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the "lost ending" of "kiss me deadly" (1955): a slow death awaits or the pursuit of the great whatsit by tracy taylor According to Alain Silver in "Kiss Me Deadly: Evidence of a Style" Robert Aldrich, the director of the film, claimed never to have seen a print "without Hammer and Velda stumbling in the surf." Aldrich is quoted as saying his intent was to have Hammer and Velda survive long enough to see what Mike's pursuit of the great "whatsit" had wrought. Aldrich clearly understood the mechanics of the atomic bomb and that the fallout would contaminate Hammer and his girlfriend. (Silver 230) These quotes by Aldrich are the key to determining whether the "lost ending" of the film would be more optimistic than that of the version long in release, where the house simply blows up with Mike and Velda apparently still inside.
Va-va-voom! Director Aldrich would have little to say to such an ingenuous perception. Mike and Velda wouldn't be doing much smooching after being exposed to such high doses of radiation poisoning. They would die a slow, agonizing death with their skin blistering, putrefying and peeling from their stinking, rotting bodies. On the contrary, ending the film with the house simply blowing up leaves the viewer with some options which could be construed as more optimistic. For example, the viewer may choose to believe that Mike and Velda somehow escaped or were vaporized immediately by the blast, thereby freeing them from any prolonged physical or psychic pain. Not that Hammer ever showed much of a conscience, but he is so self-centeredly ruthless throughout the film, that if he were to live he would eventually have to face the sour music of his actions. Leaving him sloshing in the surf would force him to confront the consequences of his dirty deeds. And there's not much optimism in that. (Article referenced appears in Silver, Alain. Ed. Film Noir Reader. Limelight Editions, 1996.) Copyright © 2003 The Write Word, Inc. All rights reserved. |
