A Letter to Three Wives
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Movie Reviews of A Letter to Three Wives
Movie Review: DVD: A Letter to Three Wives
Summary: 5 Stars
Who better to portray these three wives that the classic actresses of Jeanne Crain, Ann Sothern and Linda Darnell. The product gives us a view at, perhaps, ourselves and causes us to take a provoking look at our own lives.Movie Review: A Letter to Three Wives
Summary: 5 Stars
I had excellent service from this vendor. The DVD was shipped promptly and it played through without a single pause. The product was in mint condition and I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and adding it to my collection.Movie Review: All star cast
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this movie with so many movie stars. It has a different twist to the plot and you don't know until the end who Addie has run off with. If you like old movies, this is a good one.Movie Review: This is No Dead Letter: Scathing, Intelligent and Compelling
Summary: 4 Stars
In a career of arguably no lows, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's brilliant screenplay and direction on "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949) comes as close to perfection as movie melodrama has any right to. The plot, based on John Klempner's novel, concerns itself with three genuinely contented women; Deborah (Jeanne Crain), Lora Mae (Linda Darnell) and Rita (Ann Sothern). Contented, that is, until a mysterious letter surfaces from an equally mysterious source that claims to have carnal knowledge of one of their husbands. Which one? Well, that's what the rest of the film's plot is all about - smelling a rat. Deb' finds herself feeling helpless and lost amidst her husband, Brad's (Jeffrey Lynn) country club set. Could one those shallow jet setters be the backstabbing vixen who wrote the letter? Seeing her gold-digging way with a pocket book and the right sort of heel, Lora's husband, Porter (Paul Douglas) has just about had enough of Lora. Could he be the one straying? And what about Rita's husband, George (Kirk Douglas)? With a career that bests George's ability to keep the home front afloat, might he feel the need to go slumming with a gal who is, at least financially, more at his level? Mankiewicz's astute perceptions of the inner struggles and insecurities that make us all human, and his adept handling of the material from the director's seat, justly won the veteran film maker two Academy Awards. With a backup cast that includes the diabolically juicy Florence Bates, Hobart Cavanaugh and Connie Gilchrist, "A Letter To Three Wives" proves that all any picture needs to be thrilling is solid writing and fantastic performances. Fox has done a wonderful job in remastering this film for DVD. Working from second generation materials (no original camera negative exists), the DVD exhibits a very nicely contrasted black and white image with minimal film grain. Blacks are perhaps a tad weak, but this is to be expected from less than perfect source material. Otherwise, fine details are nicely realized, whites are very crisp and clean and shadow levels are adequately represented. Every attempt has been made through the use of digital technology to rebalance the image quality to as close to the original presentation as possible, and, for the most part, that is exactly how the film looks. An English stereo track is included. But this is a dialogue driven film so there's really not much point or difference between it and the original mono recording. Extras include the Biography Special on the tragic and brief life of Linda Darnell, a wonderful audio commentary by Mankiewicz's son, Christopher and biographers, Kenneth Geist and Cheryl Lower, some "Movietones" news reel footage and the original theatrical trailer. Both the film and the transfer come highly recommended for an old time Oscar-winning night at the movies.
Movie Review: Clever script and good fun
Summary: 4 Stars
Joseph Mankiewicz had been a writer in Hollywood since the early thirties and he always wrote witty often cynical screenplays. By the late forties, he was given the opportunity to direct his scripts following the lead of Preston Sturges and others, thereby enabling them to ensure that his ideas were preserved as written. This is a very entertaining film with a great script which still works today. The plot covers the story of 3 woman who are forced to review their marriages when they learn that the town siren has run off with one of their husbands. As a director, Mankiewicz is good, but it is the writing which really counts. The screenplay of this film is filled with hilarious one liners and cynical barbs on the American way of life. It really has not dated a bit.
I am surprised so many reviewers single out the Paul Douglas/Linda Darnell sequence though. For my money, the Anne Sothern/Kirk Douglas sequence is the best, if only because Ann Sothern was so much better an actress than Linda Darnell, Kirk Douglas is surprisingly modest and convincing, Thelma Ritter is hilarious and the satire on radio really bites. In fact, Thelma Ritter steals every scene she appears in but everyone is good. Paul Douglas is perfect in his film debut and Jeanne Crain is perfectly cast as the mouse. This is a great ensemble cast each with an opportunity to shine.
The DVD print of the film is excellent preserving that magnificent Fox photography and lighting. There is also a Biography Program of Linda Darnell. Poor tragic Darnell. She never really could eliminate an artificial quality to her acting, even here when she is at her best. Although she undoubtedly had a beautiful face, she sadly was an alcoholic and always looked slightly bloated to me. The DVD contains a first rate commentary, one of the commentators being the director's son who discreetly neglects to mention that his father had a long affair with Darnell.