It was like 'expecting a cool Hitchcock ending? Sorry, no killers, just a big misunderstanding! Whoops! But it was fun while it lasted'. Til the end of course.
I would have preferred something along the lines of while he's planning to execute her murder she'd been taking down murder mystery notes from that author and in the end gets him before he got her.
The book on which the movie is based ends very differently. Hitchcock filmed an ending in keeping with the book. But he was forced to add a happier one. The new ending refutes everything that has gone before. It ruins the movie IMO.
There is so much that is perfect about this film - the incredible cast, slow building suspense, the beautifully realized English setting. It could have been one of Hitchcock's masterpieces. Instead, it's a pretty good film with an ending that doesn't make any sense.
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No, there are so many films where husbands are trying to murder their wives, one where it turns out he isn't makes a change.
shareWhy would anyone have preferred Lina to be murdered?
shareI would have preferred something along the lines of while he's planning to execute her murder she'd been taking down murder mystery notes from that author and in the end gets him before he got her.
Yeah, the ending is crap, because the ending that Hitch cobbled together at the studio's insistence is utterly unsatisfying, because it retroactively makes the whole story trivial.
It would have been better if she'd been right about her husband but still managed to nail him in the end, that would have been a proper Hitchcockian bittersweet ending rather than a happy one. Because realizing that the one man you ever loved is a murderer isn't a happy ending, not one bit.