Which Ending do you prefer?
-
jaana-eigi — 20 years ago(March 12, 2006 09:29 AM)
It's probably too late to answer in two years but I saw your post a moment ago so I do.
Here http://www.imdb.com/board/10092879/ is the page of the Russian version. It's Desjat negritjat, Ten Little Negroes to translate literally (because of the Russian translation of the original nursery rhyme). The ending of this film is exactly as in the book. A good film but really eerie. -
giraffeblimp — 20 years ago(November 27, 2005 08:09 PM)
I really think they did it just perfect. The book's ending suited the book because books typically lend themselves to darker endings. But movies and plays typically require a more upbeat ending, so the whole "Lombard and Vera fall in love and figure out the mystery" really works much better than Vera hanging herself at the end. Think about it. Wouldn't you have been just a little bit DEPRESSED if that was the ending of the movie? I would have been (but somehow I had no qualms with her committing suicide in the book).
There's also the issue of motivation. Movies and plays are much more confined. They really can't delve into a character's personality, past, guilt, or motivation like a book can. The format just doesn't work. So while in the book we understand why Vera commits suicide, in the movie we'd probably think it was unprecedented and a cheap cop out (there are numerous examples of these misunderstood suicides all over movie history. They just don't work very often.)
And wouldn't that last scene have been sort of BORING had they stuck to the book? The last chapter was a letter! How could they transition that to the silver screen without it seeming dragged out, boring, and unsettling?
Evidently my opinion was shared by Christie. After all, the movie ending was not Rene Clair twisting the book. The movie ending was written by Christie herself. And when it comes to mystery endings, who among us can claim superiority to Agatha Christie?
Bloop. -
fhq1702 — 19 years ago(October 05, 2006 07:47 PM)
Well, I only read the book and I think it wa excellent. But after reading your opinion, I would rather think that the book's ending is better. Vera killed that boy, and she nearly felt nothing for her crime. It was unbearable. Vera in the book is a lady who only sees love but doesn't concern about others.Her suicide at last is a good ending for both herself or for her lover.
And I also wonder, isn't Lombard much older than Vera? I might forget the details , but I still think it not suitable fot Vera and Lombard being together.
By the way, could you kindly tell me where I can buy the movie? I am a student in Guangzhou, and I really love Agatha's stories. If you can help me find the movie version, please contact me by e-mail. My e-mail address is
FHQ1702@hotmail.com. Thank you so much !!!!!
P.S. Have you read another Agatha's book Muder on the Link? It is also great,and Poriot did a good job in that case. -
rowan_red — 19 years ago(October 30, 2006 10:52 AM)
I second giraffeblimp's opinion. The book worked well, for the clever twists it had, but I liked the movie's ending, in which "Lombard" and Vera resisted the tendency to be manipulated into causing their own deaths.
And, as giraffeblimp stated, Agatha Christie wrote the movie ending herself! -
david_tower — 19 years ago(December 16, 2006 04:59 PM)
There are many problems using the ending in the book.
The Judge dreams of becoming an immortal, the forever elusive, the unknown, Jack the Ripper. The message in the bottle is Christie's concession to the needs of the reader. But it is a betrayal of her character and his air-tight plot.
In the book, the characters are pure stereotypes, pieces of an intellectual puzzle which can be removed from the board without ever engaging the emotions of the reader.
You simply can't do this on stage and hold your audience. In Vera and Lombard, Christie saw an opportunity to inject a healthy dose of sexual tension and humor into the story, bringing it to life. -
hpets11 — 19 years ago(January 23, 2007 02:21 AM)
Whoa, is that how the book ends? I've been meaning to read that
Anyway, to be honest, my favourite ending isn't the book's or the film's, it's the stage play's!
In that one, Vera shoots Lombard, then the judge makes his appearance, swinging a noose, but before he strangles her Lombard gets up (Vera having missed) and shoots the judge Okay, it's hard to explain so simply, but trust me, it's far less anti-climactic than the whole "hey, pretend to shoot me" thing of the film, but you still get a happy, romantic ending. As giraffeblimp pointed out, such a depressing ending as is in the book doesn't tend to work as well when performed visually on stage or film. -
profh-1 — 17 years ago(January 25, 2009 09:59 PM)
I love the 1945 movie, and having read Wikipedia's EXTENSIVE description of the book, and many comments here, I doubt I would ever really enjoy the book's ending.
But I HAVE seen a production of the stage play, and it was as enjoyable (if not more so) than the '45 film!
Yes one notable difference between the '45 film and the stage play, in the movie, "Lombard" tells Vera to fire, and she says, "But I'll miss." But whoever is watching won't know that.
In the stage play, frantic with fear, she simply SHOOTS him! But later, he arrives back at the house, still alive, and utters the BEST line in the play
"Thank God women CAN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT!"
(I about fell out of my chair laughing) -
otrnepodahl — 20 years ago(January 29, 2006 09:21 PM)
I don't really know if this exists, but the book ending should be adapted (if it hasn't already) to a play (or "The") Play ending. This way, when someone goes and sees the stage production, even if they've seen the show before, they won't know what ending this version will have.
-
ismelllikepuppys — 19 years ago(September 21, 2006 06:42 PM)
Kinda woulda prefered a mixture of both. In the book, vera goes from ecstatic for being alive, to hearing a spooky noise, and hanging myself. I woulda prefered an interaction between the judge and vera, to her realizing she woulda took the rap, to her hanging herself.
-
mr_milbury — 16 years ago(April 13, 2009 08:02 AM)
This (interaction between the last two characters alive) is something that totally destroys what the book is trying to do. If you do that, then you might as well show the meeting (to the viewer) between the doctor and the judge. The whole ending works because nobody knows what really happened (the epilogue contains the solution, but you don't even have to read that if you want to remain in the dark).
