# They Gave it a Happy Ending! (Spoilers, naturally) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594 "2019-11-17T23:35:31Z")\ **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:** [November 17, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/1 "2019-11-17T23:35:31Z")
I’m thinking mainly of stage musicals, but it can be any movie, musical, stage play, or what have you. There are plenty of cases where the original book, play, or whatever had a downbeat, unhappy, or unresolved ending, but they clearly changed it because they wanted the audience to go out feeing good about things. The example that first started me thinking about this was Agatha Christie’s _Ten Little Indians/Then There Were none/(Ten little Nigger Boys)_, the one that started the trope of "One of the people on this island is a murderer, killing the rest of us off. In the novel, all of the people brought to the island have a dark, seriously guilty secret, but the judge responsible for the setup wanted to see them all punished, and so each gets killed off. In the stage play, two of them turnm out to be _not_ really guilty. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s the Attractive Young Man and Attractive Young Woman who have fallen for each other, so they go off arm in arm at the end. Awwww… But I realized they did this a lot. In Shaw’s original play _Pygmalion_, Eliza Doolittle goes off with brainless Freddy. In the first film version, with Wendy Hiller and Leslie Howard, Eliza comes back to Professor Higgins. She does in the musical _My Fair Lady_, as well, and in the movie they made of it. In the novel _Wicked_ (as in all versions of _The Wizard of Oz_) the Wicked Witch of the West gets dissolved (“You _Liquidated_ her, eh?” says the Wizard in the 1939 film), but in the stage musical _Wicked_ she fakes her own death and survives. Similarly, although the Phantom of the Pera survives in Gaston Leroux’s original novel, he generally dies in movie interpretations (including Lon Chaney’s 1925 silent film). But in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical he survives (and even went on to a sequel musical). The 1995 film of **The Scarlet Letter** twists the novel severely out of shape, most notably by giving it a pretty happy ending, with Dimmesdale and Hester both living and together at the end, Similarly, the silent film **The Sea Beast** , based on _Moby Dick_ and starring John Barrymore, has him not only surviving, but coming back to live with his sweetheart (!!!) The mind truly boggles. The ending of **The African Queen** differs from the C.S. Forester novel. In the novel, Charley and Rose’s scheme to turn the _African Queen_ into a torpedo to sink the German ship _Louisa_ doesn’t succeed.Interestingly, the film made one change for the worse - in the novel the Germans don’t try to execute them, but turn them over to the British. But, of course, in the film they don’t end up being executed anyway. I realize that there are plenty of cases of stories being altered from the source material, but I’m looking in particular for cases where the change was introduced precisely for that Happy Ending. As proof that this has been going on for a long time, consider this – for over 150 years Shakespeare’s ultra-tragic play _King Lear_ was performed in a drastically altered way, The version by Nahum Tate has Lear restored to his throne at the end, and Cordelia marrying Edgar. Tate’s version was phased out from 1823 to 1845, and rarely performed today > **[The History of King Lear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_King_Lear)** > > The History of King Lear is an adaptation by Nahum Tate of William Shakespeare's King Lear. It first appeared in 1681, some seventy-five years after Shakespeare's version, and is believed to have replaced Shakespeare's version on the English stage in whole or in part until 1838. > Unlike Shakespeare's tragedy, Tate's play has a happy ending, with Lear regaining his throne, Cordelia marrying Edgar, and Edgar joyfully declaring that "truth and virtue shall at last succeed." Regarded as a tragicom... (To be fair, though, the source material – Geoffrey of Monmouth’s _History of the Kings of Britain_ actually _does_ have Leir restored to the throne. Shakespeare made the original story even bleaker.) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/2 "2019-11-17T23:39:44Z")
At the end of the film _Cujo_, the little boy is still alive. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2019, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/3 "2019-11-17T23:43:26Z")
In the novel of _Jurassic Park,_ Malcolm dies of an infection in his broken leg and doesn’t make it off the island. So, a happy ending for his character, at least. I don’t think Hammond made it out, either. Heck, the Costa Rican government didn’t firebomb the entire island in the movie. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/4 "2019-11-17T23:49:48Z")
The musical _Rent_ is based on Puccini’s _La boheme_. In the opera, Mimi dies at the end. In _Rent_, she get up from her deathbed (after a scene showing her die) because their friend Angel (who died a few scenes before) stopped her from going to the white light. It’s so blatantly tacked on that it left me cold. Not really what you’re looking for, but in _Nicholas Nickleby_, they stage a version of _Romeo and Juliet_ with a happy ending. I suspect that sort of thing may have been done from time to time when Dickens was writing. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/5 "2019-11-17T23:53:48Z")
Sphere is a really good book, but a middling movie. It changed a huge detail on the ending, though. In the book, the female character(Beth) gives a wry smile at the end that indicates she kept her superpower, the ability to make others do your will. They all gave it up, she kept it. The hint is that she will be using her power to control everyone and…well, who knows? The movie just ends with them giving up their power and it skips the evil twist from Beth. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/6 "2019-11-18T00:04:51Z")
Since I’m coincidentally listening to it… The original film The Little Shop of Horrors ended badly for Seymore, Mushnik, and Audrey. The stage musical based on it ended badly for the Earth at large. So far, so unhappy. The theatrical release of the film based on the musical altered the ending so that Seymore and Audrey survived and the Earth wasn’t be-planted (for now). (The Director’s Cut restored the stage ending.) ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/7 "2019-11-18T00:12:06Z")
Oddly enough, a radio adaptation of “Pebble in the Sky” gave a sad ending to a story that originally had a happy one (since this adaptation dropped the main character from the story, he wasn’t around to save the day, and the day therefore did not get saved). Hans Christian Andersen’s version of The Little Mermaid does not end nearly so happily for her as the Disney version does (it doesn’t “middle” very well for her, either). ---
**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:** [November 18, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/8 "2019-11-18T00:52:42Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Oddly enough, a radio adaptation of “Pebble in the Sky” gave a sad ending to a story that originally had a happy one (since this adaptation dropped the main character from the story, he wasn’t around to save the day, and the day therefore did not get saved). > > . Similarly, the John Carpenter version of **The Thing** , while truer to Campbell’s original story _Who Goes There?_, goes beyond that story’s “happy ending” to give it a pretty downbeat and ambiguous one. I’ve never been very happy with it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/9 "2019-11-18T01:07:45Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Hans Christian Andersen’s version of The Little Mermaid does not end nearly so happily for her as the Disney version does (it doesn’t “middle” very well for her, either). Meh. She goes to heaven which is the ultimate happy ending in that century. Especially since presumably pagan merfolk don’t go there. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/10 "2019-11-18T01:14:57Z")
The book _JAWS_ includes a sexual relationship between Hooper and Brody’s wife and somehow Brody finds out. (I forget how). Hooper dies in the ensuing battle with the shark and Brody is left to swim home alone knowing the truth about what happened between them. This of course differs in the movie where no such affair happens, Hooper survives and he and Brody amiably swim back after killing the shark. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/11 "2019-11-18T01:47:47Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The musical _Rent_ is based on Puccini’s _La boheme_. In the opera, Mimi dies at the end. In _Rent_, she get up from her deathbed (after a scene showing her die) because their friend Angel (who died a few scenes before) stopped her from going to the white light. It’s so blatantly tacked on that it left me cold. This is one of the things that makes me despise _Rent_. Two and a half hours of crap music (sole exception: “Seasons of Love”) that, along with the book, beat you over the head with the message, “Don’t ever compromise your art. Don’t sell out. Don’t pander to the masses.” And then Mimi lives at the end. I could have sworn I saw a black & white film adaptation of _Our Town_, starring Paul Newman as George and Eva Marie Saint or someone similar as Emily, in which Emily came back to life at the end. Unfortunately, it seems as though I’ve been hit by the Mandela Effect. Still, the 1940 version with William Holden as George has Emily live at the end, too. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/12 "2019-11-18T01:54:51Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > Since I’m coincidentally listening to it… > > The original film The Little Shop of Horrors ended badly for Seymore, Mushnik, and Audrey. > The stage musical based on it ended badly for the Earth at large. > > So far, so unhappy. > > The theatrical release of the film based on the musical altered the ending so that Seymore and Audrey survived and the Earth wasn’t be-planted (for now). > > (The Director’s Cut restored the stage ending.) In fact, the theatrical release was originally filmed with the plants victorious. They spent $5 million on a special-effects-filled ending that showed the plants taking over the world after killing Audrey and Seymore. But the initial audience reactions to this were so negative that they were forced to scrap it and reshoot a happy ending. Oz said that Warner Bros. requires a test screening to have at least a 55% positive rating from the audience, and the film with the original ending got 13%. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/13 "2019-11-18T02:22:22Z")
Let’s go with _I Am Legend_ which has been adapted a few times. In the original novel the protagonist dies at the end realizing that humanity has been replaced by this new race of vampires. _Last Man on Earth_ starring Vincent Price has the titular character dying at the end realizing he was was in fact the last man on Earth. Okay, so this adaptation ends the same. _The Omega Man_ starring Charlton Heston ends with our protagonist dying but some humans get away with his blood which will provide them with a serum to cure the disease that turns people into vampires. _I Am Legend_ starring Will Smith ends with the protagonist dying but some survivors make their way out of New York to a settlement of people with the cure discovered by Smith. So 1/3 adaptations stayed true to the source material. Not bad. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/14 "2019-11-18T02:44:55Z")
In the movie _The Natural_, Roy Hobbs hits the final home run and wins the game. In the [novel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural), he strikes out. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/15 "2019-11-18T02:49:45Z")
In the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, she is finally lost forever because he violates the condition of not looking at her until they both arrive at the surface of the Earth. Gluck’s 1762 opera _Orfeo ed Euridice_ gave the story a happy ending. [Orfeo ed Euridice - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orfeo_ed_Euridice#Act_3) > [@](#): > > Orfeo decides he will kill himself to join Euridice in Hades, but Amore returns to stop him (1774 only: Trio: “Tendre Amour”). In reward for Orfeo’s continued love, Amore returns Euridice to life, and she and Orfeo are reunited. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/16 "2019-11-18T02:59:53Z")
In the [1999 film version of _Animal Farm_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm_(1999_film)) (a post-Fall-of-the-Berlin-Wall version, natch) “Animal Farm” has collapsed, and the film ends with the surviving animals preparing to work with a new generation of humans together in a spirit of inter-species cooperation and fraternity. (The original Orwell novel, of course, ends with “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Which in context is definitely not a Happy Ending.) I, uh, guess the film’s new human farmers won’t be keeping pigs (or any other animals) for meat. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/17 "2019-11-18T03:01:30Z")
It feels a little sick to call it a happy ending, but the movie version of _A Clockwork Orange_ ends with the main character cured of his anti-crime treatment and ready to get back to sex and ultra-violence. In the book, his treatment is also reversed, but then he sees the error of his old ways and becomes boring. ---
**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:** [November 18, 2019, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/18 "2019-11-18T03:19:00Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > In the [1999 film version of _Animal Farm_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm_(1999_film)) (a post-Fall-of-the-Berlin-Wall version, natch) “Animal Farm” has collapsed, and the film ends with the surviving animals preparing to work with a new generation of humans together in a spirit of inter-species cooperation and fraternity. (The original Orwell novel, of course, ends with “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.” Which in context is definitely not a Happy Ending.) > > I, uh, guess the film’s new human farmers won’t be keeping pigs (or any other animals) for meat. Speaking of Orwell, in the 1956 British version of **1984** , well , here: > [@](#): > > There are reportedly two endings to this film. The UK version ends with a defiant Winston Smith and Julia being executed by the authorities. The US version is more faithful to Orwell’s book and concludes with Winston and Julia being brainwashed into becoming loyal followers of “Big Brother.” > **[1984 (1956) - Alternate versions - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048918/alternateversions/?tab=cz&ref_=tt_trv_alt)** > > 1984 (1956) - Movies, TV, Celebs, and more... While not exactly a “happy ending”, at least they’re being defiant and not defeated. On the other hand, all the reports I’ve encountered of this alternate ending seem a bit apocryphal. I’ve never seen this alternate version available anywhere. Although IMDB also has this to say: > [@](#): > > Sonia Orwell, widow of George Orwell, objected to the changed ending, and had this movie withdrawn from circulation. > > … > Passed by the British Board of Film Censors with an “X” certificate on November 10, 1955 and then premiered at the Warner Theatre, Leicester Square, on March 1, 1956 running disappointingly for only two weeks. Interestingly, this was the first of two versions that Director Michael Anderson shot, each with an entirely different ending. The Monthly Film Bulletin reviewed the London premiere and noted that the “changed ending” shows Winston Smith shouting “Down with Big Brother”, whereupon he is promptly shot by the police. Julia is shot down as she approaches his dead body. In the American version (released on DVD by Orbit Media and taken from a television print from Screen Gems), Smith does exactly the opposite and ends up shouting “Long Live Big Brother,” but Julia is nowhere to be seen. Comparing the two versions, the latter was closer to Orwell’s original, while the original British ending was damned by The Times as an “unforgivable mistake”. > **[1984 (1956) - Trivia - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048918/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv)** > > 1984 (1956) - Trivia on IMDb: Cameos, Mistakes, Spoilers and more... ---
**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:** [November 18, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/19 "2019-11-18T03:22:13Z")
Wouldn’t you know it – **TV Tropes** has a page devoted to this topic, with multiple examples –[Revised Ending - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RevisedEnding) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594/20 "2019-11-18T03:27:30Z")
This is half way there: **The Towering Inferno** was based on two books; the ending of, “The Tower,” is the downer–the fire can’t be stopped, the whole building burns, everyone on the top floors dies. “The Glass Inferno,” has the (extremely implausible) ending Irwin Allen used for the movie. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/they-gave-it-a-happy-ending-spoilers-naturally/843594.md?page=2)