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story identification - Looking for movie title, had a "pandora's box" in it


I'm trying to find the title of a movie that I saw many years ago, whose ending left a deep impression on me. I only saw the movie once, but this is what I seem to remember:



There was a box containing "something bad", like a Pandora's box. The box remained unopened until the end of the movie, except I think at one point someone opened the lid a little bit and a brilliant burning light streamed out, so they quickly closed it again. Eventually the box was taken to a house on a beach, where two people opened it. They peered into the top of box with a look of horror on their faces, white light poured out of it, then "all hell let loose", they went out onto the beach and saw that the sea and the sky were changing in a manner that suggested something apocalyptic was happening.


Thanks in advance for any replies.



Answer



This is Kiss Me Deadly (1955)



"The great whatsit," as Velda calls it, at the center of Hammer's quest is a small, mysterious valise that is hot to the touch and contains a dangerous, glowing substance. It comes to represent the 1950s Cold War fear and nuclear weapon paranoia about the atomic bomb that permeated American culture. (Homage is paid to this glowing MacGuffin in the 1984 cult film Repo Man, the film Ronin, and in Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction.) In the film Southland Tales, Richard Kelly (director) pays homage to the film, showing the main characters watching the beginning on their television and later the opening of the case is shown on screens on board the mega-Zeppelin.







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