IMDb plot summary: The wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing.
Directed by William Wyler. Starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, and Frieda Inescort.
The first thing I want to bring up about the film is that it has one of the most stunning scores I've ever heard. Max Steiner wrote this music and I was frequently stunned by how beautiful it was -- something I hardly ever notice in movies. Beyond that, this is a satisfying little melodrama. You always have to kind of be willing to lean into Bette Davis' acting style, with her overly expressive eyes and breathy delivery of dramatic lines, but once you do it's pretty rewarding. This one does a good job of unraveling pieces of her character a little at a time and constantly making us question whether or not we're on her side, right up to the end. Solid film, especially if you like the genre or the performers already.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Letter > One, Two, Three
The Letter < The Game
The Letter > The Hidden Fortress
The Letter > Native Son (2019)
The Letter < Gandhi
The Letter > Undercover Blues
The Letter > Smiles of a Summer Night
The Letter < 1917
The Letter < High Strung
The Letter > Nick of Time
The Letter < The Hunt for Red October
Final spot: #962 out of 3345, or 71%.
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