Director: Laurence Green Laurence Green's The Magnificent Abersons recounts one Dutch family's tale of paradise lost, paradise regained. Seduced by romantic images touting the prairies as the new Eldorado, Bob and Jane Aberson immigrated to Dauphin, Manitoba, in the 1920s. The young couple soon realized that Dauphin was no Eden and farming no romance. Seeking to temper the myth with a hardy dose of fact, Jane began writing a column for a Dutch newspaper that became a regular feature, lasting 30 years. Jane described the realities of farming life in Canada, a country that she had grown to love and felt needed no embellishment. Her popularity led to a series of lecture tours in the Netherlands, where she emerged as a celebrity go-between for thousands more Dutch who followed her to become Canadians.