TCM joins the search for the long-lost Orson Welles cut of The Magnificent Ambersons. Welles originally adapted Booth Tarkington’s novel as the follow up to his masterpiece Citizen Kane. But when the auteur left for Brazil to make a documentary to help the war effort, RKO took The Magnificent Ambersons away from him and finished the film without his input, even shooting new footage to give the movie an awkward upbeat ending after test audiences disapproved of Welles’ climax.

Ever since RKO released their altered cut of Magnificent Ambersons, Welles fans have longed to see the movie the way the great maverick filmmaker originally intended. Unfortunately none of Welles’ cut footage has ever surfaced, making it impossible to restore the film to its intended form. Now TCM and filmmaker Joshua Grossberg are teaming up to hunt down this lost footage, which has been referred to by scholars as the Holy Grail of cinema. The effort will be chronicled in the documentary The Search for the Lost Print: The Making of Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons which will release in 2022 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Ambersons.

Related: Who Plays Orson Welles In Mank

If indeed the lost Welles footage is found, then a restored version of the movie will also debut along with the documentary. This is of course a big “if” as no one knows whether the footage still exists. RKO reportedly destroyed the 43 minutes of footage they cut from the movie in order to recover the film’s nitrate for the war effort, but legend says a workprint including the lost scenes was sent to Welles in Brazil only to later disappear. Grossberg’s journey will take him to Brazil in hopes of finding this long-lost print in an archive. Those who’ve longed to see Welles’ cut of The Magnificent Ambersons for all these decades surely hope Grossberg is successful, though his quest seems like a long-shot at best.

More: Mank: Why Orson Welles Shares Credit On Citizen Kane

Source: TCM