What was the Original ending? - The Bad Seed (1956) Discussion

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] treeline1 15 years ago

Thanks. That would have been a great ending for the movie.

I could picture Rhoda looking over her shoulder and saying, "Oh, Aunt Monica. Remember we're going sunbathing on the roof tomorrow!"

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] scarehuman 15 years ago

I always loved the ending of this film as it was released, I fear that if they maintained the original ending we would have been assaulted with a poorly constructed eighties sequel of Rhoda as an adult, played by McCormick, in line with the contrived sequels to Psycho, which also should never have happened.

I thought it was very bold of the film to take a "nature" stance, and the abrupt ending smacks of allusions to a "Wrath of God" scenario, which further opens the film to deeper context to take away. Even though it is, more or less, I do not like to label this movie a horror film, I see it as an amazing suspense drama, one of the greatest films of its era.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] j-cameron22 15 years ago

Duh! Supernatural elements have little to do with whether a film is horror or not. I'm pretty sure Hostel was horror and there was nary a ghost in sight! Unless perhaps you'd like to argue the hidden horror behind Mary Poppins LOL!

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] tlcglitznglam 14 years ago

The first time I saw this movie and I saw Rhoda outside in the storm walking I had the feeling she was going to go to the hospital and finish off her mother, since her mother was now the only one alive who knew what she really was. I thought Rhoda realized her mother tried to kill her, and tried to kill herself and that it was in her best interest to make sure her mother didn't get better. I was so sure this was going to happen, especially when I heard Mrs. Penmark talk to her husband on the phone saying she would be alright. Then it would have been like she was supposed to recover, how did something go so horribly wrong? And everyone would have been confused about it but no one would catch on to Rhoda's secret. That would have been a great ending. Add to the controversy, yes, with her killing her own mother and all. But a really chilling ending.

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[–] casey77 14 years ago

i thought the exact same thing. the lightning was a shock (no pun intended) but i really thought she was on her way to the hospital.

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[–] DamianGein 10 years ago

I thought the same thing too.

Esta es mi firma

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[–] mikethemartian (6067) 5 years ago

I also thought that she was going to the hospital to kill her mother.

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[–] snowsbeau 13 years ago

It's funny you say that about a possibly bad sequel. There were two sorta sequels made in the 90's both staring Patty McCormack. They were "Mommy" and "Mommy 2, Mommy's Day". She is basically Rhoda grown up and she kills people that upset her or interfere with the raising of her daughter. Her kid doesn't win a certain prize at school and this doesn't sit well with Mommy. Sound familiar? If you can find them check them out. Especially the first one, it was pretty good.

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[–] bron-tay 11 years ago

What the effing EFF? Administrators Gone Wild at this damn site!! What was that post deleted for?

~~~~~~~
Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.

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[–] Nephilim-6 15 years ago

my god.. If only they put that on my DVD... I like the present ending but still..

Did you ever notice that people who believe in creationism look really un-evolved? - Bill Hicks

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] BonitaMike 14 years ago

I saw The Bad Seed when it first came out, when I was 6 years old - Its hard to believe that my parents took me to see it. It scared the hell out of me. I finally saw it again today - 54 years later on Netflix streaming and immediately knew the ending had been changed. I distinctly remember after 54 years that the mom died and the daughter was OK. Even by today's standards it was a shocking ending, especially compared to the whitewashed ending that replaced the original. I hope the original ending exists somewhere and the movie can be restored to the original.

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[–] Harold_Robbins 14 years ago

BonitaMike - the ending you saw yesterday was the ending the film was released with - so far as I've ever been able to determine, they never even filmed the original ending of the play and novel due to the restrictions of the Production Code - hence the infamous deus ex machina of the film. It would be nice to think that someone at Warners was far-sighted enough to think that it would be practical to film it for inclusion sometime in the future, but that's not how they thought back then. When a film was finished it was pretty much finished, and if alternate takes or scenes were saved, it was more by lucky accident than by design.

"Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke."

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[–] fallen_anakin 14 years ago

The 1985 remake used the original idea for the ending(the one in the play and book). The mother dies and Rachel(modern day name) goes to live with her grandfather. The father in this movie died and the grandfather is the one present in it.

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[–] irememberittoo (2) 6 years ago

My mom took me to see it at the movies (after seeing it herself first and preparing me that it had a 'surprise' ending! I think I was about 12 and I remember that the mother DIED and Rhoda survived but then was killed by a thunderbolt when she went down to the pier to try to get the reward that had been thrown in the water!!! Thank God! Someone else remembers too cause everyone I talk to says I'm nuts! LOL

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[–] libby2130 8 years ago

it's amazing what we used to watch when we were kids~!! I used to watch the alfred hitccock hour and alfred hickock presents when I was really young.... that episode called "the open window" scared the crap out of me""

these nurses were taking care of an old man in his big house and there was a strangler on the loose...I recently saw this episode....the voice of the strangler was sooooo incredibly creepy..even now!!!!! it's a great episode...I remember covering my ears and being really scared!!!!

why did they let us watch things like this in the old day????

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[–] irememberittoo (2) 6 years ago

That's the ending I remember too!! They must have changed it right afterwards and HATED the cheesy spanking at the end too!

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[–] laxlon 14 years ago

The movie ended differently from the play because of Hollywood production codes at the time that dictated evil had to be punished. That's why we had the contrived little scene of Rhoda going back out to the dock, in the dark, in a thunderstorm.

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[–] clore_2 14 years ago

That's why we had the contrived little scene of Rhoda going back out to the dock, in the dark, in a thunderstorm.

And just to make it worse, the curtain call with the spanking.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

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[–] dizexpat 14 years ago

I feel like I'm being followed.

The end credits of The Bad Seed are too bizarre. The spanking is one of the most memorably cheesy moments in film.

"By the way, don't touch the figs."

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[–] clore_2 14 years ago

I remember first seeing the film on TV when I was eleven years old. My slightly older sister was with me and we could not believe what we saw. The only thing worse that they could have done would be to address the audience half-way through the film to remind them "it's only a movie."

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

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[–] Piperson 13 years ago

I've seen this movie on TV since my childhood in the 50's. I never found it scary; it was always campy. All my brothers and sister and I hated pretentiousness and so we loved seeing it exposed as the mask of evil as it was with Rhoda.

The ending was always the same as it is now. I know the play ended differently.

I went to see an amateur production with the original stage ending to satisfy my desire to see it without Hollywood interference. It was not as satisfying as the movie. (Of course, shock endings are never as shocking when you know they are coming.)

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[–] Gus-69 12 years ago

Seriousness = pretentiousness?

Dear Lord...

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http://mulhollandcinelog.wordpress.com/

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Poison_Ivy 12 years ago

The ending was not "contrived" at all. It makes perfect sense - from Rhoda's point of view, at least - that she would go "back out to the dock, in the dark, in a thunderstorm".......because she was determined to have the medallion, but she knew she had to play it safe and that she couldn't be SEEN trying to retrieve it. So what better time to go out and get it than "in the dark, in a thunderstorm", when most everyone would be INDOORS?

You can't foist your own logic and reasoning upon Rhoda's mind!! And you HAVE to remember that even though she was a sociopath - she was still 8 years old, and her desire to reclaim the medallion at the first possible opportunity is akin to a libidinous 16 year old's desire to have sex with their significant other again at the first possible opportunity.

As for the "deux ex machina" criticisms that are levelled at the bolt of lightning - only someone who has *NO RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WHATSOEVER* would have a problem with that! Rhoda's death is perfectly in keeping with the tone of the film, which - as "naturalistic" as it was - had frequent religious references (e.g: Heaven, Sunday school, Prayer, even invocations of the Deity). So yes, only atheists and agnostics living in the 21st century would have an issue with the way Rhoda died.

For what it's worth, I initially thought that someone might accidentally run over her on the road, in the rain - but the actual ending is immeasurably more effective than anything! The ending in the book and the ending in the play are *SO CLICHE* and **TYPICAL** of the genre.

The film's ending is exceedingly bold and shocking by contrast - it makes the audience all too aware of the fact that she CANNOT be expected to get away with all her crimes JUST because she's a cute minor (the way the book and the play ultimately seem to suggest).

There is more irony in the way she DIES in the film, than in the way she LIVES in the book and play. Her known crimes are: (a) Killing a woman to obtain a crystal ball with figures of fish therein (b) Killing a boy on the wharf to obtain his medallion, and (c) Killing a man by incinerating him. I know I'm stating the obvious here, but all three of her victims are VINDICATED in the way she dies - she dies AT the scene of her 2nd crime (while trying to get what prompted her to commit the crime in the first place), INCINERATED by lightning, and falls into the water where she is as good as a dead FISH.

The way the music score builds up and is juxtaposed by the onslaught of thunder and lightning, while the evil Rhoda has remained completely silent during the entire sequence, also makes it one of the most *CINEMATICALLY BRILLIANT* endings.

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[–] fallen_anakin 12 years ago

And her soon to be next victim(aunt monica) was spared too. I can only imagine everyone's reaction when she is missing the next morning and then at sometime found in the water near the wharf. The bloated and presumably partly charred body of a cute little blond pigtailed girl wearing a yellow raincoat and hat. I know the movie was in black in white but I picture the raincoat and hat as being yellow. In the remake aunt monica won't be so lucky because the girl survives. Its hinted that she will soon kill her for a necklace when she fondles it around the lady's neck while being hugged by her.

The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.

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[–] smeth 12 years ago

I didn't have a problem with the ending. I just thought is was corny.

The reason the Hays Code existed from 1930 to 1968 was to force Hollywood movies to have moral content, to require that evil deeds would always be punished. If you look at movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s, the way this movie ended was cliche and typical.

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[–] Flight_of_Fantasy 13 years ago

Oh my, the original ending would have been so much better. The film ending was just ridiculously contrived and... well, ridiculous.
Stupid Hays Code, forcing that deus ex machina ending on us!

"I'm issuing a restraining order. Religion must stay 500 yards away from science at all times."

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[–] agentbach 13 years ago

I'm surprised with the ending because usually these days, children live.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] artemis1644 13 years ago

I just watched this probably the third time since it was made. I thought the original had a very different ending. A few years ago, the 2nd time I watched it, I figured I had just forgotten the ending. This time again I was expecting the original ending. I'm glad to see that my memory isn't all that faulty.
Has anyone thought of Casey Anthony in relation to this movie?

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[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

I don't really mind them changing the original ending. That happened a lot back in the Production Code days. But being hit by lightning?? If Lon Chaney or Boris Karloff gets hit by a bolt, it's acceptable, because that was their genre. BAD SEED was supposed to be naturalistic.
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

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[–] whitespirit26 12 years ago

Potato, the ending in the book was staged differently than in the play; it ends in the scene shown in the movie, where the father's heard the news of Christine or is waiting to hear it, and someone consoles him by saying, "Well, there's Rhoda. You'll ALWAYS have Rhoda". It's a somber and ironic note, not like the rather clashingly cheerful note of the play where father and daughter hug (weirdly cheerful after Christine just died).

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[–] fallen_anakin 12 years ago

Ha ha talking about those endings makes me hear Monica in the movie when they are waiting in the hospital. She's all like "You still have Rhoda" in the drawn out voice she has. Its ironic and creepy.

The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.

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[–] jeremey-1 11 years ago

I've known about this film for ages but I finally saw it for the first time. I found Rhoda nauseating and wondered if she were directed to act that way — until I saw her smile at the curtain call and she was no different. That and the fact that the ending was so over the top — She apparently vaporised ! — made me laugh !

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[–] Blueghost 11 years ago

The acting is a little over the top, but that's more of a sign of the times in which the film was made. Ditto for the ending. I knew a man who was trying hard not to laugh when he talked about the ending of the movie. The ending was done because you couldn't leave the audience worrying to the point where they wouldn't come back and see the movie again. Rhoda, in terms of the movie's drama, had to be punished.

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[–] fallen_anakin 11 years ago

Wow that would be weird for the movie to cut off with her walking across the pier. For those that had never seen it I can't imagine what they would have guessed would have been her fate. If they obviously were paying attention to the movie they would know she was going after the medal even if they never showed her trying to fish it out with the net. I think if I never saw this and it cut off where you said I would not assume that something happened to her but that she would successfully retrieve the medal and live on to kill another day. And oh man(chuckles to self) can you imagine if that had been the case and the next morning she showed up with her dad(remember at that point we found out that the mom had survived and presumably thought she successfully killed Rhoda) at the hospital to visit her mom!!!!!!!!! Can you imagine the look on her face. As a matter of fact that would have been a MAJOR BIG DEAL of an ending especially at that time if they had done it that way. Have the movie end with Christine seeing Rhoda still alive at the hospital and imagining her horror. Then the whole slogan about the shocking ending would REALLY make sense. But again back in those times they would not get away with that in a movie.

The scary clown doll is hiding under my bed.

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[–] singjohn 9 years ago

May we ask that you do not divulge the climax of this story!

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