A 1942 film version by Orson Welles was Welles' second film; he wrote a screenplay, directed it, & narrated it. Nevertheless, RKO felt that it was too hanker, & looking for a other commercially importunate product, deleted fifty proceedings piece Welles was away from the united states. A deleted part was destroyed, & there are no copy of it lives.

It stars Joseph Cotten, Dolores Costello, Anne Baxter, Tim Holt, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Richard Bennett and Orson Welles.

A moving-picture show was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Agnes Moorehead), Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Stanley Cortez), and Best Picture. A film has too been deemed "unfeeling important" per Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

A Magnificent Ambersons was remade for television in 2002, starring Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Gretchen Mol, Dina Merrill and James Cromwell. It was directed by Alfonso Arau.