MovieChat Forums > The Heiress (1949) Discussion > Letdown of an ending

Letdown of an ending

posted 11 years ago by akoolaidroom
47 replies | jump to latest

(SPOILERS)

Maybe it's a function of all the violent plot lines of recent times, but I was expecting a much more morbid ending. I thought she was going to 1) murder him or 2) fling herself out the window.

My logic - the cold, calculated tone. "I will never make another (embroidery)". The slow play of her walking up the stairs. The increasingly climactic music.

My eyes were just widening and widening waiting for the moment her body would come crashing down next to him - he would see his dreams of security shattered, she would escape a hollow life, and she'd die knowing that he would not win a penny from her.

Am I a product of the recent decades of movie making or is this a huge opportunity for an astounding ending squandered? I wonder if the censors had anything to do with it?

[–] WaterlooBridge 8 years ago

This is one of the most satisfying endings I've ever seen.

[–] crashcool 8 years ago

It is a soul shuddering ending that I have thought of many times over the years. An ending just as devastating is the finality of Mourning Becomes Electra 1947

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039636/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Both films are not just the end of a story but of a life into hiding.

[–] rozzeagardner 8 years ago

Suicide? Murder? Oh good grief, no! Such an ending would have changed the whole movie never mind just the scene. This is why the movie stands so tall.

[–] mals2011 8 years ago

I love this movie (and the book) and I agree the ending is tragic but it could not have been more satisfying. Yes, she showed signs of her father's coldness and cruelty, but it also showed the sweetness of "a dish served cold". I think she went on to be fine. What a performance by the great Olivia.

Only the suppressed word is dangerous
Ludwig Borne

[–] misd-86934 8 years ago

No, leaving him on the door step, hearing the bolt latch, coming to realize that all of his dreams just vanished, was the best way to deal with him. Why do anything that was going to ruin Katherine's life? She just did away with the man who would have done that, why go to jail for murder?

Knowing that he was likely thinking of all the luxuries he would have in life from that time, only to realize they were not going to come true. That is very powerful.

If only men in real life could realize when women were using them for their money. If only they were as smart as Katherine. If the day comes when men stop thinking with their penis and start using their actual brain, golddiggers will have to actually go out and get jobs to support themselves.

[–] alydar21 8 years ago

The ending could also be the CLIMAX of the entire film! I felt enormous satisfaction, and a few goose bumps.

[–] lynnrnsd 8 years ago

I think it's much better than the corny happy ending of the remake, Washington Square, with Catherine starting the school and being all cheerful and enjoying life teaching. They just had to tack that on, didn't they?

[–] mdonln 8 years ago

lynnrnsd says > I think it's much better than the corny happy ending of the remake, Washington Square, with Catherine starting the school and being all cheerful and enjoying life teaching. They just had to tack that on, didn't they?

That 'happy' ending is just as bad as the violent and gory ending the OP suggested. I love this movie exactly as it is because there are many ways to look at it. The other suggested and remake endings force the viewer to see things in only one way.

Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]

[–] rickbrightwell-399-560921 8 years ago

I agree. It was a rather depressing ending.

[–] Mayesgwtw39 8 years ago

The ending is perfect.

What's the whole "letdown?" She is her own woman and doesn't have to put up with anymore poorly concealed contempt from Sloper or Morris.

And she repays both of the men who killed her heart by shutting doors on them both.

She rises like the phoenix in the end.

Catherine would never kill herself or anyone. She cannot even bear to see the head of a dead fish, if you remember the beginning of the film.

"Our Art Is a Reflection of Our Reality"

[–] best_of 8 years ago

Indeed. It is perfect ending. William Wyler knew exactly what he was doing. In our time, everyone is looking for the neatly wrapped up ending of 'happily ever after' or black and white vengeance. What Wyler did, over sixty years ago, was more nuanced. Catherine might not have had a story book romance but she had overcome the condescension that her father showed her, and the deceit that Monty Clift dealt her. If there was a sequel it would have followed the Clift character as he descended into drunkenness, drifting from town to town and falling into an early grave.

[–] liscarkat (18596) 4 years ago

There should have been a scene where she opens up on him with a machine gun from inside the house. The door is splintered to pieces as the bottomless magazine spews lead unceasingly for a full minute. We see Morris's brains and guts explode in slow motion as the slugs tear through him and his blood-spurting body flops around on the sidewalk. Suddenly the roaring of the weapon ceases. Catherine turns her back to the camera and walks up the stairs. Just before she goes out of our view, she holds the machine gun straight out to her side at arms length with one hand and drops it. As the camera pulls back, we see that the neighbors have come out of their homes to watch. One of them starts a slow clap, then the others join in as a modern pop song begins and the credits roll.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6398) 4 years ago

Movies tended to be a bit more tame in those days. What she did do was already shocking enough.