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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
W. Somerset Maugham (play)
Howard Koch (screenplay)
Release Date:
23 November 1940 (USA) more
Tagline:
With all my heart I still love the man I killed more
Plot:
The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense; a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 7 Oscars. more
NewsDesk:
TCM's 'Summer Under the Stars' Posters are Phenomenal
(From Rope Of Silicon. 13 July 2009, 3:22 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Full moon fever. more (76 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Bette Davis | ... | Leslie Crosbie | |
| Herbert Marshall | ... | Robert Crosbie | |
| James Stephenson | ... | Howard Joyce | |
| Frieda Inescort | ... | Dorothy Joyce | |
| Gale Sondergaard | ... | Mrs. Hammond | |
| Bruce Lester | ... | John Withers | |
| Elizabeth Inglis | ... | Adele Ainsworth (as Elizabeth Earl) | |
| Cecil Kellaway | ... | Prescott | |
| Victor Sen Yung | ... | Ong Chi Seng (as Sen Yung) | |
| Doris Lloyd | ... | Mrs. Cooper | |
| Willie Fung | ... | Chung Hi | |
| Tetsu Komai | ... | Head Boy |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
95 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:TV-PG (TV rating) | Canada:PG (video rating) | West Germany:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6442)
Filming Locations:
Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Merle Oberon and Walter Huston had starred in a Lux Radio Theatre version two years before. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Mrs Cooper calls Howard Joyce "Mr Johnson" before she leaves the first aid room. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Thou Shalt Not: Sex, Sin and Censorship in Pre-Code Hollywood (2008) (TV) more
FAQ
What's notable about Herbert Marshall playing Robert Crosbie?Where can I hear radio adaptations of this film?
more
more (76 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Letter (1940)| Recent Posts (updated daily) | User |
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| James Stephenson | Cello1949-2 |
| 'Eurasian?' | Skrbi |
| Alternate Ending (Spoilers) | wencer |
| Full Moon | BumpyRide |
| Cecil Kellaway? | davisk957 |
| The dagger | lsgmusic |
Recommendations
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| Home from the Hill | Gone with the Wind | Capitaine Conan | Strangers on a Train | The Night of the Hunter |
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Among the three Wyler-Davis' collaborations (the others being "little foxes" and "Jezebel" ) "the letter " is their triumph.The repugnance that most of the French critics feel for the great Wyler is one of their major flaws (coming from "les cahiers du cinema " and the stupidity of the nouvelle vague ravings).
"The letter" is a splendor.A screenplay so simple and so effective it's a wonder it grabs us till the last pictures.A first sequence to rival the best of Hitchcock.A feverish sticky deadly atmosphere from the mysterious garden where a malefic full moon shines on Davis' inscrutable face to the seedy place in the Chinese quarter where they smoke opium and where Gale Sondergaard spins a web :in this memorable scene when she forces Davis to kneel down,she almost surpasses the star,which will seem an impossible task to some,and yet..Every time Sondergaard appears on the screen ,she's absolutely terrifying.I was saying that the screenplay was simple ,but that kind of simplicity takes genius and I wish today's stories had this implacable logic.As always in Wyler's works of that era,the ball sequence is a recurring theme (see the admirable scenes of "Wuthering Heights" and "Jezebel" )Thus,the finale scenes revolve around a ball,beginning with Davis's entrance and ending with a view of the dancers from the outside ,à la "Wuthering Heights" .Excellent performances by the whole cast,fabulous directing,particularly in these last pictures ,where Davis is walking through the garden ,under a bad moon rising..You must see "the letter".