The Letter
by William Wyler
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bette Davis, Frieda Inescort, Gale Sondergaard, Herbert Marshall, James StephensonDirector: William Wyler
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of The Letter
Movie Review: With That Hide and Seek Moon !
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Letter" is set in pre-WW2 British Malaya. In the opening scenes, Bette Davis kills a man and smartly, smoothly claims self-defense. Why the demised, a family acquaintance, would "make advances" to BD is left unexplained. BD appears in the clear; a family friend and connected attorney, James Stephenson, will defend her. The local Law shows no urge to investigate. And then? And then the plot thickens with a slight complication! It seems BD had written the dead guy a love letter. They had had an affair. He was visiting to tell her he was marrying another woman. Davis' response was to off the poor guy! The plot thickens more when Stephenson, a highly principled barrister, receives a mysteriously Asian offer to ransom the letter. Clearly against his conscience, Stephenson buys and buries the lethal message. The seller is not revealed here, but his/her identity thickens the suspense. Davis is cleared at her murder trial but the viewer will realize that her problems are far from done. What happens? A good review will not reveal resolutions. The curious will just have to watch for themselves but will be happy they did. "The Letter" is boosted by a wonderful musical score and sharp black and white photography- a vanished art. Those shots of the lurking moon are positively eerie. High honors go to Stephenson as the reluctant lawyer and Gale Sondergard as the wife of the deceased. Her contempt for Davis is so visceral it burns through the screen. This reviewer is not a big BD fan but she is perfectly cast here. Other reviewers have credited 7 Academy nominations to "The Letter" but Tom O'Neil's encyclopedic "Movie Awards" lists 4: Best Picture, Director (William Wyler), Actress (Davis) and Supporting Actor (Stephenson). None won a 1940 statuette. Winners were "Rebecca", John Ford for "The Grapes of Wrath", Ginger Rogers for "Kitty Foyle" and "Walter Brennan for "The Westerner". Bob Hope won a Special Award that year-they should have given one to that moon! "The Letter" is a classic, so smoothly done that the movie outshines the cast. In closing amazoners can be assured there are far more sub-plots, suspense, and mystery in "The Letter" than outlined here. The air of intrigue is maintained until the very fadeout. The sudden, slamming of the door resolution will remind viewers that "The Letter", for all its' other virtues, is also solid film noir in every detail. A final helpful hint: This viewer watched "The Letter" over 3 sittings. New viewers are urged to allocate the time to see it in one. Doing so will bring the full impact of those nocturnal scenes as the moon dances and the fates spin their web around the cast.
Summary of The Letter
In the opening sequence of The Letter, director William Wyler delivers a primer on film directing: at a rubber plantation, in the tropical funk of a Malaysian night, the heavy stillness is suddenly broken by shots... and a woman with a gun, descending a staircase. She is the wife of the plantation owner, and the dead man is, ahem, not her husband. Holding the gun so securely is Bette Davis, in one of her greatest performances (her acting of a big revelation, late in the film, is still an astounding piece of emotional fluency). The story is taken from one of those sturdy Somerset Maugham tales that has proved itself in many versions, but this is the keeper; it was nominated for seven Oscars?, including best picture, director, and actress, winning none. Wyler's impeccable direction, and Davis's take-no-prisoners approach to an "unsympathetic" character, make for a completely satisfying picture. --Robert HortonDrama DVD Video
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