MovieChat Forums > The Letter (1940) Discussion > Alternate Ending (Spoilers)

Alternate Ending (Spoilers)

posted 18 years ago by wencer
23 replies | jump to latest

Just saw the DVD with the alternate ending. Was it just me or was the alternate ending somehow better? I thought the last conversation between husband and wife was rather tacky - especially Leslie's confession that she still loves Hammond (I neither believe that she does, nor do I believe that her character would tell Robert even if she did) and was glad to see it cut. Plus I enjoyed the slow scroll through the patio door and the fresh web of lace/deceit dropped on the floor. I'm not really sure why this was changed - presumably it must have seemed too sudden to the audience. Was this ending the one in the original Maugham play?

[–] creightonhale 18 years ago

I haven't read the play, but I've been lucky enough to have seen the 1929 film version with Jeanne Eagles. It ends with Leslie's confession to her husband that she still loves the man that she killed. He responds by saying that he is disgusted with her and leaves her. I'm assuming that the play ends in a similar way since this version is rather stage-bound due to the restrictions of early sound filming. Only a couple of shots are supposed to be outside: the opening shot of Chinatown and the journey to Chinatown later in the story. Otherwise, this version is confined to the Crosbie house, the courtroom, the lawyer's office, and a dive in Chinatown. But still, I would recommend the film for Eagles's edgy, nervy performance and as a comparison to the superior 1940 film.

And speaking of Leslie's confession that she still loves her former lover, I don't think it's necessary to believe her. I think she's incapable of any kind of love, for her former lover or her husband. (Well, she loves herself.) I think she tells him this simply to hurt him. In the earlier version, she despises her husband, and in the Davis version, she seems to be trying to drive him away since he was willing to stay with her.

"That was a good movie. You should have been in that movie."

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] TheManInOil 18 years ago

I think the alternate without their final scene is less complete, but there is a certain over-the-top quality to the melodrama of that scene. What would have been better would be to come up with an alternative scene to end the husband's story.

"I can only express puzzlement bordering on alarm."

[–] BillyFisher 17 years ago

Not sure which ending I preferred, as they both had their virtues. The alternate ending had a bit more of the husband at the party, which made it a bit more believable, as in the first ending he just started going crazy quite abruptly. Also, I agree that Leslie's sudden confession is not very credible. It's too sudden, and just comes out of nowhere.

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[–] MuMu2525 17 years ago

I've just seen the alternative ending as well and it was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. I could barely tell any difference between the two endings apart from the final shot of the lace on the floor and the deletion of Lesley's confession that she still loved Hammond. I was actually hoping that the alternative ending was going to be how the film was originally intended to end (with Lesley getting away with it scott free) and so it should have ended with her at the doorway looking up at the moon.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] songinmy_heart 17 years ago

I was also disappointed that the alternate ending was not the one where Leslie survives to suffer a loveless marriage, but I did like it that the focus remained on her in this version, as it is she, and not her marriage, that is the central focus of the play/movie. As for the established ending, and the "melodramatic scene" between Leslie and Robert, I disagree that the acting on either side was over-the-top. Having lived a few years, I very much identified with the realism of this scene the first time I saw it. Unfortunately, human relations ARE cliched and melodramatic as a rule, and, particularly in a circumstance with not only infidelity but sustained deception involving murder to contend with, I can't see how such a scene could be otherwise. An interesting parallel is another Maugham story, the original "Painted Veil" with our wonderful Herbert Marshall, again as the decieved husband, and the ultimate sufferer Greta Garbo as the wife.

[–] SusanJL 16 years ago

Somehow I can't see Bette (Leslie) suffering a loveless marriage - she would just find herself another lover!

[–] Gloede_The_Saint 16 years ago

Which ending is the alternative one?

In the ending I just saw she told her husband she still loved the guy she killed, then she walks outside and gets killed by Hammonds wife.

Somebody here has been drinking and I'm sad to say it ain't me - Allan Francis Doyle

[–] BelleCBelle 16 years ago

The ending you reference is the one that was in the movie that was released. I personally think it is the better ending. The very end, starting where Leslie walks through the back garden and goes out the gate and gets murdered, and so forth, is the same in each ending.

"You must be the change you seek in this world."

[–] Nagime 16 years ago

I believe this ending was a studio pushed, to show that the Herbert Marshall character in the end, knew how "bad" Bette Davis was and not mourn her so badly. Another one of the unbelievable endings so many of hollywood melodramas suffered

[–] mcelesia-1 16 years ago

Indeed, Davis actually "committs suicide." She knows she is going to be killed. Curiously enough, the only time I had seen this film before was at least 30 years ago, on TV back in Argentina. And--maybe due to time constraints or the censors or whatever-- the film ended when she walks into the yard. The whole business of seeing Gale Sondergaard and Davis' body was not shown. I don't remember about the scene with her husband. But the truncated ending made for a much more mesmerizing finale. From the fact that the knife was missing and the moving shadow we saw at the gate, we realize SHE knew she'd be killed if she stepped out. Davis' acting of the scene, without saying a word, all eyes and expression, is a tour de force. The finale left to our imagination what they so obviously showed us. And, lest ANYBODY went unpunished, they also show Gale Sondergaard and her accomplice being taken away by a policeman.

[–] Enrique-8 15 years ago

How interesting the "Argentinean ending" sounds great! I would love to have seen it that way! :) Thanks for sharing!~

Enrique Sanchez

[–] TCall2004 15 years ago

The alternative ending is when she doesn't get killed.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] gayspiritwarrior 12 years ago

No. The ending where she doesn't get killed wasn't filmed. The alternate ending, as some have already described, leaves out the final confrontation between husband and wife, and instead of ending on the large lace draped over the chair it ends on a smaller piece she drops just outside the door. Other than that, both endings are the same.

"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde

[–] jayraskin1 15 years ago

You saw the released version.
In the alternative ending that scene is cut out.
It sounds like the 1929 version had the best ending. It should have ended with the scene of Davis confessing the truth to her husband for the first time. That was the dramatic highlight.
The stupid Hays Moral Code which was in effect in 1941 forced Betty Davis to be punished for her crime before the movie ended. Curse the Legion of Decency for ruining another great movie.

[–] gayspiritwarrior 14 years ago

It's been a long time since I read it, but I think in "Mother Goddam" Davis talks about the forced ending. I have to say I think it works. Under coercion as they were, everyone involved still gave the new scenes their absolute best, acting, directing and camerawork. The movie is unforgettable, and the ending as we know it contributes to that.

"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde

[–] mdonln 9 years ago

jayraskin1 says > The stupid Hays Moral Code which was in effect in 1941 forced Betty Davis to be punished for her crime before the movie ended. Curse the Legion of Decency for ruining another great movie.

I happen to think she gets punished regardless of the ending that's shown. She is a miserable person who doesn't care who she hurts. She just wants her own way. She has to live with herself and will never find the happiness she seeks. In her own twisted way of thinking, she loved Hammond yet she killed him. She doesn't even like herself. If she did she'd make better choices.

Also, because of her actions she's ruined their opportunity to get away and start fresh. She is married to a man who loved her and worked hard to make a good life for her but she could not see that. In her mind she's the only one who had to sacrifice. She's the victim. What about her husband, who is essentially in the same position she's in. He loves someone who doesn't love him except in his case, through no fault of his own, he's lost everything and she lost him.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

[–] summerfields 15 years ago

Bette ALWAYS voted for the altenate ending: it's better.

Even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream

[–] lastmidnite2 15 years ago

All I know is when she say's "With all my heart I still love the man I killed", I get goosebumps. God, that woman was brilliant.

[–] gayspiritwarrior 12 years ago

Exactly. And since that is left out of the alternate ending, I have to disagree with Bette; I like the release version better.

"The value of an idea has nothing to do with the honesty of the man expressing it."--Oscar Wilde

[–] FranLovesBetteD 9 years ago

All I know is when she say's "With all my heart I still love the man I killed", I get goosebumps. God, that woman was brilliant.

I feel exactly the same way every time I see it. The alternate ending was fine, but, IMHO, THAT scene is totally essential for the movie and, fairly, has become one of Bette's iconic moments on screen (and we all know that there are MANY).

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