The Love Letter (TV 1998)

Scotty Corrigan buys an antique desk and finds a Civil War-era letter inside it, written by a woman who died over a hundred years ago. Fancifully, he writes and mails a reply...only to have... See full summary »

Director:

Dan Curtis

Writers:

Jack Finney (short story), James S. Henerson (television story),

Stars:

Campbell Scott, Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Dukes

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Campbell Scott	...	Scott Corrigan
Jennifer Jason Leigh	...	Elizabeth Whitcomb
David Dukes	...	Everett Reagle
Estelle Parsons	...	Beatrice Corrigan
Daphne Ashbrook	...	Debra Zabriskie
Myra Carter	...	Clarice Whitcomb
Gerrit Graham	...	Warren Whitcomb
Irma P. Hall	...	Mae Mullen
Richard Woods	...	Jacob Campbell
Kali Rocha	...	Flossy Whitcomb
Laurie Kennedy	...	Lavinia Whitcomb
Edgar Smith	...	Potts the Postman
Cara Stoner	...	Maggie the Maid
George Gaffney	...	Bike Rider
Tom Riis Farrell	...	Scott's Boss

Storyline

Scotty Corrigan buys an antique desk and finds a Civil War-era letter inside it, written by a woman who died over a hundred years ago. Fancifully, he writes and mails a reply...only to have it reach its destination in the past. As Elizabeth and Scotty continue their remarkable correspondence, they find themselves falling in love, and more than restless about their impending, respective, marriages.

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Plot Keywords:

letter | antique | desk | love | poet | 

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Taglines:

A love story that touches two lives....a century apart.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Hallmark Hall of Fame page.

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Love Letter (#47.3)

Filming Locations:

Petersburg, Virginia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hallmark Entertainment, Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on a short story of the same name by Jack Finney. The story was first published in "The Saturday Evening Post" on August 1, 1959, and reprinted in the same magazine on January/February 1988.

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Goofs

The first shot of the Whitcomb house in 1863 has a small electric light on over the front doorway.

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Connections

References Gone with the Wind (1939)

User Reviews

It's a wonderful, wonderful movie

I love romance movies. I'll spend boring weekends just popping them in the VCR. I love time travel romances and after watching SOMEWHERE IN TIME for the 10th time spent an entire weekend debating where "the watch" originated with my husband and friends. I happened to catch THE LOVE LETTER on cable one rainy afternoon and by the end of the movie I had gone through an entire box of Kleenex. The "romance" between Scotty and Lizzie was so touching. I did think that the poems Lizzie wrote were pretty sappy but we're talking about the 19th century here. Whenever you watch a time travel movie or read that type of book, you really have to learn to suspend disbelief, but the way this movie was handled it seemed so possible. That they could actually feel each others presence across time was so beautifully handled. The music was hauntingly beautiful as well. My only quibble with the whole story was if the time portal worked from the past to the present, why couldn't it work from the present to the past. I felt so sad that Lizzie had to live all those years without Scotty. All in all it's a great movie. I would, and have, recommended it to anyone who loves romance.