The Letter
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Movie Reviews of The Letter
Movie Review: What can you want but GREAT acting?
Summary: 4 Stars
This is how it is. The movie is flawless with its filming-the way the shots are posed. The artistic essence of it is great-the letter opener, chime sounds in Asian curio shop, silence and then shots for the shooting, etc. The music is wonderful-the brilliant Max Steiner of course!!!
Bette is brilliant as ever!! She makes a believing crafty but innocent character. She has an art for being able to act so innocent and naive but letting the audience in on her true nature as the sinister character.
The Howard Joyce character is good too. Like the Davis character in the way that he seems to be just observant but also all too knowing. He is the wiser, seeming to know all along of Leslie's lies.
Herbert Marshall is so annoying. I have never particularly liked him as an actor but they give him the ignorant husband role in this movie. He has an annoying voice, is kind of homely, and simply puts forth an ugh when you see him act. No offense! But he is very good in the role. He makes it very believable.
My last comment is Gale Sondergaard. She is impeccable as the Eurasian wife. She gives you chills and has a haunting sort of presence. It is true art in the scene where she and Bette come face-to-face and stare at one another. Bette still plays the innocent but strong character, while she stares Bette down icily. The music plays as Gale and an Asian man exchange hushed quick words in Chinese.
SPOILER: The last two scenes are the best. Bette is at the party after she has been found innocent of murder. She is estranged with husband. Herbert tries to mend the relationship. She says she doesn't love him anymore. He leaves. She goes out into the garden to the shed. Gale and the Asian man are waiting. They take a knife-letter opener that was in front of her door and disappeared-and stab her. Dawn comes up. The camera shoots in to the lace knitting Bette had been working on. It flutters in the wind. It is a symbol of her being free of worry-because earlier Bette had stated that she knits because she needs to calm her nerves.
The letter is what you call a true classic and artistic and tastefully made film-but somehow it lacks in the storyline. But all in all it is a good picture.
8.5/10
Movie Review: Bette Davis holds a tutorial. This is how acting is done.
Summary: 4 Stars
Not a big fan of Miss Davis. It's mostly hitn'miss.But her ability can't be denied. By the time The Letter is made she has moved out of her ingenue roles into a beatiful women. Not in the the sexual gourgeousness of Harlow, Hayward or Gardner mold, but beautiful nontheless. Her range in this movie alone is tremendous. She plays Leslie, wife of a rubber plantation owner. That she shot another man while alone in her home, is not in dispute. That scene is done in dramatic fashion early in the movie. Was it self defense? Her husband (Herbert Marshall) & lawyer Howard (James Stephenson) belive it is a slam-dunk acquittal. Then a letter in her own hand to the man she shot emerges. As best it is ambigous. At worst it indicates they were long time lovers. He is also married & was at her home that night to break it off. Everything she has said up to this point was a lie. Her husband spends his last cent & her lawyer who also has a crush on her do their best to supress the letter. With a bitter taste in everyone's mouth she is aquitted. However, it is not a spoiler to know that in movies of the era there could not be an ending in which bad deed goes unpunished. Thie movie was up for numerous awards & with William Wyler's expert direction rightfully so.Movie Review: BETTE DAVIS IS A BAD BAD BABE
Summary: 4 Stars
Based on a play by W. Somerset Maugham, William Wyler's noirish THE LETTER (1940) begins with a literal bang as Bette Davis guns down a man on the steps of her Singapore veranda. She tearfully claims self-defense but a letter surfaces from Davis to the victim that complicates matters. When the letter is purchased from the victim's wife and kept out of the trial, things do not improve for Davis and her husband Herbert Marshall.
This entangling drama was nominated for seven Academy Awards® including best Picture and Best Actress. Extras: an alternate ending sequence and two versions (1941 and 1944) of the Lux Radio Theater's broadcast with Davis and Marshall. The '44 version also features Vincent Price in his Lux Radio Theater debut.
It's said that director Wyler and star Davis were having a torrid (is there any other kind) affair during production. Notice how sensuously this basically unattractive woman is lighted and photographed.
Movie Review: Excellent Drama and Best Version
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Letter" is a 1940 remake of a movie, and the best version of this drama. It is based on a Somerset Maugham play that follows a deceitful wife who kills her lover when she realizes he was dumping her for another woman. The twist is that she admits killing him and says it was in self-defense, but the plot thickens when a letter she wrote turns up. It changes everything.
All the actors are absolutely fantastic; they don't over-emote, just give convincing realism that keeps you tied to every scene. Bette Davis is exquisite in this role of a wife who was cheeting on her loyal husband, played by Herbert Marshall. The defense attorney is played by James Stephens and the courtroom scene is gripping. The movie is a perfect tale of adultry and murder. It keeps your attention. Bette does her best and looks her best throughout.
Movie Review: Bette Davis has the men eating out of her hand
Summary: 4 Stars
Moody, atmospheric romantic drama and light mystery with a powerhouse performance by Bette Davis that runs the gamut from extremely subtle to explosive. The plot revelations are pretty modest, though, so it's best to go into this without reading a lot about the movie beforehand. Warner Home Video does its usual professional job with the DVD: you get a sharp print of the film and a nice selection of special features.
As a treat to my wife, we're watching everything available on DVD that features the great Bette Davis, and "The Letter" so far has been one of the better among Ms. Davis's early classics. Echoing Ms. Davis' performance in the film, William Wyler's expertly directed opening scene starts out moody and subtle and then explodes into what is probably the most memorable Bette Davis entrance among all her films.