Question about LORD OF THE FLIES, 1963 (1 Viewer)

[Michael1]

Hi, all. I recently got to view the Criterion Collection edition of LORD OF THE FLIES, and I'm wondering if any of you can help me out with something. I remember seeing the movie on TV as a child, probably in the late '60s, and I thought I had a very clear memory that, at the very end of the movie, when those military guys discover the boys marooned on that desert island, the boys -- who had reverted to savagery and were hunting down one of their own -- suddenly started to cry. But in the Criterion edition that I saw, the only one who starts to cry is Jack, the boy who's being hunted; the rest of them just stand there incredulous, not knowing what to do or say.

I read the original novel LORD OF THE FLIES around the same time I first saw the movie, and although I don't remember it clearly, it says online that all of the boys start to cry when they're discovered. I really could swear that's what happened in the movie as well when I saw it on TV all those years ago, but maybe my memory transferred that detail from the novel to the movie? I don't suppose there's any alternate footage for the ending, is there?

 

[Dick]

I do not recall seeing anything than what is on the Blu-ray. I don't know how it would have improved on what we have if we'd seen the other boys cry. I don't think shots of the others crying were ever filmed. Nothing like this appears in the supplemental material. Importantly, it is Ralph, the hunted, not Jack, the hunter, who is show crying. I think that it would take some serious debriefing to move Jack to tears by that point.

 

[usrunnr]

Perhaps everyone crying is in the newer color version.

 

[Michael1]

I do not recall seeing anything than what is on the Blu-ray. I don't know how it would have improved on what we have if we'd seen the other boys cry. I don't think shots of the others crying were ever filmed. Nothing like this appears in the supplemental material. Importantly, it is Ralph, the hunted, not Jack, the hunter, who is show crying. I think that it would take some serious debriefing to move Jack to tears by that point.

Thanks. I'm sure you're right and it must be that my memory is incorrect. BUT, according to the synopsis of the novel LORD OF THE FLIES that I read on line, ALL of the boys who are hunting Ralph -- including Jack, their leader -- revert to their boyhood and start to cry when those British naval officers find them on the island. So if we had seen them crying in the film, that would have been in line with the novel.

 

[Michael1]

Perhaps everyone crying is in the newer color version.

I don't believe it is, but anyway, that was obviously not the version I saw 50 years ago. That was the original, and I would have sworn it had a scene of all the boys crying at the end. But, as I said, I did read the novel around that time, so maybe in my memory I transferred the crying bit from the novel to the movie. The point has been made that almost all of the boys in the original were not actors, at least not when they were hired for the film, but James Aubrey as Ralph was one of the exceptions. So maybe the director, Peter Brook, decided that only he should cry because maybe he was the only one who could do it convincingly.

 

[ChrisOC]

It's been a while, but as I recall, only Jack was crying at the end. The rest of the kids just stood there, brought up short by the presence of adults. It was like the adults flipped a switch, and it was very effective.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Memory can fool you. I had remembered (imagined) that at the end of Time After Time there is a photo on HG’s desk in the museum showing him with his wife, Mary Steenburgen (his costar in the the film). But on the blu ray it’s not there and I’ve found no confirmation it ever was.

 

[RJ992]

I remember a photo of them as well. Maybe my memory is at fault as well? If someone had asked me, I'd have said yes, I saw that picture. Is this an example of that Mendela effect I've been hearing about? I'll have to watch it again via some other source than disc. Weird.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I remember a photo of them as well. Maybe my memory is at fault as well? If someone had asked me, I'd have said yes, I saw that picture. Is this an example of that Mendela effect I've been hearing about? I'll have to watch it again via some other source than disc. Weird.

Ah Ha! A fellow portrait believer! Let me know if you find it.

 

[ChrisOC]

I don't remember such a picture in the movie, but the last time I saw it was years ago. My mind is a lint trap for trivia, but it's not perfect.