The Ending
The Original ending had Ingred Bergman die with Cary Grant waiting and overhearing someone say "She was Notorious" They changed the ending so we don't see her die, but she dies.
Was change good?
I think that the ending was just fine the way it was. It's left a bit open-ended, which is okay. I think that the audience is supposed to assume that she lives but that her hubby is killed.
~~
π JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen π
Or audience can believe that she dies but they stopped before getting to that point. Either way, it doesn't show a happy or the original ending.
shareFair enough....although she didn't look like she was on her death-bed in those final scenes. Very sick, yes, but was she dying? I don't know.
I'm surprised that Hitchcock got away with such an ending. Back in those days, all the bad guys had to be either arrested or killed, and here it looked like some of those ex-Nazis would still survive after killing Alex. I don't know how Hitch got away with such an ending. I know that audiences can assume that Devlin would send in cops to raid the house and arrest everyone there, but I understood that this is something that had to be shown back in 1946.
~~
π JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen π
That's the way the movie first was filmed. Cary Grant doesn't save her and while sitting on bench, he hears someone say about her "She was notorious" and music and credit rolls. It is understandable that audiences didn't like the too dark ending, so her death was edited out.
Original version of Invasion of Body Snatchers is dark and they slapped on a quick, really bad happier ending. Did the same with Orson Welles film. They put in hopeful scene without his permission.
I wondered about that myself. Thought movies would show Nazi being killed. Notorious is my favorite, even though it has very strange things about it.
And back in those days, the bad guys had to be arrested and/or killed, so Claude Rains' character had to be dealt with in some way. I'm surprised that the others didn't get arrested.
I was impressed with how they filmed the scene with Cary Grant coming down the stairs with Ingrid Bergman. All those criminals surrounding them, and none of them could do a thing about the fact that those two were leaving. Brilliant and creative.
~~
π JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen π
It never really occurred to me that the ending was at all ambiguous. I always thought it was obvious she lived...but I can see now how it could be interpreted otherwise, though I must say I wouldn't like the film half as much if she didn't make it :-)
And that's a really good point about the bad guys making it out alive. It never occurred to me to wonder about that. I wonder why some of them were allowed to escape...
I admit that I had to think twice about the ending of this film, since I haven't seen it in over a year. ξ¦
But yeah, the film ends with that one ex-Nazi heading back to the house, ready to be murdered. This implies that the ones who kill him will continue to live. How on earth did Hitchcock convince the censors to allow this? Maybe he had connections...
At the same time, the ending is extremely effective.
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen π
Of course didn't Cary Grant get some of the sample from the bottle in the wine cellar? Maybe that paired with Ingrid Bergman's testimony after she recovers will be enough to bring some trouble down on the other Nazis? I would have to re-watch the film though to see if that could make sense.
Maybe though since the main villain was going to be punished, the censors were alright with letting the side villains get away, especially since they were the ones bringing the main villain to justice.
I remember another movie, Robin and the Seven Hoods, in which the main characters are all mobsters so in the end they don't really get away successfully with their crimes, and when I commented on here that I didn't much care for the ending someone said it likely happened due to the censors at the time. Thinking back on that movie, some side villains also escape unscathed (and in one case, actually comes out on top!), so perhaps the censors were more forgiving of the supporting cast avoiding punishment for their crimes.
True. If the movie were to continue, the main characters would probably send police to the house to arrest the rest of the Nazis. Even though the lady was very ill, she would still make sure that the cops were called ASAP.
~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen π