The only non horror movie to actually scare me.Creepy as hell and a true masterpiece.

Peter Weir's ability to convey emotion through images and music is phenomenal .and that final scene with Miranda waving goodbye, turning her head and the stop action shot speaks volumes.

The movie is not really about a solution to what happened to the girls. It's saying something different, something about the very nature of mystery itself and the need that humans have to find explanations, reasons for and why, and answers. A lack of resolution is always disturbing to us as humans; it's inherent in our nature. The ambiguity of the ending and the mystery's remaining unsolved is in fact the point of the movie. The characters throughout the film are nearly obsessed with finding the solution to the girls' disappearance, but they can find no answers. Similarly, and just like the characters in the film, the movie's viewer finds it difficult to tolerate the ambiguity of the lack of resolution, and after seeing the movie a viewer tries in an unsatisfactory manner to explain what happened, to find a solution, to invent some theory, etc., just like the film's characters. That lack of explanation and our pursuit of just what happened is at the heart of the film and in fact the statement being made by the film, its real meaning. The movie emphasizes to us that there are some mysteries in life that indeed have no solution nor explanation, in spite of our best efforts to create valid explanations.

This movie was so far ahead of its time. I never get sick of watching it. The music and performances from the main characters were brilliant.

this movie is a masterpiece'its like a delicate painting

About 30 years ago as a secondary school Literature teacher, I taught this novel and as an assessment had the students in pairs, write the final chapter.

The music in this movie gives me chills.

It seems to me that one aspect of the film not commonly mentioned is that it seems to be about not just the girls and teacher who were lost, but about people who are present and yet lost. Sara, as an orphan, is just as lost as the others and yet she is right there. Mrs Appleyard, in her own way, becomes lost in the consequences of the disappearance. I think one of the saddest aspects of the film is that Sara was so close to being reunited with her brother Bertie but was kept apart from him due to circumstances that neither one of them were even aware of. That is as much a mystery as anything else in the entire story.

Wish this was on a blu-ray with the option to watch both. I like the fact that this girl who longed to be with the group nevertheless joins them (wherever they are and in whatever form), but when Appleyard discovers the source of her desires and climbs that same rock cleft is somehow rejected. Haunting. Brilliant. Will never tire of the subtle layers within the movie.

I like how the theme of dichotomy between rich and poor is represented in the film. Mrs. Appleyard, represents strict Victorian morality and seems more concerned about school's reputation and gossips than the disappearance of the girls (even though she herself at one point says that she believes they were raped and killed). Chief of police being a representative of the law never wants to speak with the villagers who want to know the truth. There is also an interesting relationship between Michael and Albert. When the former criticizes the orphan for his remarks about girl's looks, Albert emphasizes Michael's duplicity by saying - I say, what you think. Michael also says how back in England girls would never been allowed to walk through the forest alone. Michael is caring, obviously disturbed by what happened, but it's just the way he was raised. And, of course, there is Sarah... and many more such examples. And that's only one of the aspects of this beautiful film. Its imagery, dreamlike sequences makes it so poetic. A true masterpiece

Anguishing scene, yet the most disturbing is that it happens in broad dayligt. This film is unique.

I've never seen the full version of this ending before, only an abbreviated version. This is priceless! I love it.

I definitely prefer this ending, glad I found it right after seeing a movie. It’s the perfect contrast of order and chaos, the rigid reality of Mrs Appleyard caving to the dreamy world of Hanging Rock

So Mrs Appleyard sees the apparition of poor Sarah, the only girl at the school to be cruelly forbidden from attending the picnic at Hanging Rock. Infuriatingly,, she doesn't see Miranda, Marion Quade or Miss McGraw (even as apparitions). They have indeed vanished without trace, their fate totally unresolved. Instead, Sarah Waybourne appears to her. Quite a masterstroke.

This ending might not be as powerful as the original but I like the idea of seeing Mrs. Appleyard out of context, at hanging rock, and the music makes everything even more incredible.

Sara and her long lost Brother Albert were supposed to meet on the day of the Picnic - it was Fate, but somehow they didn’t and it caused some sort of rift or break in time that had to be course corrected via the other girls disappearance - now after death Sara is finally at Hanging Rock but it’s too late to meet her brother

Thankyou so much for posting this. I've never seen this ending. I've loved this movie since I was a teenager. I've always thought the headmistress pushed Sarah out the window, because she's all in black before she's told Sarah is dead. Maybe that's why she sees her on the rock, her guilty conscience. I also always thought they were all abducted by aliens, because before they went up the rock those at the picnic had their watches stop, and I think the maths mistresse's compass went crazy. UFO's are said to mess with magnetic fields. Also, the strange cloud they saw. This is what I thought as a teenager anyway.

They take off their corsets and throw them off a cliff, and the corsets hang in the air. Seeing the suspended corsets makes the girls understand that they're in the presence of a time warp, and they follow the math teacher into it, through a crack in the rock. They enter another dimension and never return.

0.55 The sound of that ticking grandfather clock there in Mrs Appleyard's office as the camera stares into her troubled face... And then the ticking stops!!

Miss McCraw's watch stopped then she went missing, and then Mrs. Appleyard's clock stopped and then she dies after. This movie has a theme with how time(clocks/watches) and our personl lives intertwine. The girls don't have watches that's why they never knew if it was their turn to die, they had no idea

Hadn’t seen this ending before. I don’t think it was needed but it’s actually a really creepy short film all on its own.

Interesting to see this ending but not including it was correct for the film. Peter Weir made the right decision. Ending with Mrs. Appleyard’s face was perfect. Bravo, Peter Weir. It is a triumph.

Interestingly in all version when they see the head in her office after Sara dies you notice that the clock in her room stops ticking......

I don’t know why but this film gives me the same vibes as “virgin suicides”

Who else go goose bumps when Sara appears ?

This ending is far better than the original one because instead of letting the viewer have no clue of what happened to the girls in the end , this one actually indicates that the things that happened on the rock were more different than kidnapping or any other crime.

The music and everything about this ending freaks me out.

I think this film is the very best Australia has ever produced. I have this on Blu-Ray but don't recall having seen this footage. Thankyou to the people responsible for making it available.

the soundtrack is 70per cent of the movie

I have watched this so many times and not seen this ...amazing

Ohhh Beethoven THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR BEING JUST TOO BRILLIANT

I think this ending would have been too dramatic of an extension for the end of the film after finding Sara's dead body and seeing Appleyard in her black veil which. Still, it makes a satisfyingly traditional ending for a horror film which is somewhat of what Picnic at Hanging Rock is and delivers pretty chilling results with the way it shows her all in black and struggling against the harsh terrain that her sharp-minded nature is no match for and has put her at its mercy.

It's not Sara in the rocks. Her expression is evil. I have chills every time I watch her in this scene. Well played.

First saw this at the Seattle Film festival in ‘76 and liked the strange combination of pan pipe and organ

A Masterpiece

A perfect movie

I prefer the theatrical ending. But a very creepy touch with Sara appearing at the rock, after she’d committed suicide.

This ending contributes so much to the actual movie , seems odd it was cut before release.

This movie scared the shit out of me.

This belongs in the film in my opinion. Seeing the breakdown of Mrs Appleyard, seeing her looking like she's floating over the rock in her black dress and cloak, and seeing Sarah's spirit, which may or may not have been only in her mind, would have been a wonderful ending. I hope at some point it's added back into the original cut of the film.

It would have been an cyclical way to close the film on this sequence to match with the other two sequences on Hanging Rock, the one with the girls straying too far and the other of Michael and Albert struggling to find them. It makes sense that it had to go because it feels too repetitive of those other two sequences as it's chilling enough just seeing Appleyard staring coldly into the camera, prepared to face death, and hearing of her death after that. Overall, the film ends on the note that Hanging Rock is a dangerous and ominous source of horror and mystery that leaves people damaged or doomed.

Been obsessed with the film since I saw it 35 years ago. I watch every Summer. It got me into classical music (guitar in my case). That Beethoven piece is the most beautiful music ever written. No need for the missing ending. The original cut is perfect. Like “2001: Space Odyssey”, its an audio/visual tone poem. The other enduring mystery: what happened to Margaret Nelson? She gave this unforgettable performance and totally understood the part. Does she know the impact she had?

Reckon the missing girls walked through a dimensional portal and for them everyone else in the picnic group disappeared or went missing...that's the thing about dimensional portals, they're next...next level weird * too bad they didn't have smartphones back in 1900, they could've live-streamed the whole thing

This is much better than just the voiceover. And we get the gorgeous ascent music again, too. Strange that it was cut.

Wonderful ""ending""! Beautiful photography (naturally) and setting. Evocative! I always did have that impression, even with the ending we are mostly used to!!

There is an entity, older than the World itself, that resides at Hanging Rock.

This really make sence - as now we see Mrs Appleyard without her hairdo - and that makes her look more human. This really adds depth to her character. Mountain walk made her loose her mostruosity, she's just a woman here. And yes - deliberately or not, she reminds me of Miranda here - only aged, dressed in black, troubled.

I love the look Rachel Roberts puts on "Mrs Appleyard's" face at the sight of Sara, the orphan not allowed to go to the Picnic. She's not scared, not astonished, not even surprised. Just bored and pissed off and in that moment, maybe she does have an epiphany about life.

The book suggests Appleyard committed suicide. She has no part in the soon-to-be new Australia (where victorian tradition can't interfere with dreamtime)

This movie is a masterpiece, anyway.

Never got the version where they all transformed into crabs and walked sideways through a cross-dimensional portal. Maybe that would've blown the mystery, and I doubt the special effects would've stretched that far, either.

I think this scene is much creepier than I have seen so far from the movie, especially at 5:21 onwards. Watched the movie for the first time some 40 years ago and I was only a small child back then.

Plot twist they never went missing they just started a life there

It was on TV last night and I must admit I probably hadnt seen it for 30 years or so . I think it is one of those films that you can more or less read whatever you want into it ,and it is expansive enough to let you .There are many threads that one through the film ,but I think it is up to the audience to interpret it as they want ,and it is no worse for that . I must I only realised there was a different ending till just now .I am two minds whether it helps the film or not ,but on balance I think the original might well be a better ending as it leaves things even more enigmatic .

Wonderful to see what might have been, though I still prefer the actual ending. There is something so uncanny about the screaming, followed by silence, save for the relentless ticking of the clock (memento mori?) and the unsettling way Mrs Appleyard slowly turns to address you, the viewer, personally. The horror builds in waves, unrelenting.

I really like the bit about her traveling up at night in black and then seeing them carry her body away, I actually only would have changed seeing Sarah, as I think her just staring up at the nail path with the same expression would have been great, the actress playing the headmistress that a fantastic job

There are just things in life that we simply cannot explain

A huge thank you for this «lost ending», Lucy. I never heard of this alternative ending. Do you know if this ending was cut off in the final editing by the movie director (Peter Weir) or by the producers? And Why? Having said that, this movie is and was always one of my favorite movies, all categories included. The luminous and poetic atmosphere, the music (especially those of Romanian composer and flutist Gheorghe Zamfir and Bethoven), the eerie soundtrack, when the girls are climbing the mountains, the perpetual oscillation between reality and fantasy. All these elements, combined in a coherent whole by the unmatchable talent of Peter Weir, creates a pure masterwork. On this note, the amazing quality of the photography is priceless. And, most important of all, there is a key actor in this movie. A deaf actor, almost omnipresent: NATURE. The main plot of this movie is unfolding the Valentine's Day, the lovers birthday. Love, with all it's transgression of morality codes that appeals. On this special day, a group of female college students go to a picnic at Hanging Rock. And this is at this occasion that three students will disappear definitively, the fourth one, who accompanied this small group, will be recovered. But she will never tell to the authorities any information, voluntarily or not. While everybody sleeps, four ladies wake up and seem in trance, «hypnotized» by, for using an oxymoron, the «horrifying beauty» of the mountains. So, they decide to climb these dangerous mountains, despite all the dangers that expecting them. It looks like the mountains, and all the nature, send them an irresistible call to join them, to form one body with all the natural elements, biological and mineralogical. The soundtrack, with all it's synthetized whisperings and other odd sounds, increases an effect of «unreality». Therefore, the viewer, with the four ladies, is caught in another universe, with it's mysterious, indecipherable codes. The human logic, morality and norms have no more any values. In one hand, we have the Victorian college, with all it's strict rules and rigid morality, personified by it's director and owner, Mrs Appleyard (excellent Helen Morse). And, in the other hand, we have the almighty, titanic nature, with all it's hostile and wonderful beauty. And, at the end, it's the Nature that will overwhelm the social and cultural other part. Consequently to the disappearing of the three students at Hanging Rock, the college will never survive to this drama nor it's her director, Mrs Appleyard. In fact, since the lost of the three ladies, this this college will disintegrate gradually in front of our own eyes. The scenes where we see Mrs Appleyard cross off the names of the students she looses, consequently to this drama, is an eloquent, meaningful sign of this dereliction. I don't know how many times I watched this movie since I saw it on television, since I was a young adult (I'm 60, now). Also, I highly appreciate that Peter Weir has never tried to explain the mysterious disappearance of the three ladies. Therefore, the viewer has the opportunity to use his/her imagination as he/she wants. When the ladies climbs the mountains, it's as they were called by a mysterious absolute quest, an inner necessity to free themselves from all the constraining way of life of the Victorian era, with all it's suffocating codes and narrow morality. Presently, I began to read the novel, written by Joan Lindsay, at the origin of this movie. All the mysterious magic of the movie is in this book. p.s. I want to thank and congratulate many other youtubers for their insightful comments. Guys, your highly relevant, interesting and meaningful thoughts have inspired me a lot for my comment. 👍👌👍👌👍👌👍👌!!!

I do believe I prefer this ending. The girls were all very charming but Rachel Roberts...was outstanding. One of the most evocative film scores ever. Perfectly suited to the scenario.

Thank you for sharing.

Fascinating movie! Everyone can draw his own conclusions. Thank you for this movie part!

De toutes façons , cette fin coupée au montage , nous laisse aussi le choix de laisser aller notre imagination ! C'est un film inoubliable même 48 ans plus tard ! Je suis né , la même année que Anne Lambert et à 20 ans , elle ressemblait vraiment à l'un des anges de Botticelli ! Merci pour ce partage !

I'd like to add something ... well, my point is that the watches stop at 12:00. It is very important. Why ... (?) 12:00 / noon / is a "mirror image" of 00:00, that is / midnight /. 00:00 is CHAOS (!!!) - The previous day is over, but the next one is not yet… what is CHAOS? oh yes - nothing (!) In this nanosecond (if you can call it that) there is NOTHING, EMPTY, HOLY ....

Can you imagine this movie on a double bill with "Mulholland Drive"?

Staring at 3:10 you can see that one of the rocks behind Mrs. Appleyard, is the shape of a heart. This movie is a work of art. The Author Joan Lindsay is a genius writer. I have my theory on what really happened. To much to text here, but I thought that rock formation looks cool, considering it was Valentines Day, that they went missing 😉

The mystery of this always gets me, walking on that Rock myself gave me bad vibes and it’s got beautiful views but quite scary, also makes it very eery knowing of this. Another thing is very close by there is a hill that pulls things the wrong way example: you park your car and get out of it, it rolls backwards not forward as well as water bottles and anything else. Is there some place none of them could reach to find the body, or did they runaway or did they vanish

I saw the film when it came out back in the 70s as a schoolgirl and I feel sure that this ending was the one I saw. Would love to know when they changed it

Magic, great film.Mystery of Life, Mastery of movie.Miranda is an Angel...

Is it possible that this movie is really an allegory on how Australia cut ties with England? You have the English style boarding school, and the girls in their (inadequate for hot weather) English clothes look weird to the townspeople. Then you have the teachers who are too smart for the school's culture, and the girls who are becoming too sexually mature for the type of controlling environment of the school. The girl who is found alive, is last seen dressed in adult clothes, looking much older, heading off to Europe. When the girls get lost in the rock formation, maybe it represents how the English would move to Australia and be overcome by nature?

Thank you for sharing Lucy Hamilton!

This is what Joan Lindsay wrote of the end of Mrs. Appleyard and the general narrative of the story: "She had always been afraid of spiders, looked round for something with which to strike it down and saw Sara Waybourne, in a nightdress, with one eye fixed and staring from a mask of rotting flesh. An eagle hovering high above the golden peaks heard her scream as she ran towards the precipice and jumped. The spider scuttled to safety as the clumsy body went bouncing and rolling from rock to rock towards the valley below. Until at last the head in the brown hat was impaled upon a jutting crag." That would have been a heckuva scene to film.

"Ascent theme" amazing masterpiece!!

Good complement to this astonishing film...

the clove is in a different position,from when she falls asleep,to when she awakes.

I had no ide there was another ending! Thank you for posting it!

One thing I enjoy is the imperfect filmic quality, the missing frames its really time gated. its something that current generations of movies could ever replicate poorly with subtle nuances like breath holding movements and slight turns of the camera.

Wow.

I think Weir was right not to include this sequence at the end of the film. The look on Appleyard's face alone was enough to end the film, and it also introduces an unnecessary supernatural element that I don't think belongs in the film. Whatever the mystery is, it's far more compelling that it's unresolved and doesn't invoke strangeness outside of ordinary human experience.

I started watching the movie a few nights ago, I haven't finished it yet.I was prompted to watch after recent;y reading he book.The movie so far seems fairly good at capturing the essence of he book.

I actually prefer this ending....it's the perfect ending and answer to what happened to Mrs. Appleyard. To me this would have been a satisfying end of this beautiful and mysterious film!!! 👍

Wow,never seen this ending before,never even knew it existed.

My theory for the explanation is a more lovecraftian one: the peak of the mountain, that always scared even the aboriginal people, is the home for some kind of creature or entity, that when seen by human beings sends them into a state of extreme distress and erases itself from their memory. While the first two girls and the teacher were hypnotised and "accepted" by the creature, the third girl, who was left behind (but was trying to catch up to the others) didn't manage to get to the peak in time, so the creature devoured the 2 girls and the teacher, but the third one was so unsettled by the sight of the monster, that she fainted and hit her head against a rock, too far for the creature to see her. The fourth one instead(the one who came back screaming), saw all of it: she saw the girls being hypnotised, the creature emerging from the "red cloud", but not for enough time to faint or go insane, so she ran screaming down the rock. The guy that searched for them and found the third one, instead got so shocked by the creature, that he couldn't talk or move, but, out of determination, he continued climbing, just to find the third girl still alive and bring her down, so that his friend would not have to see the monster to find the girl. Then his friend came searching for him and found him and the girl, but did not venture far enough to see the creature. In the end, when the other girl, Sara, dies, it is because she suicided, probably because of something she dreamed the night before. And then the director of the school, who at the time already lost her mind, decided to commit suicid too, by climbing the mountain and sacrificing herself to the monster, but due to her old age she didn't manage to get to the monster and fell on the rocks, dying. This is my theory, there may be some flaws, but i think it is supported by the fact that the aboriginal people thought that evil spirits lived in the peak of the mountain, overall i like to think this is what happened, but i certainly liked more the ambiguity of the ending. (english is not my first lenguage so please excuse any errors.)

I like this ending better

I personally think this scene should have been kept in the movie . It adds an eerie dimension to the story but still preserves the mystery.

Brilliant and well said. I saw this movie as a teenager. Still love it to this very day. Jesus said it is not for you to understand in this lifetime. We must strive and raise ourselves to remaining child like. I believe this is why the actress who played Miranda well into her 60's has a youthfull appearance. I do not need to know what happened. That keeps me young too at 60.😂

This mystery of this film, maybe be same as [Pulp Fiction] with that shinny golden inside item of that suitcase. You never know what it was really in there so you make your own ideas. This is and in [hanging rock] you never know what happened to those girls.. Just you making your own thoughts.

A wonderful film! wish we could enjoy the full movie from start to end. Directors Cut, please....

Which blu ray does this appear in please , it makes more sense that the standard ending.

I like the piano

They should have left it in. I just took the book out of the library, and this was the ending in the book. I'm currently viewing videos of time slips and unexplained vanishings, and this movie fits right in.

Interesting to see this footage as a film fan but can completely see why it was cut. Film is better without it.

ACTUALLY, I CAN NOT COMMENT: NO WORDS... I' M BREATHLESS

Note: the 27th March 1900 was actually a Tuesday, not Friday

I'm glad they didn't include this. It's much better and more mysterious not seeing her go there. Without this 'explanatory' scene, one is left to wonder, why would she be found there? Why did she go there? The essence of this story and film is mystery. So explaining is the last thing you want to do. Otherwise, you dissolve the impact. So glad Peter decided not to use it.

Margaret Nelson (Sara) and Christine Schuller ( Edith) were wonderful

At 4.52 her glove has moved, continuity error or does it mean something happened while she was asleep?

That was horrifying, I loved it! But I’m glad that is not the ending. The wholly ambiguous ending of Picnic at hanging rock with Mrs Appleyard sitting packed and ready at the desk was terrifying too. The movie was really about the precarious and conventional world of Australia before the Great War and its place in the British Empire of Queen Victoria. They demanded certainty, what happens to that world when answers confound them. For my two cents, my theory about what happened in the film to the girls is that the young man, colonel’s son followed the girls and perhaps approached them, rebuffing him he attacked them and kidnapped them and kept them hidden in one of the caverns or clinks in the mountain. Coming to his senses later but because of the alarm caused by the disappearance he couldn’t return. When he managed to go back to the rock to release them a week later all but one had died. He was protected from real suspicion because of his class.

Is this on any of the DVDs? Or has this just shown up in the last 4 years? It's so amazing to see this. I never thought I would. I'd seen pictures, but not actual footage.

I think it was a wise decision to not use this sequence for the ending. But thanks for uploading this.

An interesting alternative, but I think we'd been to Hanging Rock plenty of times earlier in the film. Probably didn't need to go back again. Stick with the original ending - but bring back all those other scenes which got chopped out of the Director's Cut.