20 Movies That Are Flawed Masterpieces

5. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

The entire canon of Orson Welles' work is overshadowed by the "definitive masterpiece" that is Citizen Kane; it is often referred to as the greatest motion picture of all-time, ever made, and so on. Which means that anything else Welles did after usually found itself classified as "a near masterpiece," or - indeed "a flawed masterpiece."

Though that tag doesn't fit well with many of his later works, with The Magnificent Ambersons it does. That's to say, The Magnificent Ambersons - as it is still seen today - was butchered and cut into submission, whilst Welles' original vision for the movie is still yet to be seen (it is considered to be something of a Holy Grail, if it exists at all). But despite the elusive director's cut, there is a much to love about this "incomplete" version, regardless of the fact that it isn't the exact movie that its director wanted, or a cut that he even approved.

As a chronicle of an American family from the 1870s into the early 20th century, The Magnificent Ambersons plays like an early version of The Royal Tenenbaums, or Arrested Development; it is packed to the brim with brilliant creative flourishes and clings to a wonderfully experimental narrative. Who needs a definitive version when this exists?