The Letter (1940)

The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing.

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

W. Somerset Maugham (play), Howard Koch (screen play)

Stars:

Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson

Nominated for 7 Oscars. Another 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bette Davis	...	Leslie Crosbie
Herbert Marshall	...	Robert Crosbie
James Stephenson	...	Howard Joyce
Frieda Inescort	...	Dorothy Joyce
Gale Sondergaard	...	Mrs. Hammond
Bruce Lester	...	John Withers
Elizabeth Inglis	...	Adele Ainsworth (as Elizabeth Earl)
Cecil Kellaway	...	Prescott
Victor Sen Yung	...	Ong Chi Seng (as Sen Yung)
Doris Lloyd	...	Mrs. Cooper
Willie Fung	...	Chung Hi
Tetsu Komai	...	Head Boy

Storyline

The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense. Her poise, graciousness and stoicism impress nearly everyone who meets her. Her husband is certainly without doubt; so is the district officer; while her lawyer's doubts may be a natural skepticism. But this is Singapore and the resentful natives will have no compunction about undermining this accused murderess. A letter in her hand turns up and may prove her undoing.

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Plot Keywords:

rubber plantation | lace | gunshot | crime of passion | husband wife relationship | 

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Taglines:

I wish I could say I was sorry.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 November 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Geheimnis von Malampur

Filming Locations:

Stage 1, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After shooting was completed, William Wyler watched a rough cut and decided that he wanted the character of Leslie to be more sympathetic. He ordered some re-writes and planned to shoot them. Bette Davis recalled - "I was heartbroken," she said, "as I felt, after reading the rewrites, that my performance could be ruined with these additions. I asked Willie if I could see the film before doing the retakes. To my horror I was crying at myself at the end of the showing. There was dead silence in the projection room when the lights came up. I said, 'If we film these retakes, we will lose the intelligent audience. It is impossible to please everyone with any one film. If we try to accomplish this, we can lose all audiences.' Plus, to my shame, even though I played the part, I deeply sympathized with Leslie Crosbie. We only made one small addition to the original film. Wyler had agreed with me. Thank God!"

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Goofs

We see Leslie faint and taken to see the nurse. The nurse leaves the room and Leslie is talking to Howard Joyce, but behind Mr. Joyce is a shadow of a piece of equipment or crew visible on the room divider behind Mr. Joyce. The equipment is pulled back and the shadow disappears.

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Quotes

Robert Crosbie: If you love a person, you can forgive anything.

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Alternate Versions

Also shown in computer colorized version.

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Connections

Featured in Here's Looking at You, Warner Bros. (1991)

User Reviews

Exquisite!!!!

From the opening sequence where we see Bette emptying her gun on this poor unsuspecting soul, you become riveted watching one of Ms. Davis' all-time flawless performances.

In a nutshell, this tells the story of what happens when first we practice to deceive. Bette claims she was attacked by a friend she has seen only casually until she was forced to "defend" herself against his unwanted advances. Initially, it looks like a slam dunk but when the case is taken to trial, more and more, Bette's lies get the best of her.

Not a sympathetic character for the most part. There is one chilling scene where she, totally exasperated with having to remember so many lies, makes a confession to her husband. It is a fascinating scene for while you recoil at her seemingly selfish attitude, there is this underlying, reluctant admiration you feel for this woman's brutal honesty.

Excellent supporting cast all around, most notably, Herbert Marshall as the poor unsuspecting (it appears many men fall under this category when dealing with the Divine Ms. Davis!)husband whose main goal is to support his wife. Now whether she deserves this loyalty is another ugly story.

Excellent mystery with certainly enough twists and turns to keep you totally engrossed in a very good story.

*Just watched it again last night (10/8/2006) - I'm tellin' ya guys - after 900 viewings, the movie still rocks!!!!