2. Welles' Cut - The Magnificent Ambersons
"They destroyed Ambersons, and it destroyed me." - Orson Welles
When he made the above comment, Welles was referring to RKO's now infamous butchering of The Magnificent Ambersons. It is one of the two most famous tragedies of cinematic loss (alongside the next film in our list) and it left Welles with a reputation that would burden him for the rest of his career. After a poorly placed preview screening garnered scathing reviews from a young audience - who weren't expecting to see such a somber picture - RKO decided to make cuts to the film (while Welles was away in Brazil working on another "failed" project). Welles' Preview Version - what one might call the film's "director's cut" - was originally 132 minutes long. But when RKO got done with it, 44 minutes had been ripped out. At times, footage was even replaced with inferiorly re-shot scenes that completely changed the film's mood and narrative flow. Despite reaping critical acclaim, Citizen Kane was a bust at the box office. Because of this, RKO was able to negotiate themselves the final cut over his next film. So when Welles version of The Magnificent Ambersons bombed during its premiere in Pomona, RKO quickly took it to the cutting room to make changes that they felt were necessary to render the film a financial success. In a 2010 interview with Vanity Fair film critic David Kamp, it is noted that RKO began to remove entire segments they felt made the film too depressing. They envisioned (and wanted) a far more upbeat movie. They ended up with an approximately 117 minute cut of the film which was previewed in Pasadena for a more mature audience, with the third act having been effectively dismembered. The audience still hated it, presumably because RKO had messed up the tone and flow of Welles' narrative. Fearing it was set to become another financial bust, the studio tasked assistant director Freddie Fleck and editor Robert Wise to make even more cuts - with the inclusion of additionally re-shot footage - leaving us with what we now know as the 88 minute TCM Version of the film today (of which the third act is utterly incomprehensible). Welles would later reflect on this period of his life in a conversation with fellow film maker Peter Bogdonovich- a conversation that would become the basis for the book "This Is Orson Welles." In the book, Welles describes how every effort was made to track down the cut footage, so that work could begin to restore a film he felt was even better than Citizen Kane in its original form, only to discover that Warner Bros. (who now owned the rights to the RKO film library) had apparently dumped the deleted footage into the ocean. Included in the now lost 44 minutes are a number of critically important scenes and incredible technical achievements. At times, these scenes were reduced because of their length, while others were fully deleted or switched out for alternate takes shot by assistant director Freddie Fleck. Some of the more prominent examples include: Welles' epic ballroom scene, which consisted of one long, continuous, precisely choreographed take that utilized a crane-shot to follow the action as it moved up and around the house's three stories. The middle of this scene was removed. Pretty much all of the scenes that included Major Amberson were drastically reduced or cut out altogether - most importantly the scene where he discusses a failed investment with Fanny, and his explanatory soliloquy - which fades out while he's still speaking = and should have been followed by his death. Instead, the Amberson's financial difficulties go unexplained while the Major just disappears from the film without an explanation. Of the additional footage that was incorporated into the film, the most notable example is certainly the alternate ending. This completely shifted the overall mood of the film, from one of doom and gloom, to something that could be read as having a relatively "happy ending." It was removed because it was considered to be too much of a "downer" - instead it was replaced by an alternate ending that was shot by Fleck. Apparently Welles fought (from Brazil, no less) to keep the ending that would have had Morgan walking away from Fanny, leaving her destitute and alone, suggesting to add in "cheery" credits instead... but clearly this did not fly.