Fable, a startup branding itself as the “Netflix of AI,” has revealed a controversial plan to digitally reconstruct the missing 43 minutes of Orson Welles’ 1942 classic, The Magnificent Ambersons.
Backed by Amazon’s Alexa Fund, Fable has developed an AI platform that generates animated content from user prompts. The company now claims to have built a new model capable of producing longer and more complex narratives. Filmmaker Brian Rose, who has spent the past five years analyzing Welles’ original vision, intends to use this technology to rebuild the lost scenes over the next two years.
The project, however, faces serious challenges. Fable does not own the rights to the film, and Welles’ estate was never contacted. David Reeder, who manages the estate for Welles’ daughter Beatrice, condemned the initiative as “an attempt to generate publicity on the back of Welles’ creative genius,” dismissing it as “a purely mechanical exercise” without the director’s originality.
Still, Rose maintains that his motivation lies in honoring Welles’ artistry, citing in particular a destroyed four-minute tracking shot, of which only 50 seconds remain, as a tragic loss worth recreating. Critics argue that no matter how advanced AI becomes, it cannot truly restore the cinematic voice of Orson Welles.
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For fans of classic cinema, the effort highlights a broader debate: whether technology should be used to resurrect lost art, or whether some works should remain part of history’s unsolved mysteries.
