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The Letter

7.5

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2 Related Movies

Remake of:

The Letter

Related to:

A Change of Fate

Original title

The Letter

Year

1940

Running time

91 min.

Country

United States

Director

William Wyler

Screenwriter

Howard Koch. Theater: William Somerset Maugham

Cast

Music

Max Steiner

Cinematography

Tony Gaudio (B&W)

Producer

Warner Bros.. Producer: Hal B. Wallis

Genre

Drama. Film noir | Melodrama. Crime. Remake

Movie Groups

W. Somerset Maugham Adaptations

Synopsis

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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Rankings Position

#23 Best Remakes in the history of film
#60 Best Film Noir Movies
#78 Best Movies of the '40s
#101 Best Crime Movies

Awards: 1940: 7 Nominations for Oscar, including Actress (Bette Davis), Supporting Actor (Stephenson)

1940: New York Film Critics Circle: Nominated Best Director & Best Actor (Stephenson)

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Critics' reviews

"A superbly crafted melodrama"

Time Out
"An evil tale, plotted with an eye to its torturing effects"

Bosley Crowther: The New York Times
"Director William Wyler's magnificent handling of the material and Bette Davis's taut and calculated performance converted it into enduring cinematic art."

TV Guide
"Bette Davis gave one of her best and nastiest performances in Wyler's stylishly sordid 1940 romantic murder-mystery from W. Somerset Maugham's story"

Robert K. Elder: Chicago Tribune
"Davis unsurprisingly mesmerizes as a duplicitous murderess pleading self-defense."

Entertainment Weekly
"Never has [the W. Somerset Maugham play] been done with greater production values, a better all-around cast or finer direction"

Variety Staff: Variety
"Davis gives what is very likely the best study of female sexual hypocrisy in film history."

Pauline Kael: The New Yorker
"A better-than-average Bette Davis vehicle (1940), well constructed by that shrewd old hack, William Wyler, from a Somerset Maugham play."

Dave Kehr: Chicago Reader

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The Letter

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