| The Letter | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | William Wyler |
| Screenplay by | Howard E. Koch |
| Based on | 1927 playThe Letter byW. Somerset Maugham |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis (Exec) |
| Starring | Bette Davis Herbert Marshall James Stephenson |
| Cinematography | Tony Gaudio |
| Edited by | George Amy Warren Low |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages | English, Cantonese |
The Letter is a 1940 Americancrime film noir melodrama directed byWilliam Wyler, and starringBette Davis,Herbert Marshall andJames Stephenson.[1] Thescreenplay byHoward E. Koch is based on the 1927play of the same name byW. Somerset Maugham derived from his own short story. The play was first filmedin 1929, by directorJean de Limur. The story was inspired by areal-life scandal involving the Eurasian wife of the headmaster of a school inKuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April 1911. She was pardoned by the local sultan after a public furor.[citation needed]
Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a British rubber plantation manager inMalaya, shoots dead Geoffrey Hammond, a well-known member of theexpatriate community. Leslie tells the servant to send for the new district officer and her husband Robert, who is loading rubber for shipment. Crosbie returns, delivered by his attorney, a close family friend. Leslie claims that she killed Hammond to save her honor.She is placed under arrest, jailed in Singapore, and charged with murder. Her eventual acquittal seems a foregone conclusion, as the White community not only believes her story but feels she had acted heroically. Only the attorney, Howard Joyce, harbors suspicion. His clerk, Ong Chi Seng, tells him a letter exists that Leslie wrote to Hammond the day of the shooting, imploring him to come that night while Robert was away.
Ong tells Joyce that the original is in the possession of Hammond's widow, a Eurasian woman who lives in the Chinese quarter. He shows Joyce a copy, revealing Leslie's clear culpability in her ex-lover's murder, and conveys that the original is for sale, at a staggering price. Joyce then confronts Leslie, who first denies then breaks down and confesses to having written it. She manipulates him into agreeing to buy it back despite the risk to his career.
Joyce tells Robert about the letter without divulging its content or true price, which will exhaust nearly all of Robert's savings. Ong informs Joyce that Hammond's widow demands Leslie come personally to make the payoff, so Joyce arranges for the court to have her released into his custody to "regain her health".
In the Chinese quarter Leslie obtains the letter from the angry widow. She is acquitted.
In the aftermath of the trial Robert announces to Leslie and Joyce that he plans to buy a rubber plantation inSumatra to give him and Leslie a fresh start. It will require all his savings, plus a mortgage, but he can hardly contain his excitement. Joyce informs him of the true cost of the letter, which Robert insists on reading. He is devastated to learn that Leslie had lied about the killing and had been unfaithful with Hammond for years.
As a party celebrating the acquittal gets underway, Leslie discovers a dagger on her porch which she recognizes from the shop where she retrieved the letter. Immediately aware of the implication, she nevertheless joins the party before retreating to her room to lose herself in her lacework. Robert brags to his friends about his Sumatran fantasy, but collapses in gin and misery.
Robert offers to forgive Leslie if she can swear her love to him. She does, but then abruptly confesses that she still loves Hammond.
Robert rushes from the room. Opening the door to the garden, Leslie sees the dagger is now gone. She recognizes the inevitability of her fate, and ghosts down the garden path toward it. Outside the gate, Leslie is grabbed from behind and held by her own manservant while Hammond's widow stabs her with the dagger.
The two murderers attempt to slip away, but are stopped within steps by the flashlight of a policeman, who leads them silently away.
TheProduction Code Administration rejected the original story adaptation thatWarner Bros. submitted on the grounds that it contained adultery and unpunished murder, so a new final scene was added in which the widow Hammond takes her revenge. The character of Mrs. Hammond was also changed from Hammond's Chinese mistress to his Eurasian wife to placate theHays code.[2]
DirectorWilliam Wyler and starBette Davis, who had previously worked together onJezebel, disagreed about the climactic scene in which Leslie admits to her husband she still loves the man she murdered. Davis felt no woman could look at her husband when she admits such a thing. Wyler disagreed, and Davis walked off the set. She later returned and did it Wyler's way, but ever after, Davis insisted her approach would have been better.[3]
Wyler also argued with Warner Bros. headJack L. Warner over the casting of British actorJames Stephenson as attorney Howard Joyce. Warner originally had suggested Stephenson for the role, but after Wyler cast him, the studio head had second thoughts and thought the role was too important to cast an unknown in it. Wyler stood firm, and Stephenson's performance earned him an Oscar nomination.[3]
Herbert Marshall also appeared in the 1929 version, in which he plays the lover who is killed by Leslie. The 1940 film begins with the shooting. The 1929 version opens with the confrontation between Leslie and Geoff that preceded it.
The film was a huge hit with the public, and received sevenAcademy Award nominations (forOutstanding Production,Best Director,Best Actress (Davis),Best Supporting Actor (Stephenson),Best Cinematography – Black and White,Best Film Editing, andBest Original Score, but failed to win any.
In his review inThe New York Times,Bosley Crowther observed, "The ultimate credit for as taut and insinuating amelodrama as has come along this year — a film which extenuates tension like a grim inquisitor's rack—must be given to Mr. Wyler. His hand is patent throughout . . . Miss Davis is a strangely cool and calculating killer who conducts herself with reserve and yet implies a deep confusion of emotions . . . Only the end ofThe Letter is weak — and that is because of the postscript which the Hays Office has compelled".[4]
Variety magazine wrote, "Never has [the W. Somerset Maugham play] been done with greater production values, a better all-around cast or finer direction. Its defect is its grimness. Director William Wyler, however, sets himself a tempo which is in rhythm with the Malay locale . . . Davis' frigidity at times seems to go even beyond the characterization. On the other hand, Marshall never falters. Virtually stealing these honors in the pic, however, is Stephenson as the attorney, while Sondergaard is the perfect mask-like threat".[5]
Time Out London said in 2012, "A superbly crafted melodrama, even if it never manages to top the moody montage with which it opens - moon scudding behind clouds, rubber dripping from a tree, coolies dozing in the compound, a startled cockatoo - as a shot rings out, a man staggers out onto the verandah, and Davis follows to empty her gun grimly into his body . . . [The] camerawork, almost worthy of Sternberg in its evocation of sultrySingapore nights and coolgin slings, is not matched by natural sounds (on the soundtrackMax Steiner's score does a lot of busy underlining).[6]
The film holds a 100% rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 8.40/10.[7]
The film is recognized byAmerican Film Institute in these lists:
| Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Outstanding Production | Hal B. Wallis (forWarner Bros.) | Nominated |
| Best Director | William Wyler | Nominated | |
| Best Actress | Bette Davis | Nominated | |
| Best Supporting Actor | James Stephenson | Nominated | |
| Best Cinematography – Black and White | Tony Gaudio | Nominated | |
| Best Film Editing | Warren Low | Nominated | |
| Best Original Score | Max Steiner | Nominated | |
| National Board of Review Awards | Best Acting | James Stephenson(also forShining Victory) | Won |
| New York Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Director | William Wyler | Nominated |
| Best Actor | James Stephenson | Nominated |
Authority control databases: National |
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