The Letter
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Movie Reviews of The Letter
Movie Review: "With all my heart, I still love the man I killed!"
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent adaptation of Somerset Maugham's play about the wife of a Malaysian plantation owner who kills her lover and claims it was self defense. However, there exists an incriminating letter...
The role of Leslie Crosbie was previously performed on stage by Katherine Cornell and Gladys Cooper and filmed in 1929 with Jeanne Eagles. Davis gives one of her greatest performances in a carefully nuanced orchestration of pent-up sexual frustration. Equally good is Herbert Marshall as her suffering husband and James Stephenson as the lawyer who reluctantly defends her. Tragically, Stephenson would die of a heart attack the following year at the age of 52. Both Stephenson and Davis would receive Oscar nominations for their work here.
Another unforgettable performance comes from Gale Sondergaard who plays the Eurasian wife of the victim and possessor of the incriminating document. Her chalky face and garish jewelry will give you up the creeps as will the looks of death she gives to Davis. She has very few lines (and they are in Mandarin) but what an entrance she makes! The confrontation scene between Davis and Sondergaard, eerily played with no music aside from wind chimes, has to be one of most tense and memorable scenes ever filmed. Speaking of music, the score by Max Steiner is one of his best.
Other great elements of "The Letter" are the atmospheric photography and sets which perfectelly set the mood of the hot and humid nights on a rubber plantation and the ever present full moon, appearing and disappearing behind clouds and casting shadows (and an accusing glance) on the face of the guilty heroine.
The dvd looks great (on a 36" tv at least) with the wonderful black and white photography sharpy rendered and no notices of nicks or scratches. An alternate ending is featured which basically excerpts a scene in which Davis tells Marshall that she still loves the man she killed. Davis did not want the scene included because she felt that her character could not be so callous to her husband! Director William Wyler wisely included it! Two radio versions (in 1941 and 1944) are also included with both Davis and Marshall reprising their roles. Vincent Price plays the lawyer role in the 1944 version.
Movie Review: Wicked and Fabulous
Summary: 4 Stars
Bette at her finest as Leslie Crosbie in this Somerset Maugham story. She is drop-dead stylish in an Orry-Kelly gown as she guns down the overseer of the rubber plantation that her husband owns. The plot is chock full of twists and turns and is riveting -- especially when the stereotypical Chinese Dragon Lady, played by the begowned and bejeweled Gale Sondergaard, is onscreen. The highly underrated Miss Sondergaard, originally cast as the Wicked Witch in *The Wizard of Oz*, would lose her Hollywood career with the McCarthy witch trials of the 50s, and has little to do in this movie except look inscrutable and flare her nostrils. But Bette has *plenty* to do. Ulitmately, due to Crosbie's machinations, Dragon Lady gets her revenge, but not before Crosbie does. All's ill that ends ill. Movie Review: DAVIS IS DELICIOUSLY EVIL - A FIRST RATE MELODRAMA
Summary: 4 Stars
Once you've seen the opening moments of William Wyler's superb "The Letter" you aren't apt to forget what great Hollywood film making is all about for a very, VERY long time. Bette Davis stars in this potent, diabolically delicious melodrama as Leslie Crosbie; the unscrupulous wife of a Malaysian rubber plantation owner. After packing six slugs into a man exiting her boudoir...not her husband...Leslie embarks on a deeply disturbing odyssey to vindicate her murder. Hmmm....vengeful Eurasian, Mrs. Hammond (Gale Sondergaard)will have something to say about that. To this morbid end of tragic curiosity, Leslie is ably aided by the naivet? of her husband, Robert(Herbert Marshall). But then there's the letter; a bit of forgotten business that threatens to unravel all of Leslie's well laid plans and lay bare her genuine passion for the man that she's killed.
The play by Somerset Maugham on which the film is based must have seemed like old hat to Davis. For there can be no other reason why she's so cleverly fiendish and stylishly sinister as Leslie. But then all is not to be realized in sweet escapism when a letter surfaces that could blow the whole truth wide open and send Leslie to prison for life. Superbly crafted with the fine animal instincts of a jungle cat at every turn, "The Letter" was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture but won not a single statuette. Wyler's impeccable direction, and Davis's mesmerizing and unsympathetic performance are what transform this standard melodrama into movie art!
Unfortunately all is not well with the transfer from Warner Brothers. Seemingly contrasting a bit on the overly dark side, fine details are generally lost in the deep and foreboding blackness. Yes, most of the picture was designed to have a very dark image, but contrast and tonality in the gray scale here are what seem to be lacking over all throughout this black and white image. Also, the image is not very stable. Long shots tend to be a bit blurry and out of focus. There's also an annoying amount of edge enhancement on the horizontal slats of the bamboo blinds that figure into the mood of the piece throughout the film - making certain scenes seem unnecessarily harshly contrasted. Age related artifacts crop up now and then. Film grain becomes obtrusive and dense at moments, and practically non-existent at other moments. The audio is mono and overall nicely balanced. Occasionally dialogue is somewhat muffled. Extras include a fascinating alternative ending only recently discovered as well as 2 audio bonuses and the film's original theatrical trailer. "The Letter" comes highly recommended as a melodrama par excellence from a studio, director and a star who definitely understood the subtly of the art. As a DVD you may find the presentation somewhat disappointing.
Movie Review: DELICIOUSLY DANGEROUS AND OVER THE TOP!
Summary: 4 Stars
Once you've seen the opening moments of William Wyler's superb "The Letter" you aren't apt to forget what great Hollywood film making is all about for a very, VERY long time. Bette Davis stars in this potent, diabolically delicious melodrama as Leslie Crosbie; the unscrupulous wife of a Malaysian rubber plantation owner. After packing six slugs into a man exiting her boudoir...not her husband...Leslie embarks on a deeply disturbing odyssey to vindicate her murder. To this end, Leslie is ably aided by the naivet? of her husband, Robert (Herbert Marshall) and by her popular following of fair weather friends, helmed by Mrs. Hammond (Gale Sondergaard). The play by Somerset Maugham on which the film is based must have seemed like old hat to Davis. For there can be no other reason why she's so cleverly fiendish and stylishly sinister as Leslie. But then all is not to be realized in sweet escapism when a letter surfaces that could blow the whole truth wide open and send Leslie to prison for life. Superbly crafted with the fine animal instincts of a jungle cat at every turn, "The Letter" was nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture but won not a single statuette. Wyler's impeccable direction, and Davis's mesmerizing and unsympathetic performance are what transform this standard melodrama into movie art!
Unfortunately all is not well with the transfer from Warner Brothers. Seemingly contrasting a bit on the overly dark side, fine details are generally lost in the deep and foreboding blackness. Yes, most of the picture was designed to have a very dark image, but contrast and tonality in the gray scale here are what seem to be lacking over all throughout this black and white image. Also, the image is not very stable. Long shots tend to be a bit blurry and out of focus. There's also an annoying amount of edge enhancement on the horizontal slats of the bamboo blinds that figure into the mood of the piece throughout the film - making certain scenes seem unnecessarily harshly contrasted. Age related artifacts crop up now and then. Film grain becomes obtrusive and dense at moments, and practically non-existent at other moments. The audio is mono and overall nicely balanced. Occasionally dialogue is muffled. Extras include a fascinating alternative ending only recently discovered as well as 2 audio bonuses and the film's original theatrical trailer. "The Letter" comes highly recommended as a melodrama par excellence from a studio, director and a star who definitely understood the subtly of the art. As a DVD you may find the presentation somewhat disappointing.
Movie Review: DAVIS CLASSIC STILL POWERFUL....
Summary: 5 Stars
When the wife of a wealthy plantation owner in Malaysia kills a man she claims tried to assault her, an incriminating letter surfaces in the hands of the dead man's Eurasian wife (a stoic and bizarre Gale Sondergaard). Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis) had written the letter to the man demanding him to come over the day of his death. Now, with the help of a guilt ridden attorney (James Stephenson), she must retrieve the letter before it lands in the hands of the prosecutors. Directed by William Wyler, "The Letter" stands as one of Davis' most powerful films. Not only is she magnificent, but the film itself seethes with tension and sultry atmosphere. The plantation scenes are meticulously done with some shadows being painted on the ground (at Wyler's insistence) for more eerie moonlit shots. The moon plays a large role in "The Letter", sort of as a governing body over the fates of certain characters. A hint of Asian mysticism runs throughout as well implying that one cannot escape one's fate...especially if it involves retribution. Herbert Marshall (also with Davis in "The Little Foxes" again directed by Wyler) is excellent as the husband and plantation owner brought to ruin by "the letter". Warner's has done a fine job in presenting the film (based on W.Somerset Maugham's story) on DVD with good extras including an alternate ending that's more morbid. I couldn't decide which one I liked best. But it's Davis that you're watching here...constantly knitting to conceal her sexual frustration. And for her performance alone, "The Letter" is definitely a collector's item.