I was surprised to see that the movie ended without us knowing if Preston lived or died. Ok, the closing scene had a "triumphant" music, like an imply that he'll live, but it was not usual for the time to have such a sudden ending. Was the original play like that too?
Do you know any other movie prior 1938 that had an open ending?
I think the opposite. I think it's implied that both Julie and Pres die on the island. After all, even if they somehow miraculously lived, how would they ever be allowed entrance back into the mainland after having been infected? I'm not that educated on disease control in the 1800s but I imagine the authorities would be unlikely to let people infected by yellow fever back into society.
In that case, it's surprising for a 1938 movie to have such a tragic ending! I have the impression that people back then were expecting from movies to be "entertained", and to leave the theater happy and with hope. I mean, even if a movie had a sad story (which was very usual, at that time "melodramatic" movies were very popular), almost always they had an optimistic ending. This is 1938, a year before WW2 started, and after 1941, when the U.S. entered the war, I guess that all the war movies had an optimistic ending, full of hope.
shareI would agree the ending is fairly called open ended, but I also agree it implies a sad ending. What interests me is that while obviously yellow fever was indiscriminant in terms of who got it and one's moral standing, there is clearly a suggestion that Julie had quite a lot to make up for. But was it a clear case of her trying to do penance by going to the island to help Press? Obviously not, since she was also hoping, I think, to perhaps get him back if she succeeded in nursing him back to health, and of course them both surviving.
It's a very complex ending, I think. But I interpreted the ambiguity of her moral decision to go with Press as the basis for implying she did not make it, even though in the real world whether she would avoid death or not had nothing to do with her moral standing.
What one thinks of her moral standing feeds into the what happens next analysis, even if we know it doesn't control what happens next. Interesting....
The endings of:
I WAS A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG
ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES
THE CROWD
THE PUBLIC ENEMY
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
Someone else who caught that Julie has a selfish motive for going to the island with Pres. I think Bette Davis plays it to the hilt, too. Watch her facial expressions during the final scene from the time that the doctor says that Pres has to go to the island.
shareThe 1930s and even back in the 1920s had many films with tragic endings like Pandora's Box (1929) and The Public Enemy (191).
Global Warming, it's a personal decision innit? - Nigel Tufnel
It wasn't so unusual to live thru Yellow Fever, if you were well-cared for, which was what Julie intended to do. After you recover from the fever, you are not infectious and do not get infected ever again.
shareThe most famous open ending, perhaps, came aftet this (altho the novel was a giant bestseller out in 1936, so the ending would have been well known)--in Gone with the Wind, when you are left not knowing if Scarlett ever gets Rhett back.
Supposedly, the studios preferred happy endings, because they thought sad/tragic movies would suffer at the box office. There were plenty sad ones, though.
I or one was actually more taken with the reaction of Aunt Belle. When she realizes Julie is gone to the island, out of the door, she very slowly turns and walks to her room, as she has lost her for good. At first she steps back, and one could think she's going to faint, but in true Southern code, she keeps her composure.
That is more powerful for me than the actual ending.
Yes! I did see Aunt Belle's reaction! Very powerful. Really got me. But Bette Davis had the determination to get Pres well again. It wouldn't surprise me!
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