Vertigo-Alternate Foreign Censorship Ending

This ending was filmed by Hitchcock only for the foreign audience after he was told that Vertigo ended on too grim a note. Here is the extended ending in which Scotty (Jimmy Stewart) returns to Midge's (Barbara Belgedes) apartment, where, on the radio, exposition is told. Is this a better ending for the film? (Property of Universal Studios)

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• vertigo
• alfred
• hitchcock
• jimmy
• stewart
• alternate
• censorship
• ending

[victoriaindigo]

This alternate ending is great!

Elster will go to jail for killing his wife

Barbara Bel Geddes made Midge such an appealing character that it's lovely to see Jimmy Stewart back with her

Judy was an unwitting/unfortunate accomplice to murder so in the end there's no guarantee she would have been a stable partner for Scottie

The Alternate Ending is perfection!

[enemyofbohemia]

@victoriaindigo Its great to hear a unique voice on this ending!

[radsos]

I... don't like this ending for Vertigo. The original ending seems more suiting because it brings everything full circle - he's right back to where he began and even got over his vertigo... but he lost everything he ever cared for to get over his vertigo. That idea seems to have more meaning than the idea of 'oh, yeah, he's still got Midge!' Is this ending happier? Yes. But happier doesn't always create the best ending.

[enemyofbohemia]

@radsos That's very true, as in the example of Brazil, the ending for that is one of the best ever.

[backseatdriversyo]

i kept saying to myself for the last 45 minutes of this movie, "go back to midge!" in my mind over and over

[enemyofbohemia]

@backseatdriversyo Yes XD

[jmcolyer]

The alternate ending is lousy. The original ending is one of the greatest endings ever. You don't know if Scottie goes crazy again, or is better now, or even jumps.

[30inception]

so cheezy

[MinamuTV]

I'm glad this ending isn't on the DVDs and all that stuff. It totally alters from the mood of the film. The original ending implied that Scottie had an obsession to overcome vertigo and get her back, but he actually ended up losing everything. This ending implies that Scottie still has Midge so shouldn't be that depressed. The ending itself is fine, but it's the meaning of it that ruins the original film's message.

[johannes914]

I am glad this was cut out of the final editing. Brings nothing and kills the mood of the movie.

[CupboardNinja]

@BlackMoonLilith Yeah, that would make you think "Aw shit, he's going to do it all over again."

Her being the same person just made me feel bad for him after he finally managed to find her, only to be stricken down.

[BlackMoonLilith]

@CupboardNinja That's why part of me wonders if it might've been better if Judy would've just been a separate character played by Kim Novak. I know why he put it in for plot reasons, and that he put the letter scene in to get the plot out of the way, but I think if the character was ultimately Just Some Girl, people would better understand just how creepy and demanding and controlling and delusional Scottie became by the end of the film, justified or not.

[CupboardNinja]

@BlackMoonLilith Interesting perspective, but I didn't blame him for going crazy. He spent a year recovering after the death and finding out it was a cruel trick would make anyone angry. He wasn't even crazy for searching for her, since she was alive and I think that if she had told him who she was at first, he wouldn't have requested all the hair and clothes.

[BlackMoonLilith]

@CupboardNinja This is a much deeper and more disturbing story than that. Your time wasn't wasted; the point of the movie comes in that final 1/3, when we see how twisted and obsessed a human being can get. He doesn't deserve a happy ending. It's through his madness and never-ending desire for a real person to become someone who isn't real that she dies. It's symbolic of what he's lost for what he wanted; he wasn't interested in the real Judy, he wanted the dead ideal, and he sadly got it.