I’ve never been fond of Hans Christian Anderson’s downer endings to his stories (I can’t see the beauty in the original Little Mermaid, myself). His Little Match Girl ends with her death.
And in The Steadfast Tin Soldier the titular soldier, after his long journey, finds himself back with ballerina, only to be thrown into the fireplace. The ballerina also ends up in the fire, and it does my heart no joy that the tin solder ends up melted into the shape of a heart*.
In the Disney version (which appeared in Fantasia 2000), the soldier and ballerina avoid the fire, but the Jack in the Box who is responsible for his suffering ends up in the fire, instead.
I can’t say I’m disappointed by the Disney revamp. It’s the Anderson version that annoys me.
I can’t confirm this as a fact. But many years ago, I watched Freebie and the Bean, a buddy cop movie starring James Caan and Alan Arkin.
[spoiler]In the climax of the movie, Bean (Arkin) is shot and killed. We see Freebie (Caan) mourning his dead partner. And then suddenly Bean sits up and reveals he’s not dead after all and isn’t even seriously injured.
Even watching this as a kid, I didn’t buy that surprise ending. It seemed obvious to me that Bean had died in the original script and then somebody decided to tack on a happy ending.[/spoiler]
Well, all those hobbits who were in the book would probably have preferred the movie ending, which featured more scones & ale and a considerable amount less scouring, thank you very much.
There is no “the” movie. I assume you are talking about the 1931 Universal film, but that was the third film based on the book, and there have been several respectable versions since, albeit, so far none very faithful to the book.
There was a silent version of Anna Karenina, which had an ending for the European release that was faithful to the book, but for the US, there’s an ending that begins with a title that says “Five years later…” and has Anna and the count all happy, with children, and well, happy families are all alike.
The original with Steve McQueen and Fay Dunaway is one of my all-time favorite movies. One reason is because I consider the ending to be absolutely perfect.
In the original, after the cat and mouse game between Thomas Crown and the insurance investigator, she and Thomas Crown decide to split the take on a final job and meet at the airport for their getaway into a new life. But she double-crosses him but discovers that he’s one step ahead of her.
The near-final scene where she waits with the cops in the arranged meeting place in a cemetery is just too perfect. His car pulls up and she has a speech all prepared. When they surround the car and open the door, it is driven by a messenger. His message reads “Had to leave early. Meet me at the airport, or keep the car”. After reading it she breaks down in tears. Cut to a scene at the airport where he is on the plane waiting to see if she will show up. Great scene! Great ending!
In the new Pierce Brosnan version, she shows up at the airport and they fly off and live happily ever after, presumably. Boo, boo, boo.
I’ve seen several versions of the story, and only one of them had Esmerelda executed and Quasimodo sealed in the tomb with her. (That was a made for TV version with Anthony Hopkins.)
Charles Laughton’s version had a sad ending, but even so, both he and Esmerelda were alive. Laughton’s tragedy was to watch his love ride away, while sobbing to the gargoyles, “If only I too were made of stone.”
I think the dispute here turns on the definition of “ending”. While the scouring of the Shire occurs very late in the book, the story actually ends with the Shire pretty much all better. So the movie omitted an unpleasant episode, but did not, in the strict sense of the term, replace an unpleasant ending with a pleasant one.
Brighton Rock is another that comes to mind. In the novel Rose goes to hell after hearing Pinkie’s recording while it’s implied that he goes to heaven.
In the film, due to a scratch on the record, she doesn’t commit suicide.
(The film’s about seventy years old, so I take it I don’t need spoiler tags.)
the African Queen itself does not act as the agent of the Louisa’s demise, though, as in the movie. And my recollection is that the RN’s sinking of her was entirely independent of Charlie and Rose.
Agreed. I’ve posted about this in the past on this Board, as well. There’s no reason for Disney to take all the heat for this one, since practically every other version – Lon Chaney’s silent version, Charles Laughton’s, Anthony Quinn’s – also changes the ending.
The movie version of The Snows of Kilimanjaro ends with the adventurer being rescued . . . which renders the title and the opening quote about the leopard devoid of foreshadowing or meaning.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen it, but there was a “happy ending” version of Brazil that the studio insisted on but Gilliam fought against. Gilliam finally won.
Maybe my ancient brain is playing me false, but I thought someone on the RN boat mentioned that “this must mean the Louisa is close!” or something like that.
The Andrews Sisters did a version of “Molly Malone” where she doesn’t die. James Thurber got pissed off enough about it to write a satirical piece called “Take Her up Tenderly,” so complaining about this is a pretty old pastime.
To catch you up: in the stage show, Rapunzel’s Prince cheats on her (with Snow White or with Sleeping Beauty, I forget which and it’s not important; Cinderella’s Prince takes the other) and Rapunzel breaks up with him. She completely loses her marbles, develops dissociative PTSD and spends most of her time wailing while running through the forest. As the cast is trying to deal with The Giantess, Rapunzel appears, is about to step into The Witch’s arms (maybe), spooks and runs and is stepped on and killed by the Giantess. The Witch is horrified, and sings a very heartfelt and sad version of “Witch’s Lament” (“No matter what you say, children won’t listen…Children can only grow, from something you love…to something you lose…”) This later transforms into the song “Children Will Listen,” when the Witch leads the cast in the realization that children DO listen, only they listen to your stories and watch your actions, rather than responding to lectures and ultimatums. In the movie, where Rapunzel doesn’t die, but runs off with her Prince to live happily ever after, “Witch’s Lament” turns into a bitter controlling bitch of a mother song, the song of a mother who can’t accept that her daughter has a life of her own now. Then the transition of the tune to “Children Will Listen” doesn’t make any sense, and totally lacks pathos.
That’s the biggest change for the worse. There’s also a change in how Jack’s Mother dies (in the stage show, she’s killed directly and purposefully by The Footman, not accidentally by falling) which shows that even “good” people are sometimes assholes - critical to the message in “No One is Alone”. The Baker’s Wife is also stepped on by the Giantess, which helps to solidify the case against her and the death sentence the characters give her. In the movie, she’s just kind of clumsy and does property damage; in the stage show, she kills Red’s Grandmother, The Narrator (who isn’t even in the movie), The Baker’s Wife and Rapunzel. She’s a menace who must be stopped.
The stage show is a brilliant story about being careful what you wish for and the perils of growing up. The movie is…a lesson in being careful what you wish for, if what you wish for is your favorite musical brought to the big screen.