MovieChat Forums > The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) Discussion > Was the TV version's ending edited out? ...

Was the TV version's ending edited out? (spoiler)

posted 16 years ago by mcbare
12 replies | jump to latest

I don't remember when I saw this movie before, but I remember very clearly a scene where Michael York is in a boat with a black panther. When I watched the version on TV today, I kept waiting for Maria to change completely at the end, figuring that was what I was remembering. I was shocked that after they show one quick cut to her changing face, the credits roll! My father also remembers the same thing. Was there another version that got edited down to remove Maria's full transformation? Without that, the movie definitely felt anti-climactic.

[–] klinefelter3 15 years ago

It seems that's the case according to the thread "the end???" Others recall seeing this ending, but apparently it is only hinted at in the current DVD and broadcast versions. It's a shame because who knows when they'll do another edition of this film?? When they do, hopefully they get it right and tack on the original ending!!!

[–] nedhorn 15 years ago

I saw it in theater when it first opened in NY. No final transformation, although it seemed an obvious ending. Maybe the Euro version had it.

[–] jonbeckett 15 years ago

When I watched this over twenty years ago, I seemed to recall the same thing happening, York turning round to witness in horror what Maria had become. I have just watched the Optimum DVD release and the ending seems different, with Maria's transformation only hinted at. Is my mind playing tricks with me, or were there two endings?
I'm very fond of the film anyway, just curious about the ending

Wake me up before you Monster A Go Go

[–] MystMoonstruck 15 years ago

I, too, saw it in the theater. The ending had him seeing her changed, with no transformation effect, somewhat reminiscent of the shock of the change in "Lost Horizon" though I don't recall if the musical version staged it the same. I've never read anywhere about her transformation being shown, which would have been tricky but possible with effects then.

I'm watching the film on THIS channel, having not seen it since the early Eighties. I'll see if they do anything different with the ending.

~~MystMoonstruck~~

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] tehck 13 years ago

I saw it when it first came out, and there was no transformation (although there is debate about whether Maria shows evidence she is starting to revert).

[–] flyman-2 13 years ago

From the liner notes of the soundtrack CD issued in 2009:

"In the original film, in the lifeboat at the very end of the picture, the girl, Barbara Carrera, turned out to be really a puma, which had been turned into a human being and was now, with the death of Dr Moreau and the inability to arrest the retrogression, this girl that [Braddock] was in love with was inevitably going to become a huge cat. You saw the fangs beginning to appear and it was a really horrible moment, and one that gave the end of the picture a punch and a power, and so the music ended on a great tragic cry. Well, after they previewed the picture in Santa Barbara, the producers saw fit to ... recut it into some kind of ... happy ending. The music of course ends on a tragic note, ... but they didn't have any money to re-record. So it's a very strange ending now, because the music in no way corresponds to the picture."

[–] Mr_Blonde3 13 years ago

There's a photo of Barbara Carrerra in the photos of the film on here, showing her with yellow eyes and fangs, so that confirms at one point that they were going to go with the twist ending.

Also, that ending features in the movie novelization by Joseph Silva that I happened upon, but the novel ends even more darkly, seemingly with puma Maria about to pounce and kill him.

I love to love my Lisa.

[–] janwass83 11 years ago

What?? Did they write a novel of a movie based on a novel?? Oh this crazy world...

[–] flyerzzrul 10 years ago

Perhaps they will make a movie from the novel they wrote from the movie based on a novel

[–] 10 years ago

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