a word to
us about Lucy's going away.

Probably afraid to,

Didn't know whether might break
down and cry if he tried to speak of it.

Isn't that so Georgie?

- Or didn't Lucy tell you she was going?
- She told me.

At any rate Georgie didn't approve.
I suppose you two aren't speaking again?

Gene, what's this I hear about
someone else opening up a horseless...

carriage shop somewhere up in the suburbs?

Ah, I suppose they'll
drive you out of business...

or the two of you will get together and
drive all the rest of us off of the street.

Well, we'll even things up
by making the streets bigger.

Automobiles will carry our streets
clear out to the county line.

Well, I hope you're wrong,
because if people go to moving that...

far, real estate values here
in the old residence part of town...

will be stretched pretty thin.

So your devilish machines are going
to ruin all your old friends, eh Gene?

You really think they're going to
change the face of the land?

They're already doing it,
major and it can't be stopped.

- Automobiles...
- Automobiles are a useless nuisance.

- What did you say George?
- I said automobiles are a useless nuisance.

Never amount to anything but nuisance,
they're no business to be invented.

Of course, you forget Mr. Morgan makes them,
also did his share in inventing them.

You were so thoughtless he
might think you rather offensive.

I'm not sure George is
wrong about automobiles.

With all their speed forward they
may be a step backward in civilization.

May be that they won't add to the beauty
of the world or the life of men's souls.

I'm not sure, but automobiles have come.

And almost all outward things are going
to be different because of what they bring.

They're going to alter war and
they're going to alter peace.

I think men's minds are going to be changed
in subtle ways because of automobiles.

And it may be that George is right.

May be that in...

10 or 20 years from now, if we can
see the inward change in men by that time...

I shouldn't be able to defend the gasoline
engine but would've to agree with George.

That automobiles had
no business to be invented.

Major, if you'll excuse me.

Fanny.

- Oh, Eugene.
- Isabel.

Got to run down to
the shop and speak to the foreman.

I'll see you to the door.

- Don't bother sir, I know the way.
- I'll come too.

- Georgie dear, what did you mean?
- Just what I said.

- He was hurt.
- Don't see why he should be.

Didn't say anything about him.

Seem to me to be hurt,
he seemed perfectly cheerful.

- What made you think he was hurt?
- I know him.

- By Jove Georgie, you are a puzzle.
- In what way, may I ask?

Well, it's a new style,
courting a pretty girl, I must say...

for a young fellow to
go deliberately out of his way to...

try to make an enemy of her
father by attacking his business.

By Jove, it's a new way of winning a woman.

George, you struck the right treatment
to adopt, you're doing the right thing.

Oh, what do you want?

Your father would thank you
if he could see what you're doing.

Quit the mysterious detective
business, you make me dizzy.

You don't care to hear that
I approve of what you're doing?

But the guy said what in
the world is wrong with you?

Oh, you're always picking on me, always.
Ever since you were a little boy.

- Oh, my gosh.
- You wouldn't treat anybody in...

the world like this except old Fanny.

Old Fanny, you say, nobody
but old Fanny, so I'll kick her.

Nobody will resent
if I'll kick her all I want to.

Then your right, I've none in the world
since my brother died, nobody, nothing.

Oh, my gosh.

I never, never in the
world, would've told you about it...

or even made the faintest reference to it...

if I hadn't seen that somebody else had told
you or you found out for yourself in some way.

- Somebody else had told me what?
- How people are talking about your mother.

What did you say?

Of course, I understood what you were
doing when you started being rude to Eugene.

You give Lucy up in a minute if it came

- to a question of your mother's reputation.
- Look here...

- Because you said...
- look here, just what do you mean?

I only wanted to say that I'm
sorry for you George, that's all.

But it's only old Fanny, so whatever she
says, pick on her for it, hammer her...

- hammer her, it's only poor old lonely Fanny.
- Jack said...

But Jack said if there was
any gossip, was about you.

He said people might be laughing about the
way you ran after Morgan, but that was all.

Oh yes, it's always Fanny.
Ridiculous old Fanny, always.

- Always.
- Listen.

You said Mother let him
come here on your account.

He did.

Anyhow he liked to dance with me, he
danced with me as much as he did with her.

You told me mother never saw him
except when she was chaperoning you.

Well, you don't suppose that
stops people from talking, do you?

They just thought I didn't count.
It's only Fanny Minafer, I suppose they say.

Besides, everybody knew
he's been engaged to her.

- What's that?
- Everybody knows it.

Everybody in this town knows that Isabel never
really cared for any other man in her life.

I believe I'm going crazy, you mean you
lied when you told me there wasn't talk?

Never would amount
to anything if Wilbur lived.

- You mean Morgan might've married you?
- No.

Because I don't know that I've accepted him.

Are you trying to tell me that...

because he comes here and they see
her with him, driving and all that...

they think that they were right in saying
that she, she was in love with him before?

Before my father died?

Why George, don't you
know that's what they say?

- You must know that everybody in town...
- Who told you?

- What?
- Who told you there was talk?

What is this talk? Where
does it come from? Who does it?

I suppose much
everybody I know, it's pretty general.

Who said so?

- How did you get hold of it? You answer me.
- Hardly fair for me to give names.

One of your best friends is that mother
of Charlie Johnson's across the way.

Has she ever mentioned this to you?

- She may have.
- You and she have been talking about it.

- Do you deny it? Do you deny it?
- She's a very kind discreet woman George.

But she may have intimated, George.

What you going to do George?

Mr. Amberson. I mean Mr. Minafer.

- Won't you come in please?
- Thank you.

- How nice to see you Mr. Minafer.
- Mrs. Johnson...

Mrs. Johnson, I've come
to ask you a few questions.

Certainly Mr. Minafer,
anything I can do for you.

I don't mean to waste any time Mrs. Johnson.

You, you were talking about a
scandal that involved my mother's name.

Mr. Minafer?

My aunt told me you
repeated the scandal to her.

I don't think your aunt could've said that.

We may have discussed some few matters
that have been a topic of comment about town.

Yes, I think you may have.

Other people may be less considerate.

Other people, that's what I want to know
about, these other people, how many? How many?

- What?
- How many other people talk about it?

Really, this isn't a courtroom and
I'm not a defendant in a libel suit.

You may be.

I want to know just who
dared to say these things...

if I have to force my
way into every house in town.

- I mean to know just who told you these...
- You mean to know.

Well, you'll know something pretty quick.
You'll know that you're out in the street.

Please do leave my house.

Now you have done it.

What have I done that
wasn't honorable in anyway?

You think these riffraff can go around
town bandying my mother's good name?

They can now. Georgie,
gossip is never fatal till it's denied.

- If you think I let my mother's good name...
- Good name?

Look, nobody has a good name and a bad mouth.

Nobody has a
good name and a silly mouth either.

Didn't you understand
me when I told you people are...

- saying my mother means to marry this man?
- Yes, yes, I understood you.

My god, you speak of it so calmly.

- Why shouldn't they marry if they want to?
- Why shouldn't they?

- It's their own affair. Yes, why shouldn't they?
- Why shouldn't they?

Oh, that you can sit there and speak of it.

- Your own sister.
- For heaven's sake, don't be so theatrical.

Come back here.

Needn't mind Mary, I'll
see who is and what they want.

- Probably it's only a peddler.
- Thank you Mr. George.

Good afternoon George, your mother
expects to go driving with me, I believe.

If you'll be so kind as to
send her word I'm here.

No.

- I beg your pardon, I said...
- I heard you.

You say you had an engagement
with my mother and I said no.

What's the matter?

Mother will have no interest in
knowing that you came here today.

- Or any other day.
- I'm afraid I don't understand you.

I doubt if I can make it
much plainer, but I'll try.

You're not wanted in this house,
Mr. Morgan, now or at any other time.

Perhaps you'll understand this.

- Isabel.
- Yes?

I just come from Eugene.

- Yes?
- I want to talk to you.

Well, I can just guess what that was about.

- Telling her what you did to Eugene.
- You go back to your room.

- You're not going in there.
- You go back to your room.

George, George no, you don't Georgie Minafer.

You keep away from there.

- You let go.
- I won't, come back, let them alone.

- Of all the ridiculous...
- Hush up. Hush up.

Go on to the top of the stairs, go on.

It's indecent.

Like squabbling outside the
door of an operating room.

The idea of you going in there now.
Jack is telling Isabel the whole thing.

Now you stay here and let him tell her.

- He's got some consideration for her.
- I suppose you think I haven't.

- You, considerate of anybody?
- I'm considerate of her good name.

Look here, seems to me you're
taking a pretty different tack.

I thought you already knew everything I did.

I was so suffering so I
wanted to let out a little.

Oh, I was a fool.

Eugene never would've looked at
me even if he had never seen Isabel.

And they haven't done
any harm, she made Wilbur happy.

She was a true wife
to him, as long as he lived.

Here I go, not doing
myself a bit of good by it...

and just ruining them.

You told me how all the riffraff in
town were busy with her name.

And the minute I lifted my
hand to protect her, you attack me...

Your uncle is leaving.

- I'll be back Isabel.
- George, let her alone.

She's down there by herself, don't go down.

Let her alone.

Dearest one.

Yesterday, I thought the time had
come when I could ask you to marry me.

And you were dear enough to tell
me, sometime it might come to that.

But now we're faced, not with slander and...

not with our own fear
of it because we haven't any...

but someone else fear of it, your son's.

Oh, dearest woman in the world, I know
what your son is to you and it frightens me.

Let me explain a little.

I don't think he'll change.

At 21 or 22, so many things appear
solid and permanent and terrible...

which 40 sees in nothing
but disappearing miasma.

Forty can't tell 20 about this.

Twenty can find out only by getting to be 40.

And so we come to this dear...

Will you live your life
your way or George's way?

Dear, it breaks my heart for you.
But what you have to oppose now...

is the history of your own
selfless and perfect motherhood.

Are you strong enough
Isabel? Can you make a fight?

I promise you that if you
will take heart for it...

you will find so quickly
that it's all amounted to nothing.

You shall have happiness and only happiness.

I'm saying too much for wisdom, I fear.

But, oh my dear, won't you be strong?
Such a little short strength it would need.

Don't strike my life down twice dear.

This time, I'm not deserved it.

Come in.

Did you read it, dear?

Yes, I did.

All of it?

Yes.

What do you think Georgie?

- What do you mean?
- You can see how fair he means to be.

Fair?

Fair? When he says he and you
don't care what people say?

What people say?

- That Eugene loves me?
- He's always loved you.

That's true Georgie.

But you're my mother.

You're an Amberson, you just...

Yes dear?

I don't know Mother.

I'll write Eugene.

He'll understand.

He'll wait.

Be better this way.

We'll go away for a while, you and I.

Hello.

Lucy, you...

- Haven't you?
- Haven't I what?

Nothing.

- May I walk with you a little ways?
- Yes, indeed.

- I want to talk to you, Lucy.
- Hope it's about something nice.

Papa is been so glum today,
he's scarcely spoken to me.

- Well, it's...
- Is it a funny story?

May seem like one to you.

Just to begin with.

When you went away, you didn't let
me know, not a word, not even a line.

Why, no. I just trotted off for some visits.

- At least you might have done something.
- Why no George.

Don't you remember? We had a quarrel.

We didn't speak to each other all
the way home from a long, long drive.

And since we couldn't play
together like good children...

of course, it was plain
that we oughtn't to play at all.

Play?

What I mean is, we come to the point
where it was time to quit playing.

Well, what we were playing.

- At being lovers you mean, don't you?
- Something like that, it was absurd.

- Didn't have to be absurd.
- No, it couldn't help but be.

The way I am and the way
you are, would never be anything else.

This time, I'm going away.
That's what I wanted to tell you Lucy.

I'm going away tomorrow night, indefinitely.

I hope you've ever so nice a time George.

I don't expect to have
a particularly nice time.

Well, then if I were you, I don't think I go.

This our last walk together Lucy.

Evidently, if you're
going away tomorrow night.

This is the last time
I'll see you, ever. Ever in my life.

Mother and I are starting on a
trip around the world tomorrow.

- We made no plans at all for coming back.
- My, that does sound like a long trip.

You plan to be
traveling all the time or will you...

stay in one place
for the greatest part of it?

- I think it would be lovely to...
- Lucy.

I can't stand this.

I'm just about ready to go in that drugstore
there and ask the clerk to give me...

something to keep me from dying on my spikes.

- It's quite a shock Lucy.
- What is?

To find out just how deeply you care, to
see how much difference this makes to you.

- George?
- Can't stand this any longer, I can't, Lucy.

Goodbye Lucy.

It's goodbye.

I think it's goodbye for good Lucy.

Goodbye George, I do
hope you have a most splendid trip.

Give my love to your mother.

May I please have a few drops of aromatic
spirits of ammonia and a glass of water?

For gosh sake miss.

It's mighty nice of you Lucy.

You and Eugene to have me over to
your new house my first day back.

You'll probably find the
old town rather dull after Paris.

I found Isabel as well as usual.

Only I'm afraid as usual isn't...

particularly well.

Struck me Isabel ought to be in a wheelchair.

What do you mean by that?

Oh, she's cheerful enough, at
least she manages to seem so.

She's pretty short of breath.

Father is been that way
for years of course but...

never nearly so much as Isabel is now.

I told her I thought she ought
to make Georgie let her come home.

Let her? Does she want to?

She doesn't urge it.

George seems to like the life there
in his grand, gloomy and peculiar way.

She'll never change about
being proud of him and all that.

It's quite swell.

She doesn't want to come.

She like to be with Father,
of course and I think she's...

Well, she intimated one day that she
was afraid it might even happen...

she wouldn't get to see him again.

Think she was really thinking
of her own state of health.

I see.

And you say he won't let her come home?

Well, don't think he uses force.

He's very gentle with her, doubt if
the subject is mentioned between them, yet...

knowing my interesting nephew as you do...

wouldn't you think that
was about the way to put it?

Knowing him as I do, yes.

Changed.

So changed.

You mean...

You mean the town?

You mean the old
place is changed, don't you dear?

Yes.

It will change to a happier place,
old dear, now that you're back in it.

You're going to get well again.

- Mr. George will be right down Mr. Morgan.
- Thank you.

- I come to see your mother George.
- I'm sorry Mr. Morgan.

Not this time
George, I'm going up to see her.

The doctor said that
she had to be kept quiet.

I'll be quiet.

I don't think you should right now.

The doctor says...

Fanny is right Gene.

Why don't you come back later?

All right.

She wants to see you.

Darling...

- Did you get something to eat?
- Yes Mother.

- All you needed?
- Yes Mother.

Are you sure you didn't
catch cold coming home?

I'm all right Mother.

That's sweet.

Sweet.

- What is Mother darling?
- My hand against your cheek.

I can feel it.

I wonder...

if Eugene and Lucy know that we come home.

I'm sure they do.

Has he asked about me?

Yes, he was here.

Has he gone?

Yes Mother.

I'd like to have seen him.

Just once.

She must rest now.

George, she loved you.

She loved you.

And now Major Amberson was engaged
in the profoundest thinking of his life.

He realized that everything which had worried
him or delighted him during this lifetime...

all his buying and building
and trading and banking...

that it was all trifling and waste
beside what concerned him now.

For the major knew now that he had to
plan how to enter an unknown country...

where he was not even sure of
being recognized as an Amberson.

Father.

- Father.
- Eh?

The house was in Isabel's name, wasn't it?

Yes.

Can you remember when
you gave her the deed Father?

No. No, I can't just remember.

It doesn't matter.

The whole estate is about as
mixed up as an estate can get.

- You ought to have that deed George.
- No, don't bother.

It must be in the sun.

There wasn't anything here...

but the sun in the first place.

The sun.

Earth came out of the sun...

and we came out of the earth.

So whatever we are...

Well, odd way for us to be saying goodbye.

One wouldn't have thought it even
a few years ago, but here we are.

Two gentlemen of elegant
appearance in a state of beatitude.

Ah, you can't ever tell
what will happen at all, can you?

Once I stood where you're standing
to say goodbye to a pretty girl.

Only it was in the old station before
this was built, we called it the depot.

We knew we wouldn't see each
other again for almost a year.

And I thought I couldn't
live through it, she stood there crying.

Don't even know where
she lives now or she is living.

She ever thinks of me,
she probably imagines I'm still...

dancing in the
ballroom of the Amberson mansion.

She probably thinks of the mansion as still
beautiful, still the finest house in town.

Ah, life and money both behave like
loose quicksilver in a nest of cracks.

When they're gone, you can't tell where.
Or what the devil you did with them.

But I believe I'll say now
while there isn't time left for...

either of us to get any more embarrassed I...

believe I'll say I always been fond of you
Georgie, I can't say I always liked you.

But we all spoiled you
terribly when you were a boy.

But you had a pretty heavy
jolt, you taken it pretty quietly.

As the train come
into the station, you'll forgive me...

for saying there have been
times I thought you ought to be hanged.

And just for lat words,
there may be somebody else...

in this town that always
thought about you like that.

Fond of you I mean, no matter how
much you seem you ought to be hanged.

- You might try...
- Last train.

I must run.

I'll send back the money as fast they pay
me, so goodbye and God bless you Georgie.

You ever hear the Indian name
for that little grove of beech trees?

No.

You never did either. Well?

The name was Loma-Nashah.

- It means, they couldn't help it.
- Doesn't sound like it.

Indian names don't.
Was a bad Indian chief lived there.

The worst Indian that ever
lived, his name was...

It was Vendonah.

- Means, rides down everything.
- What?

Name was Vendonah, same
thing as rides down everything.

I see.

Go on.

Vendonah was unspeakable.

He was so proud he wore iron shoes and
walked over people's faces with them.

So at last, the tribe decided...

that it wasn't a good enough excuse for
him that he was young and inexperienced.

He have to go.

So they took him down to the river and put
him in a canoe and pushed him out from shore.

And the current carried
him on down to the ocean.

And he never got back.
They didn't want him back, of course.

They hated Vendonah.

But they weren't able to discover...

any other warrior they
wanted to make chief in his place.

They couldn't help feeling that way.

I see.

So that's why they named the
place They couldn't help it.

Must've been.

So you're going to stay in your garden.

You think it's better just to keep walking
about among your flowerbeds, till get old?

Like a pensive garden lady
in a Victorian engraving, eh?

I suppose I'm like that
tribe that lived here Papa.

I had too much unpleasant
excitement, I don't want anymore.

In fact, I don't want anything but you.

You don't?

What was the name of that grove?

- They couldn't help...
- The Indian name, I mean.

Oh. Mola-Haha.

Mola-Haha.

- That wasn't the name you said.
- Oh, I forgotten.

I see you have. Perhaps
you remember the chief's name better?

I don't.

I hope someday you can forget it.

Please try and understand...

it's not doing either of us
any good going on arguing this way.

- That place you picked out...
- But this boarding house is practical.

- And we could be together.
- How? On $8 a week?

I'm only going to be getting
$8 a week at the law office.

You'd be paying more of
the expenses than I would.

- I be paying? I be paying?
- Certainly you would.

- We be using more of your money than mine.
- My money?

My...

I got 28 dollars, that's all.

- Twenty-eight dollars?
- That's all.

I know I told Jack I didn't put
everything in the headlight company but...

I did.

Every cent.

And it's gone.

- Why did you wait till now to tell me?
- I couldn't tell till I had to.

It wouldn't do any good.

- My gosh.
- Oh, I know what you're going to do.

You're...

- you're going to leave me in the lurch.
- I'm only asking you to be reasonable.

To try and understand that it's impossible
for either of us to go on this way.

- Will you get up?
- I can't.

- I'm too weak.
- Oh, none of this makes any sense.

Will you get up?

I know your mother want me to watch over you.

And try and make
something like a home for you.

And I tried, I tried to make
things as nice for you as I could.

I know that.

I walked my heels down
looking for a place for us to live.

I, I walked and walked over this town.

I didn't ride one block on a streetcar.

I wouldn't use 5 cents
no matter how tired I was.

For the gosh sakes, will you get up? Don't
sit there with your back against the boiler.

- Get up, aunt Fanny.
- It's not hot, it's cold.

The plumbers disconnected it.

I wouldn't mind if they hadn't.

I wouldn't mind if it burned.

I wouldn't mind if it burned me George.

Oh, Aunt Fanny, for gosh
sakes, get up, now stop it.

Stop it. Listen to me. Do
you hear me? Stop it. Stop it.

Listen to me now. There, that's better.

Now let's see where we stand.

See if we can afford this
place you picked out.

I, I'm sure the boarding
house is practical, George.

- I'm sure it's practical.
- I know it must be practical Aunt Fanny.

It is a comfort to be
among, among nice people.

It's all right. I was thinking
of the money aunt Fanny.

There's one great economy.
They don't allow tipping.

- They, they have signs that prohibit it.
- That's good.

But the rent's $36 a month...

and dinner 22 and a half for each of us.

I got about a hundred dollars
left, a hundred dollars, that's all.

Won't need any new clothes for a year.

- Perhaps...
- Oh, longer.

- So you see...
- Yes, I see.

I see that 36 and 45 make 81.

At the lowest, we'll need
a hundred dollars a month.

And I'm going to be making 32.

Real flair, real flair for
the law, that's right.

Couldn't wait till tomorrow to begin, the law
is a jealous mistress and a stern mistress.

- I can't do it. I can't take up the law.
- What?

I come to tell you I got to find something
quicker, something that pays from the start.

I can't think of anything just this
minute that pays from the start.

But sir, I've heard they pay very high
wages to people in dangerous trades.

People that handle touchy chemicals or high
explosives, men in the dynamite factories.

Thought I see if I
couldn't get a job like that.

I wanted to get started tomorrow if I could.

Georgie, your grandfather
and I were boys together.

Don't you think I ought
to know what's the trouble?

Well sir, it's Aunt Fanny.

She's set her mind on this
particular boarding house.

It seems she put everything
in the headlight company.

Well, she's got some old cronies and
I guess she's been looking forward to the...

games of bridge and the harmless kind
of gossip that goes on in such places.

Really, it's the life she
like better than anything else.

Struck me she's about got to have it.

I got her in that headlight business with
Jack, I feel a certain responsibility myself.

I'm taking responsibility,
she's not your aunt, you know.

Oh, I'm unable to see even if she's yours...

that a young man is morally called
upon to give up a career at law...

to provide his aunt with a favorable
opportunity to play bridge whist.

All right, all right.

If you promise not to get blown up,
I'll see if we can find you a job.

You certainly are the most
practical young man I ever met.

George Amberson
Minafer walked homeward slowly...

through what seemed to be the
strange streets of a strange city.

For the town was growing and changing.

It was heaving up in the middle,
incredibly, it was spreading incredibly.

And as it heaved and spread, it
befouled itself and darkened its sky.

This was the last walk home he was ever to
take up National Avenue to Amberson Addition.

And the big old house at
the foot of Amberson Boulevard.

Tomorrow, they were to move out.
Tomorrow, everything would be gone.

Mother forgive me.

God forgive me.

Something had
happened, a thing which, years ago...

had been the eagerest hope of
many, many good citizens of the town.

And now, it came at last.

George Amberson Minafer
had got his comeuppance.

He got it three
times filled and running over.

But those who had so longed for it were
not there to see it and they never knew it.

Those who were still living had
forgotten all about it and all about him.

- All right, stay back there.
- He run into me as much as I run into him.

And if he gets well, he ain't going
to get not one single cent out of me.

I'm willing to say I'm sorry
for him. So is the lady with me.

Wonderful the damage one of these
machines can do, you'll never believe it..

All right, back in your
car, back in your car.

All right, stay back there now.

What you going to do Papa?

I'm going to him.

You coming Papa?

How is he?

- How is Georgie?
- He's going to be all right.

Fanny, I wish you could've seen
George's face when he saw Lucy.

You know what he said to me
when we went into that room?

He said...

You must've known my mother
wanted you to come here today...

so that I could ask you to forgive me.

We shook hands.

I never noticed before how
much like Isabel Georgie looks.

You know something Fanny?

I wouldn't tell this to anybody but you.

But it seemed to me as if
someone else was in that room.

And that through me she brought
her boy under shelter again.

And that I been true at last...

to my true love.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Magnificent Ambersons...

was based on Booth Tarkington's novel.

Stanley Cortez was photographer..

Mark Lee Kurt designed
the sets. Al Fields dressed them.

Robert Wise was the film editor.

Freddie Fleck was the assistant director.

Edward Stevenson
designed the ladies' wardrobe.

Special effects were by Vernon L. Walker.

The sound recording was by
Bailey Fesler and James G. Stewart.

Here's the cast:

Eugene, Joseph Cotten.

Isabel, Dolores Costello.

Lucy, Anne Baxter.

George, Tim Holt.

Fanny, Agnes Moorehead.

Jack, Ray Collins.

Roger Bronson, Erskine Sanford.

Major Amberson, Richard Bennett.

I wrote the script and directed it.
My name is Orson Welles.

This is a Mercury production.