Forever Amber

Released Oct 22, 1947

2h 20m

Drama

List

18%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

52%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Left at a farmer's doorstep during the English Civil War, Amber St. Clair (Linda Darnell) -- a girl of noble birth -- grows up in a small village under the puritanical eye of her guardian. Wanting more out of life, she flees her home for London, following a traveling soldier, Bruce Carlton (Cornel Wilde). Once in the city, Amber and Bruce form a relationship, but Bruce soon leaves for the high seas. Alone and pregnant, Amber decides to continue her upward social climb.

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James Agee

TIME Magazine

Linda Darnell ... makes a handsome but unexciting Amber. Cornel Wilde, as Amber's steady, Lord Bruce Carlton, uses both of his facial expressions frequently.

Mar 2, 2018

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Here is a $4 million (and claimed to be more) picture that looks its cost.

Oct 23, 2007

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

The film runs for two hours and twenty minutes, which is just about an hour too long considering its repetitious nature and the fact that it is pretty trashy stuff.

Rated: 2/5

Jan 28, 2006

Full Review

Nell Dodson Russell

Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder

Forever Amber has the advantage of an eye-pleasing technicolor job to gloss over the fact that it's just two-and-one-half hours of yawn bait.

Jan 15, 2022

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Hollywood had to considerably tone down the cinematic adaptation, although it also met with its fair share of puritanical naysaying.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 18, 2021

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

The Retro Set

However, the adaptation's studio-mandated propriety keeps it from truly transcending the tired strains of soap opera melodrama.

Rated: 6/10

Jun 3, 2019

Full Review

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Danielle N

The book is amazing and the movie was great too. The people that gave this movie 18% are ignorant and would probably prefer the kardashians or jersey shore. Merely empty headed fools with no appreciation for the generations before them.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best movie score ever composed!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

a good movie to watch .

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

dave j

Tuesday, August 12, 2014 (1947) Forever Amber ROMANTIC DRAMA Like "Forrest Gump" when it's taking a fictional character, in this case Amber, played by Linda Darnell going through actual events to gain a proper title since females at that particular time which was during the Victorian era were deemed as second class citizens. Viewers are going to subject Amber experiencing "The Great Fire Of London" as well as the "plague" with the difference here is that we're not given the exact time frames during which all of that had happened. Her name is Amber St. Clair, and the film showcases her farm working parents arranging their daughter a marriage with another farmer. Except that her main goal was to avoid that kind of lifestyle, and rather strive for something better. So when the opportunity was there when some swordsmen were passing through looking for temporary refuge, since one of the men was badly injured. Amber took the opportunity to sought on after them by volunteering as a barmaid on the inn where they were staying. Some men were trying to make advances on her except that she only has eyes set for one person, and that is on Bruce played by Cornel Wilde since he's given a title as a "Lord" in service to King Charles II played by Charles Sanders. And it there is when she does nothing but lie in order to get a title. One of the problems I had is that although she loves Bruce, I can't understand why he can't make any sacrifices for her or can't be told the truth about her very complicated situation in regarding to what happened to her such as being locked up in the gallows while he was away for long periods at a time. It's hard to recommend a movie that refuses to acknowledge ones sacrifice for the love of someone else. 2 out of 4 stars

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

"It's a lush Fox production, photographed in Technicolor by the great Leon Shamroy and directed by a wholly uninterested Otto Preminger."

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A very well done period piece starring the beautiful Linda Darnell.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

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Otto Preminger

Director

John M. Stahl

Director

Linda Darnell

Amber

Cornel Wilde

Bruce Carlton

Richard Greene

Lord Almsbury

Philip Dunne

Screenwriter

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Synopsis

Left at a farmer's doorstep during the English Civil War, Amber St. Clair (Linda Darnell) -- a girl of noble birth -- grows up in a small village under the puritanical eye of her guardian. Wanting more out of life, she flees her home for London, following a traveling soldier, Bruce Carlton (Cornel Wilde). Once in the city, Amber and Bruce form a relationship, but Bruce soon leaves for the high seas. Alone and pregnant, Amber decides to continue her upward social climb.

Director: Otto Preminger, John M. Stahl
Producer: Darryl F Zanuck
Screenwriter: Philip Dunne, Ring Lardner Jr., Kathleen Winsor, Jerome Cady
Distributor: 20th Century Fox, Fox
Production Co: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 22, 1947, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Apr 29, 2014
Runtime: 2h 20m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)