Production wrapped on reconstruction of Orson Welles’ ‘The Magnificent Ambersons’

Filmmaker Brian Rose’s five-year effort to reconstruct the long-lost Orson Welles director’s cut of “The Magnificent Ambersons” has been completed.

Welles’ 1942 as heavily re-edited by his studio, RKO Radio Pictures, after unsuccessful test screenings. In an interview with the Wellesnet site, Rose estimated that out of the 73 pieces or scenes shot by Welles for the director’s cut, only 13 scenes survive extant in the 88-minute film that played in theaters. As a result, 21 scenes were either deleted or reshot and 39 scenes were shortened.

Rose’s version runs 131 minutes and 45 seconds, and he used storyboard-style animation to recreate the lost footage; voice actors, sound effects and Bernard Hermann’s score filled in the soundtrack for the recreated footage. Rose is planning to premiere his work on the film festival circuit later this year.

“I very much would like this film to be paired with the theatrical cut in some way, so viewers can compare and contrast both,” said Rose. “I sincerely hope that it could be possible to screen it in theaters, and ultimately make it widely available.”

Photo: An animated recreation by Brian Rose of lost footage from “The Magnificent Ambersons”