Posted by jks on
URL: https://www.shado-forum.com/ITV-4-episode-Reflections-in-the-Water-tp1508043p1508047.html

moonbasegirl wrote:

"another Hitchcock style `happy ending'. "

Psycho? Vertigo? The Birds? Hitchcock had a predilection for downbeat
endings before they became fashionable. He wanted the ending in Suspicion
(which I won't give away for those who haven't seen it) to be much darker
but it wasn't allowed.

Don't forget that it was an era where the US Production code wouldn't allow
crime to go unpunished - making an entirely unhappy ending for the hero or
heroine difficult.
I certainly don't think that Hitchcock had more than his fair share of happy
endings in the period in which he worked and they were usually deserved by
the characters. The happy endings didn't come from nowhere as a "deus ex
machina". The characters had often gone through hell, losing friends and
relations, status, liberty and many of their comfortable illusions in order
to earn their bitter-sweet ending. Often his hero or heroine will survive
but you have to doubt that they will escape being forever haunted by their
experiences.

Regards
John