# Changed to a Happy Ending **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686 "2015-03-10T13:27:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/1 "2015-03-10T13:27:28Z")
Okay, I can understand in many cases where they take a story with kind of a downer ending and change it to a happy one for a play or a movie – especially a play. ho wants to sit through a long piece, watch characters overcome obstacles, work out personal differences, then die? So when Agatha Christie adapted her novel _And Then There Were None_ (which also has some now non-pc titles) she changed the downer ending to one where the two romantic leads go off happily away with one another (leaving an island full of dead bodies). I also understand why they did it in the early years of cinema – audiences were new to the medium. Why jinx it by hitting them with a depressing ending. So I don’t approve, but I understand when the silent version of _Moby Dick_, titled _The Sea Beast_, has captain Ahab survive (!) and go home to his sweetheart (!!!) I’m less forgiving now, and don’t particularly care for the changed Happy Ending. Heck, when John Carpenter filmed **the Thing** in 1982 the Bill Lancaster script actually changed a relatively happy ending to an ambiguous AND depressing one. We’ve come to expect the occasional downbeat ending, and heap scorn on tacked-on or inexplicable happy endings, like in the Demi Moore **Scarlet Letter** So which annoying Changed Happy Endings do you know of? The 1950s British version of **1984** , where Winston Smith stands up to Big Brother (in the American version, he succumbs, as in the book) The 1940 film **Our Town** , where a character who dies in the play doesn’t The 1957 movie **The Pride and the Passion** , adapted from C.S. Forester’s novel _The Gun_ (in which everyone dies) only one of the main characters dies. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/2 "2015-03-10T13:34:16Z")
This year’s _Into the Woods_ ditched several critical deaths and defanged the two (three if you count the Wolf) they did leave intact. In doing so, they completely thwarted the pacing and character motivation, and undermined every thematic element that made the story interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/3 "2015-03-10T14:04:13Z")
Bladerunner had a changed ending from the one the director wanted. The director’s cut restored the gloomier, unresolved ending. It’s better that way. Les Miserables with Liam Neeson does not end with Jean Valjean’s death. While Les Mis does not really end all super sad or all bad, it does end with his death and things get tied together well. If I remember correctly, that movie version ends with Javert’s suicide and Jean Valjean walking away(a free man in all ways, I guess). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/4 "2015-03-10T14:05:23Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > This year’s _Into the Woods_ ditched several critical deaths and defanged the two (three if you count the Wolf) they did leave intact. In doing so, they completely thwarted the pacing and character motivation, and undermined every thematic element that made the story interesting. Really? I thought the movie sucked massively, but I have not seen or even listened to the musical. Can you give more details on the changes? I’m curious now. One of the worst movies I saw from 2014, though it had a couple OK moments. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/5 "2015-03-10T14:47:32Z")
In the 1941 Hitchcock film “Suspicion,” starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine, Alfred Hitchcock originally wanted Grant to be guilty, but the studio insisted that the public wouldn’t accept Cary Grant as a murderer. Hitchcock’s original ending had Johnny (Grant) killing Lina (Fontaine) by poisoning her milk, but then convicting himself by mailing a letter that Lina had written. Joan Fontaine said, Cary Grant “did kill me in the original cut, but at a preview, the audience simply refused to accept him as the murderer.” And of course in "The Natural, " Roy Hobbs wins the big game with a climactic home run. In Bernard Malamud’s book, Hobbs strikes out. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/6 "2015-03-10T15:02:18Z")
Nathanael West’s **Miss Lonelyhearts** , a cinematic crime against literature. (posting from work, so I can’t elaborate. Never, ever watch this post-auto accident Montgomery Cliff version. The PBS television version from the early 80’s is the honest one) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/7 "2015-03-10T15:08:41Z")
In Forester’s book _The African Queen_ her mission fails – she doesn’t sink the _Louisa_. In the Huston movie, of course, she succeeds, if somewhat belatedly. A famous example is the original _Invasion of the Body Snatchers_, where they tacked on a “Happy” ending at the insistence of the studio. Director Don Siegel wanted it to end with Kevin McCarthy wandering on the highway, screaming “You’re next!” to people, trying ineffectually to warn them of the threat of the Pod People. The studio insisted that they shoot a new ending showing that the authorities finally believed him. But Philip Kaufmann, in the 1978 remake, gave us the scene of McCarthy unsuccessfully warning people, shot from inside the car, as Siegel had wanted to. What makes it all the more interesting is that Siegel’s original ending would have been MORE depressing and ambiguous than the ending of Jack Finney’s novel, _The Body Snatchers_, where the pods inexplicably give up and float off into space. (See the original novel. Or here: [The Body Snatchers - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Body_Snatchers) ) It’s another reason I’m not fond of Finney’s book or most of its adaptations. Give me Heinlein’s _The Puppet Masters_ instead, any day. It’s a more believable treatment. And it predates Finney’s novel, in any case. (Finney’s book , serialized in 1954, was published in 1955. Heinlein’s book came out in 1951.) ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/8 "2015-03-10T15:12:56Z")
**The Chocolate War**. In the movie version, Jerry wins the fight. Everyone cheers. Brother Leon gives him a thumbs-up :smack: Obie takes over as the Assigner and Archie submits. Granted, the novel as it’s written is horribly pessimistic, and probably not the best message to send to middle/high schoolers. But if you don’t like it the way it is, don’t make a movie of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/9 "2015-03-10T15:13:21Z")
In the novel _Jurassic Park,_ the mathematician & Walt Disney both die. In the movie, both are alive & kicking (well, one has a broken leg) and ready for sequels. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/10 "2015-03-10T15:30:57Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Really? I thought the movie sucked massively, but I have not seen or even listened to the musical. Can you give more details on the changes? I’m curious now. > > One of the worst movies I saw from 2014, though it had a couple OK moments. I write a long missive about it when it came out, but I’m on my phone and can’t search at the moment. I’ll look for it later when I get home. 🙂 But if you can see the stage show sometime, do. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/11 "2015-03-10T15:44:21Z")
In the stage version of _Nicholas Nickleby_, there’s a show-within-a-show of _Romeo and Juliet_ with a deliriously happy ending. I don’t know if that was in the Dickens, but the change to Shakespeare worked very well. The original script of _Chinatown_ had a happy ending. Roman Polanski changed it over writer Robert Towne’s strenuous objections. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/12 "2015-03-10T16:08:27Z")
Little Shop of Horrors, the 1986 movie with Rick Moranis. Apparently they shot the downer ending, screen-tested it, and then changed and gave the audiences what they wanted. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/13 "2015-03-10T16:12:15Z")
I figured the Disney version of _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ would be post #2. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/14 "2015-03-10T16:16:45Z")
The Glass Menagerie (1950) with Kirk Douglas and Jane Wyman was a pretty OK movie right up until the end when, astonishingly, Laura uses the experience to boost her self-confidence and start entertaining gentleman callers all over the place. Her limp pretty much disappears. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/15 "2015-03-10T16:24:20Z")
_The Little Mermaid_ - in the original story she becomes sea foam at the end since the prince doesn’t return her love. Also, having legs is compared to walking on knives. Definitely Disney’d up. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/16 "2015-03-10T16:27:31Z")
Then there’s _Return of the King…_ things turned out pretty well for The Shire in the movie version. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/17 "2015-03-10T16:28:00Z")
The stupid happy ending goes way further back than the movie (actually, way further back than the musical), but _My Fair Lady_ is an example. In Shaw’s original play, _Pygmalion_, Eliza actually DOES leave Higgins high and dry. The ending was changed by the producer of the very first stage production, against Shaw’s vehement objections. That ending has followed through to the musical adaptation and the movie that was made from it. And annoys the everliving crap out of me still. There’s a Shortpacked! strip that [encapsulates my opinions on how the ending should have gone perfectly](http://www.shortpacked.com/2012/comic/book-14/06-girthday/myfairlady/)… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/18 "2015-03-10T16:40:54Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The stupid happy ending goes way further back than the movie (actually, way further back than the musical), but _My Fair Lady_ is an example. In Shaw’s original play, _Pygmalion_, Eliza actually DOES leave Higgins high and dry. The ending was changed by the producer of the very first stage production, against Shaw’s vehement objections. That ending has followed through to the musical adaptation and the movie that was made from it. > > And annoys the everliving crap out of me still. There’s a Shortpacked! strip that [encapsulates my opinions on how the ending should have gone perfectly](http://www.shortpacked.com/2012/comic/book-14/06-girthday/myfairlady/)… I hadn’t heard about changes to the stage version, but the very first movie version of _Pygmalion_, with Leslie Howard as Higgins and Wendy Hiller as Eliza, also has the changed ending. Shaw was reportedly furious. It’s always annoyed me that in his foreword to the printed version of _My Fair Lady_ Alan Jay Lerner says that he changed the ending “because he didn’t think Shaw got it right”, but didn’t see fit to mention that he was merely following in the footsteps of others in doing so. Shaw, of course, in the printed edition of the play, added a lengthy afterword (atypically for him – he usually had long introductions) explaining exactly what happened to Eliza and Freddy after the events of the play. > **[Pygmalion (1938 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmalion_(1938_film))** > > Pygmalion is a 1938 British film based on the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play of the same name, and adapted by him for the screen. It stars Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins and Wendy Hiller as Eliza Doolittle. > The film was a financial and critical success, and won an Oscar for Best Screenplay and three more nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Howard), and Best Actress (Hiller). The screenplay later was adapted into the 1956 theatrical musical My Fair Lady, which in turn led to the 19... ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/19 "2015-03-10T16:41:31Z")
Podkayne of Mars. In Heinlein’s original, she dies. In the revision the publisher insisted on, she’s badly injured, but survives. Great Expectations. In Dickens’ original, Pip and Estella don’t get together at the end. In the revision the publisher wanted, they do. ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686/20 "2015-03-10T16:46:18Z")
The original _Frankenstein_ film with Boris Karloff. IIRC, in the books, Dr. Frankenstein’s fiancee was murdered by the Creature and the doctor died at sea during an attempt to find and destroy him. The movie ends with the Creature going on a rampage and tossing Dr. Frankenstein off of a building. But then the doctor recovers and goes on with his life. Was the Creature killed by the villagers? I don’t even remember it being shown on screen. Pretty sure his fiancee(wife?) isn’t killed, either. Also, the tones of the two works were very different. The book developed the Creature as a tragic figure, a hideous but articulate person, and hated by his creator and anyone who saw him. Driven to violence out of frustration and rejection. The movie rewrote him as a mindless, dangerous beast. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > Then there’s _Return of the King…_ things turned out pretty well for The Shire in the movie version. Yeah, but The Shire recovered quite quickly and well even in the book. They just didn’t want to blow another hour on the scouring and recovery, and I can understand that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/changed-to-a-happy-ending/714686.md?page=2)