The Magnificent Ambersons

1942 • 88 minutes

About this movie

A spat between wealthy, young Isabel Amberson and her beau, the brash inventor, Eugene Morgan, launches a chain of events that will haunt two families for generations in Orson Welles classic The Magnificent Ambersons. After quarreling with Eugene (Joseph Cotton), Isabel (Dolores Costello) marries a man she does not love and devotes her life to her son, George (Tim Holt). Over the years, Eugene becomes a millionaire in the new automobile industry; George grows into an insufferable young man; and Eugene and Isabel, both widowed, resume their relationship. Eugene proposes to Isabel, but George, who has never had to work, disdains the self-made Eugene. He bars his mother from seeing the one man she has ever loved. Yet, even though George has prevented Eugene from ever marrying Isabel, Eugene rescues George when tragedy strikes the Amberson family.