Love Letters (1945)

Allen Quinton writes a fellow soldier's love letters; tragedy results. Later, Allen meets a beautiful amnesiac who fears postmen...

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Ayn Rand (screenplay), Christopher Massie (novel) (as Chris Massie)

Stars:

Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ann Richards

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jennifer Jones	...	Victoria Morland aka Singleton
Joseph Cotten	...	Alan Quinton
Ann Richards	...	Dilly Carson
Cecil Kellaway	...	Mac
Gladys Cooper	...	Beatrice Remington
Anita Louise	...	Helen Wentworth
Robert Sully	...	Roger Morland
Reginald Denny	...	Defense Counsel Phillips
Ernest Cossart	...	Bishop
Byron Barr	...	Derek Quinton

Storyline

When a man asks another man more facile with words to do his wooing for him, there are always complications. The man with no talent for writing marries the girl, confesses one night he didn't write the letters and ends up with a knife in his back. The writer of the letters fell in love with the woman he wrote to and wants to become her second husband even if she did murder husband number one. Singleton doesn't remember the murder or anything about the first 22 years of her life as Victoria Remington. Then at her second wedding she wonders why she said "I take you, Roger," instead of "I take you, Alan."

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Plot Keywords:

love letters | murder | world war two | amnesia | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 October 1945 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cartas a mi amada

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hal Wallis Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of Singleton was initially planned for Ann Richards, but when Jennifer became available, Richards ended up playing Dilly, Singleton's friend.

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Goofs

In the letter that Beatrice Remington writes to Captain Quinton which she mails through the postal service, she writes that she saw Victoria "yesterday", which would have been yesterday to the time Quinton received the letter and not yesterday to the time that she writes the letter. Writing such a statement is therefore illogical, especially in not knowing how long it would take for the letter to be delivered.

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Quotes

Singleton: I think very few people are happy. They wait all their lives for something to happen to them - something great and wonderful. They don't know what it is but they wait for it. Sometimes it never happens. What they want is the kind of spirit I found in those letters. A spirit that makes life beautiful. I love that man. I loved him more than my own life. I still love him. So you see, I couldn't have loved Roger Moreland, the man I killed.

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Connections

Referenced in Biography: Jennifer Jones: Portrait of a Lady (2001)

User Reviews

Worth while love story/mystery

This is an early "end of world war II" movie. The war is over and now the returning soldiers are trying to put their lives in order again.

Mostly set in a very rural part of England (Devon perhaps?). Cotton plays an emotionally scared veteran who tries to make amends for the wrong he has done, though it is really just a coincidence that he runs into the woman he somewhat inadvertently deceived (by writing letters on behalf of another man).

Jennifer Jones is quite good in this role that demands a youthful innocence. It sure doesn't hurt that she is a very beautiful young woman.

Good scenery and a good early effort at showing the true emotional cost of war on the vets who survive it.