The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

Orson Welles was a masterful filmmaker, and here he unravels the end of a family's story. (This was an incredibly interesting accompaniment to "Gone With the Wind," which I watched this same week and had many similar elements.) However, the ending seemed awkward and abrupt. After a bit of research, I discovered the studio had been unhappy with Welles' version, which had a very dark ending, so they cut over half an hour of the movie and tacked on a happy ending while Welles was out of the country. The removed footage was later destroyed. I only wish I could have seen Welles' original version, as the ending for this certainly didn't seem to fit, and I can only imagine how much more powerful the movie would have been had it been allowed to continue on the same track it started on. 3.5 stars.