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Letter to Three Wives, a

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In a career of arguably no lows, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's brilliant screenplay and direction on "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949) comes as close to perfection as movie melodrama has any right to. The plot, based on John Klempner's novel, concerns itself with three genuinely contented women; Deborah (Jeanne Crain), Lora Mae (Linda Darnell) and Rita (Ann Sothern). Contented, that is, until a mysterious letter surfaces from an equally mysterious source that claims to have carnal knowledge of one of their husbands. Which one? Well, that's what the rest of the film's plot is all about - smelling a rat. Deb' finds herself feeling helpless and lost amidst her husband, Brad's (Jeffrey Lynn) country club set. Could one those shallow jet setters be the backstabbing vixen who wrote the letter? Seeing her gold-digging way with a pocket book and the right sort of heel, Lora's husband, Porter (Paul Douglas) has just about had enough of Lora. Could he be the one straying? And what about Rita's husband, George (Kirk Douglas)? With a career that bests George's ability to keep the home front afloat, might he feel the need to go slumming with a gal who is, at least financially, more at his level? Mankiewicz's astute perceptions of the inner struggles and insecurities that make us all human, and his adept handling of the material from the director's seat, justly won the veteran film maker two Academy Awards. With a backup cast that includes the diabolically juicy Florence Bates, Hobart Cavanaugh and Connie Gilchrist, "A Letter To Three Wives" proves that all any picture needs to be thrilling is solid writing and fantastic performances.

Fox has done a wonderful job in remastering this film for DVD. Working from second generation materials (no original camera negative exists), the DVD exhibits a very nicely contrasted black and white image with minimal film grain. Blacks are perhaps a tad weak, but this is to be expected from less than perfect source material. Otherwise, fine details are nicely realized, whites are very crisp and clean and shadow levels are adequately represented. Every attempt has been made through the use of digital technology to rebalance the image quality to as close to the original presentation as possible, and, for the most part, that is exactly how the film looks. An English stereo track is included. But this is a dialogue driven film so there's really not much point or difference between it and the original mono recording. Extras include the Biography Special on the tragic and brief life of Linda Darnell, a wonderful audio commentary by Mankiewicz's son, Christopher and biographers, Kenneth Geist and Cheryl Lower, some "Movietones" news reel footage and the original theatrical trailer. Both the film and the transfer come highly recommended for an old time Oscar-winning night at the movies.

The foundation of any great film is an even greater screenplay. In "A Letter To Three Wives" Joseph L. Mankiewicz achieved greatness as a writer first and a as director second. The screenplay sparkles with wit and humor and an edgy take on the modern world that is as up to date today as it was fifty-four years ago.
Joe was a great writer and a consummate wit; were he not in the movies one might think him an intellectual. (Hats off to his "Cleopatra"). He understood women and wrote some of the most complex, deep and exciting women on the screen. He gave them life on the page and then with his brilliant eye for casting and directing he brought them to life on the screen. Eve Harrington, Margo Channing, in "All About Eve". Maria Vargas in "The Barefoot Contessa", and his most complex of all his smart Cleopatra, a modern woman of politics and passion in an ancient setting.
The unseen Addie Ross, the clumsy Deborah, Rita the writer, and the smart and guarded Lora Mae are just a few of the gems Joe Mankiewicz presented to us in his Oscar winning "Letter". He brings out some of the best acting Jeanne Crain would ever do. She is both vulnerable and comic. Ann Sothern dominates the screen as a feminist ahead of her time. She cements the image that she would carry the rest of her career, that of a beautiful smart woman making it in a man's world. The stunning centerpiece to this work is the top-notch performance handed in by Linda Darnell as tough wrong side of the tracks Lora Mae. This is a great performance by an actress who herself felt she had little to offer as an actress. Here with the help of her writer and director Miss Darnell delivers the goods as no one else of her generation possibly could.
In a small role as Sadie Dugan, Thelma Ritter in her third film nearly steals the picture from all involved. Paul Douglas as Lora Mae's husband and meal ticket is at the top of his form. He matches Lora Mae word for word and punch for punch. And what a face he had! Kirk Douglas is right on the money in this early film of his career. The entire production is superb.
Darryl F. Zanuck always stressed the importance of good writing and good story at his studio, 20th Century-Fox and over the decade that "Letter to Three Wives" ushered in he gave us some great works. He hired some of the best writers and directors of the day to work at his studio. At the top of that list was Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Personal differences aside between the two men, they did some wonderful things together. With what Fox is now doing in it's incredible classics series on DVD, I hope they will devote some much needed attention to this classic film.

This 1949 film won Best Director and Best Screenplay. It's still a great movie to watch after all these years. It's soapy, but the script is great and really tight. The dialog is not dated at all, and the cast is perfect. It's delightful to watch even today. All three leads are great. The plot involves three married women who are chaperoning a field trip for elementary school students on an island offshore from where they live. All three are friends. Shortly after the tug leaves the mainland for the island, the women open a letter that was delivered to them right before the boat left. The letter is from Addie Ross, a local divorcee/socialite who is friendly with each of their husbands, but none of the wives likes her much. Addie tells them in the note that she's leaving town that day, and is taking one of their husbands with her. Which one? Addie doesn't say. This was before cell phones, and the island has no pay phones, so the wives must wait until the trip is over at the end of the day to know who's been dumped. The movie is, all three wives on the island have about 25-30 minute flashbacks about their marriage, dealings with Addie, why their husbands might have left them, and how they feel about that potential.

When they return at the end of the day, they meet at the club and the identity of the wayward husband is revealed. You never see Addie, you just hear her voice when appropriate. The three wives are great, and the script is sharp. A lot is serious and a lot is quite funny. This is a nice movie to watch a couple of times a year. If you like a sharp script and don't mind 1940's sets and plots (the way marriage works and a wife's role is a little dated), this should be on the top of your list to see.

Jeanne Crain was a very pretty girl, Ann Sothern was chiefly noted for her comic turns, and Linda Darnell was a memorable beauty--but although all three appeared in popular films none were particularly celebrated for their acting talents until Joseph L. Mankiewicz tapped them for the roles of three society wives in this poison pen letter to both sexes. Wickedly witty in script, and remarkably acid in tone, A LETTER TO THREE WIVES would put every one involved in the film firmly on the Hollywood map.

Three society wives (Crain, Sothern, and Darnell) are committed to hosting a children's picnic on an isolated island--and as the ferry prepares to depart they receive a letter from town femme fatale Addie Ross (never seen but memorably voiced by Celeste Holm.) Addie informs them that she is leaving town forever... but has decided to take one of their husbands along as a memento. And each of the three wives, cut off from the outside world for the day, is left to wonder: when I go home tonight, will my husband still be there?

During the day each of the wives recalls scenes from her marriage. Deborah (Craine) arrived in town as a pretty but very awkward farm girl fresh out of the navy and with a wardrobe consisting of a single and very ugly mail-order dress; she has never felt entirely secure. Rita (Sothern) is married to a schoolteacher, and has committed the unpardonable sin of becoming the writer of a popular radio show that brings her more money than her husband will ever earn. And Lora Mae (Darnell) was a beauty born on the wrong side of the tracks who connived her way into a wealthy marriage and now specializes in bickering with her gruff and boorish husband. And always they have been victim to Addie--a woman who "has class," who stings them with competition and evil wit, and who has their husbands eating out of her hand.

Although the construction is artificial, the script is wickedly knowing, painting a truly subversive vision of American marriage and mores of the late 1940s. Of the three leads, Ann Sothern dominates with her spirited "Rita"--but Darnell has the best of the script, a series of manipulations and drop-dead quips and ripostes, and Crain is perfectly cast as the insecure beauty who is as out of place as a dove at a gathering of eagles. The supporting cast, which includes Kirk Douglas, Thelma Ritter, and Connie Gilchrist is remarkably fine as well. And before all is said and done, small town society gets raked over coals.

If A LETTER TO THREE WIVES has a flaw, it is the same flaw that would trouble Mankiewicz's later and even more celebrated ALL ABOUT EVE: the point of view that a woman is ultimately nothing without a man, an idea that tends to limit the scope of the film and at times even belittle its characters. Some viewers may also be disappointed with the film's conclusion, which--although extremely ironic--lacks the sharp bite you might expect. Even so, this is a truly memorable and often very funny film, and one that deserves to be seen more often today than it usually is.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

That line, spoken by Kirk Douglas, is just an example of the witty dialogue that permeates this 1949 classic. And a "classic" it truly is. The film garnered two Oscars, both for Joseph Mankiewicz for his direction and screenplay.
An ensemble cast of real pros weaves this domestic drama centering around Addie, a friend of the three that has claimed to have "skipped town" with one of the three husbands. Through flashbacks, the viewer learns about the respective marriages and the part that the enigmatic Addie plays in the proceedings.

The entire cast is perfect. Ann Sothern, an actress that would make her mark in a 50's sitcom, has never looked lovelier and carries her independent woman role with relish. Kirk Douglas, as her husband, is extremely good, especially when he "tells off" Sothern's boss and when he explains the importance of his chosen profession.

Linda Darnell is just too gorgeous for words. And the woman's "Lora May" is admirable as a woman that knows how to be a "playa" and nab her man without him realizing it. Paul Douglas (no relation to Kirk) as Darnell's boss/fiancé'/husband is the perfect combination of hard-edged employee and love-struck puppy.

Jeanne Crain, as the youngest and least experienced of the trio, is hilarious at a function where she's had a little too much "bubbly" in an effort to impress husband Brad's friends. Later, she shows the right restraint when it appears that hers is the errant hubby.

Barbara Lawrence ("Lora May's" sister), Connie Gilchrist (her mother), and Florence Bates (in a role that she repeatedly played throughout her career: the snooty aristocrat) are memorable in their supporting roles.

Celeste Holm provides Addie's off-screen voice.

Last, but definitely not least, the film has an un-credited Thelma Ritter as Sothern's maid Sadie.

Her "lamp chop" line is priceless!

Film buffs will appreciate the director's brilliant screenplay, a forerunner to his next success: "All About Eve"!

This movie is so wonderful! This is one of those movies you watch over and over again. I just adore Linda Darnell and Paul Douglas in this movie.

When I worked at a video store, we had a special promotion for the studio (20th Century Fox) and we started stocking the titles. The one that caught my eye was this one. I picked it up and bought it blindly; not knowing a blessed thing about the story nor the actresses in it.
What I got out of my accidental purchase was one of the most beautiful movies I have ever watched. I sat, in front of my parents t.v., and was mesmerized for the next 2 hours. What kept me in my seat was a dry humorous script, excellent plot, supurb acting and three very beautiful women of Hollywood.
Granted all of the women were of "high class" stature but you could relate to them. They had flaws, made mistakes, and made wrong decisions; just like the rest of the human race.
I have watched this movie over and over again. Even my family loves this movie.
If you are looking for a movie with dry humor, an Oscar worthy script and top notch acting; then this movie is for you. If you are a movie lover, don't pass this up.

"A Letter to Three Wives" would be anyone else's best movie. Since Joseph L. Mankiewicz followed "Letter" with "All About Eve", "Letter" is his second best, but it still towers over most films of its day.

The story concerns a letter received by three small-town wives; the town femme fatale, Addie Ross, is running off with one of their husbands. Mankiewicz uses flashbacks to give an insightful view of each of the three marriages involved, and demonstrates that each has its problems and is therefore eligible for a bust-up by Addie.

The setting is the sort of small town that only existed on the back lots of movie studios; there's a right side of the tracks represented by a mansion, a middle-class district with an elm-lined street and brick Colonials, and a wrong side of the tracks that is no worse than picturesque. The movie-ish milieu is soon forgotten by the viewer, however, because of the quality of the playing of each part. Jeanne Crain is a poor girl who has married rich and suffers burning insecurities. Linda Darnell is a scheming store clerk who flummoxes the boss into marrying her. Ann Sothern- an actress who demonstrates that zaftig can be absolutely beautiful- is a radio writer who battles her school teacher husband over the literary quality of her work, and the effect of her earning power on the marriage. Their husbands are played, respectively, by Jeffrey Lynn (blandly effective), Paul Douglas (gruffly effective), and Kirk Douglas (the essence of effective). Minor roles are filled out by the late great Connie Gilchrist as Darnell's Ma, and by someone who was a newcomer in this movie, Thelma Ritter.

The tension and byplay in the film are its chief delight; Darnell and Paul Douglas spar for much of their screen time, only to discover that their mutual needling masks mutual need. Sothern and Kirk Douglas do their own sparring, but they also learn lessons; Sothern finds her radio writing is consuming her marriage, and that Kirk is well worth a cut-back in her work schedule. Lynn and Crain are the weakest links, but Crain's nicely observed case of the willies at a big country-club dance is eminently watchable, and her drunk scene is a delight. Ritter begins her long string of side-splitting acerbity in "Letter"; she's a maid, and her scenes with Sothern show two immensely talented, evenly matched comedic actresses at the height of their powers, having a ball zinging everything and everyone in the movie, including each other.

The protagonist, Addie Ross, is never seen, but she narrates the film in voice-over, done by Celeste Holm. Holm's distinctive voice gets a full workout here; her genius for conveying subtext with such devices as a dry inflection here, a kidding British accent there, is alone worth the time and price of a viewing.

Mankiewicz wraps up all three stories at one last country-club dance, where all three wives and only two husbands are in attendance. Think it's all over at that point? Well, it isn't; Mank throws in a fast red-herring ending that leaves everything and everybody in fine shape, except...

Watch the movie to find out what happens. Hi-ho.

This movie aged very very well imho. The ending was superb (and unexpected). I thought Kirk Douglas's and Jeanne Crain's acting were top notch - their roles were fun to watch. Not everyone likes B&Ws, but give me a movie like this, with a fun & twisty plot, and I'll pass up a color movie of less stature any day.

Those are the odds facing Jeanne Crain, Ann Sothern, and Linda Darnell when just as their boat leaves the pier they receive a letter from the Sexiest Woman in Town that she has just skipped town with one of their husbands. Each wife thinks over her marriage while on the day trip, wondering whether she has driven her husband into the arms of another woman.

While each vignette has its share of laughter involved, by far the best of the lot is the courtship of working girl Linda Darnell and the cantankerous town millionaire Paul Douglas. Their retorts and gruff manner belie real animal attraction, and the way she plays "The Rules" to win her man is certainly the highlight of the movie. What a woman!

Although over 50 years old, "A Letter to Three Wives" went over very well with the two sophisticated year 2001 girlfriends I showed this to--and only one of them guessed right as to the abandoned wife's identity!

Take a peek yourself at "A Letter to Three Wives" and share in the suspense and the fun.