Blu-ray Review Forever Amber Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Matt Hough

Forever Amber Blu-ray Review

Otto Preminger’s Forever Amber offers us the mostly sanitized highlights from Kathleen Winsor's overheated novel with the title character making some mighty societal leaps so that she’s eventually a fit consort for the King of England.

[review]

 

[Alan Tully]

All these old colour Fox films sound like they have the same fault: really quite nice on exteriors & very well lit scenes, but with darker scenes...clogged-up blacks, the HD TV broadcast of Drums Along the Mohawk looked just like that. Such a shame.

 

[Andrew Budgell]

Thanks for the great review, Matt. My copy arrived yesterday and I'm looking forward to watching it--the perfect post-Christmas treat!

 

[JPCinema]

There are 2 endings...No has mentioned which one this is.

 

[Will Krupp]

There are 2 endings...No has mentioned which one this is.

I don't know that the original ending still exists anywhere, does it? I remember a few years ago they advertised a version (laser disc maybe?) with both endings but I don't think it ever actually came out. I'd love to be wrong.

 

[JPCinema]

FMC had an HD version had a different ending than the DVD.
It has to do with a voice over narration...at the beginning and then. I do not have the new blu ray yet.

 

[lionel59]

I also recall the ad for the proposed. LD of AMBER containing the original ending. It was never released. I have read that this ending showed Darnell preparing for her next rich lover after tearfully seeing her child leave with Cornel Wilde for the New Land.
. The narration by Wilde over the last shot in which he cites their sins and subsequent payments for them was one of the additions demanded by the censors. The ending is better and closer to Preminger's original conception without it. An opening written prologue condemning Amber's courtesan lifestyle was also added but seems to have - thankfully- vanished.
. I have a LIFE magazine from the era announcing Peggy Cummins coming to Hollywood to play the lead role. After a good deal of footage was shot, she was dismissed and Darnell assumed the role with Richard Greene replacing Vincent Price and Norma Varden given a bigger role. I believe this footage was destroyed when the nitrate stock was dumped but I would think a portion of it must be somewhere. I would love to see it one day. The poster art looks much more like Cummins than Darnell just as some poster art for THE ROBE features a likeness of Jean Peters and that of PORGY AND BESS has art resembling Harry Belafonte, both of whom were either originally cast or sought for these films.
I love the production values, the Raksin score and the performances in FOREVER AMBER. Despite the recent 4K restoration, the TT release sounds very similar to my French copy, so as there is no audio commentary or doco on the film itself on the new release, I will stick to my present copy. (Only caveat, the subtitles cannot be removed!)

 

[Will Krupp]

I have a LIFE magazine from the era announcing Peggy Cummins coming to Hollywood to play the lead role. After a good deal of footage was shot, she was dismissed and Darnell assumed the role with Richard Greene replacing Vincent Price and Norma Varden given a bigger role. I believe this footage was destroyed when the nitrate stock was dumped but I would think a portion of it must be somewhere. I would love to see it one day. The poster art looks much more like Cummins than Darnell just as some poster art for THE ROBE features a likeness of Jean Peters and that of PORGY AND BESS has art resembling Harry Belafonte, both of whom were either originally cast or sought for these films.

Considering we just lost Peggy Cummins the other day at the age of 92 it would make it doubly nice to see her footage from the original, aborted version.

 

[Alberto_D]

The Trynone Power technicolor movies have a sad ending, similar to Forever Amber, surviving only in the infamous "fadingcolor", CRI masters very poorly made (bad exposure & bad developing) by FOX prior to destruction of original camera negatives.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews30/tyrone_power_collection.htm

 

[benbess]

I'm watching Forever Amber again—and enjoying it more the second time. Here's a good paragraph from Matt H's helpful review, which convinced me to get this blu-ray.

"$4 million was poured into the making of this at-one-time scandalous best seller, and though most of the bodice-ripping and sexual peccadilloes have been excised from the Philip Dunne-Ring Lardner Jr. screenplay, the illegitimate child and the lengthy succession of lovers from all walks of life offer strong suggestions to the title character’s off-screen endeavors. The money shows up on screen, too, in an eye-popping succession of gowns (this was one year before the Academy instituted the costume design award; surely this film’s wardrobe designer Rene Hubert would have carried off that prize had it been in effect in 1947), the elaborate staging of the Great Fire of London and the outbreak of plague (the extended sequence of Amber tending to her lover suffering from plague and protecting Carlton from the murder plans of a wicked nurse played by Margaret Wycherly is the film’s best single sequence), and of splendid castle sets and extensive grounds and manses where the various plot machinations occur. Preminger also directs a nicely staged duel in the early morning English mists and overall establishes a believable portrait of 17th century England while probably not straying far from the Fox soundstages and backlot."

This movie was a big hit when released, and probably was financially successful for Fox even with its lavish production budget. Anyway, I enjoy these epics from the 30s, 40s, and 50s a quite a bit. I'm not going to get into the picture quality discussion beyond saying that it's as good as can be expected given the loss of the original 3-strip negative. The insightful booklet essay from Julie Kirgo includes this comment: "....why Winsor never follow up with Amber does America is beyond us...." (!) The title character does remind me a little bit of Scarlett from GWTW.

 

[Will Krupp]

This movie was a big hit when released, and probably was financially successful for Fox even with its lavish production budget.

The box office was big, but it couldn't make back its production cost. Fox had allowed the negative cost to balloon to about $6 and a half million or so by the time all was said and done ($4.5 million was the original budget.) While it brought in huge domestic rentals of $5 million and a further $3 million from the rest of the world, once the cost of prints, advertising, and distribution overhead were figured in, it came up short.

 

[benbess]

The box office was big, but it couldn't make back its production cost. Fox had allowed the negative cost to balloon to about $6 and a half million or so by the time all was said and done ($4.5 million was the original budget.) While it brought in huge domestic rentals of $5 million and a further $3 million from the rest of the world, once the cost of prints, advertising, and distribution overhead were figured in, it came up short.

Interesting. Sounds like it got close to break even? Perhaps sales to TV from the 1950s-70s pushed it into the black?

In any case, that's big box office for that era. I'm guessing that esp. for women moviegoers of 1947-48 that it was a draw to see a complicated woman who claws her way to the top. Linda Darnell, Otto Preminger, the screenplay, etc. make you simultaneously root for her even as you're scandalized by a few of the things she does.

Do we know what the original ending was before it was cut? And were other scenes cut too, or just the ending?