Another Look at THE LETTER (1940)

Based on the 1927 stage play by W. Somerset Maugham, the first sound era film adaptation hit screens in 1929. In that film, Jeanne Eagles, a famous stage actress of her day, played the wife who cheats on her husband and kills her lover. Jeanne Eagles got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. In the 1929 movie, actor Herbert Marshall played the lover. In 1940, audiences saw Bette Davis in peak performance as she played the duplicitous British wife charged with murder in a new adaptation of THE LETTER directed by William Wyler. Herbert Marshall was also in the 1940 remake. But not as the lover. This time, he played the clueless husband. Just like Jeanne Eagles, Bette Davis got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress thanks to THE LETTER.

The 1929 version, available online, shows the wife as a woman rabid with domestic boredom and sexual lust. That Paramount Pictures release has the ending that Bette Davis wanted to keep for her 1940 Warner Bros. version. But, by that time, all Hollywood was under the thumb of production codes. The bad had to pay visibly for their crimes. Nonetheless, I find the William Wyler remake fascinating. I feel it holds relevance today in our current political and racial climate. In Wyler's version, we see a rather film noir take on the ladylike but lethal Lesbie Crosbie. Notice the way she's photographed. Look at the play of light, dark, shadows and lines.

In addition to that, Wyler makes a strong cinematic statement on White Privilege and racial division. We'll see the Haves jarred economically by the Have Nots. Bette Davis takes a more genteel and polished approach in her portrayal of Leslie Crosbie. Her husband does not suspect the moral decay underneath her prim and proper British housewife exterior.

Take 2 minutes to hear my archive podcast look at THE LETTER. Just click onto this link:

www.podomatic.com/podcasts/bobbyrivers/episodes/2011-04-05T10_52_15-07_00.

Thanks for listening.