The Letter

William Wyler, 1940

This film is about a well-to-do woman named Leslie Crosby (Bette Davis) who at the start of the film repeatedly shoots a man; we later find out he is a longtime friend of Leslie and her husband, a man namedGeoff Hammond (David Newell). Leslie then calls for one of her servants to run and retrieve her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall) who is working on a rubber plantation. When Robert arrives home he is accompanied by his attorney Howard Joyce (James Stephenson) and an officer of the law. All in the room want to know what happened; although Leslie struggles to tell the story, she does so. She claims Geoff came over flirting with her and making sexual advances, and when she tried to throw him out of the house he grabbed her and tried to “make love to her”. Leslie is arrested, but all around her believe this will be a speedy trial with a full acquittal.

The one person that is suspicious of Leslie is her attorney Howard, who knows something is not quite right about this scenario. Through his office assistant he learns that there is a damaging letter being kept by a mysterious figure that we soon learn is the dead man’s wife. She is willing to sell the letter to Leslie, but for $10,000. The exchange of the letter and the money takes place, and the trial goes on. Leslie is in fact soon acquitted of murder and is allowed to go home.

During a celebration Robert announces that he is to buy a plantation himself with his savings, and that he and Leslie will start over in a new location. This leads Howard and Leslie into telling him the money is gone due to the letter. Robert demands to see the letter; upon reading its contents, he finds out the truth. Leslie and Geoff had been lovers for years, and he threatened to stop seeing her; in a rage she killed him. Although heartbroken, Robert is willing to forgive all of Leslie’s transgressions if only she will tell him she loves him. At first, Leslie gives it the ‘old college try” and lies to her husband saying she loves him. Soon after, she breaks down confessing the only man she’s ever loved was the man she killed, Geoff Hammond. I won’t reveal how the movie ends, but the production code of this time makes sure everything ends neatly.

This stylish Hollywood crime drama is classic film noir. Bette Davis as the femme fatale gives a tour-de-force performance. Although she did not make this reviewer love her character I did appreciate the cunning and slyness of her character. The one character that was not well fleshed out was the husband Robert (Herbert Marshall). Throughout the entire movie up until the end he remained his wife’s fool. He asked no questions and questioned nothing, not even inquiring into how much the letter would cost--basically writing a blank check and giving permission to be walked all over.

The one mysterious character that caught my attention was Geoff’s widow (Gale Sondergaard). Sondergaard managed to match Davis’ character’s cunning and slyness and left me wanting to see more of her. The one glaringly obvious fault with her character however, was the fact that this was clearly a white woman playing an Asian woman. This was not a new concept for films of this time, but it is still strange.

I give this movie two thumbs up for its cinematic style, plot and two leading women that carried the film.

Tearene Weaver