I’ve been watching Bette Davis movies for spring and I’m stretching a bit into summer because of some delays but … no one really cares because I think two people (including me) read these posts. Ha! But it’s still fun for me so I keep writing them.

This week I am writing about The Letter.

This one was very suspenseful and fascinating.

I wondered what the truth was and when I did know it, I wondered how everyone in the movie would figure it out.

And the ending…oof. I sort of knew it was coming and am not sure what I think about it, but I am going to not talk about it here. I’ll let some of you watch it and then you can come back and tell me what you thought.

Here is a brief description of the movie from TCM.com:

Based on a short story and play by British author W. Somerset Maugham, The Letter is the story of Leslie Crosbie, who has killed her lover and claims self-defense. But an incriminating letter exists…

I couldn’t write any better what Margarita Landazuri wrote about the opening sequence of this movie:
“It is a sultry, sweltering, moonlit night on a Malayan rubber plantation. The camera pans across the native workers sleeping fitfully in their hammocks, through the silent, menacing darkness. Suddenly, a shot rings out. A ghostly tropical bird, startled, flies off its perch. A man stumbles down the steps of the veranda, followed by a woman who pumps several more shots into him and drops the gun. In two wordless minutes, director William Wyler grabs the audience and sets the mood of The Letter (1940), with one of the most stunning opening sequences ever.”

This movie, released in 1940 is a remake of a 1929 movie starring Jeanne Eagels shortly before her death. It is one of the only, if not the only, surviving film she was ever in. There was a silent and a talking version with her in it released that year and it caused quite a stir with some towns in the U.S. banning it and calling it “too adult” for most audiences.

But we are talking about the 1940 version today.

This version was directed by William Wyler who Bette Davis had worked with in Jezebel and had a brief affair with (like who didn’t she have an affair with at this point?!). Davis said there was no other director who she would trust and listen to as much as Wyler.

There were a couple of major challenges to this insistence by Davis, but, overall, their close friendship did prove to be a plus for the movie.

In addition to Davis, the movie also stars:

James Stephenson (an unknown British actor at the time who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance but sadly died a year later from a heart attack), Herbert Marshall, and Victor Sen Yung as Ong Chi Seng.

Sen Yung was amazing and a pivotal part of the movie all the way through. His subtle expressions and slight raise of his voice just when needed as absolutely perfect. I’d like to find out more about him and the roles he was able to, and not to, play in Hollywood back then.

I did read that he played Hop Sing on Bonanza and I’ve never seen Bonanza but I’m guessing it was pretty stereotypical. Not sure though.

Gale Sondergaard plays an Asian woman, which was very odd, but also worked somehow. She was very intimidating and creepy but that was also enhanced with Wyler’s decision to cut the soundtrack in scenes with her, leaving only the sounds of wind or windchimes during her appearances.  

Davis was extremely intense during much of the  movie and her unflinching telling of the true story was chilling and unnerving. It had me gasping a couple of times but I gasped even more at her audacity at the end of the movie.

After watching all these movies with Bette, I don’t know that she is my favorite actress and sometimes I feel like she is the same person in a lot of movies, without much variety in her acting style, but she certainly commanded the screen with her presence. More so than what Bette says is how she looks in a scene. She has this subtle, and sometimes not subtle, way of cocking one eyebrow and lowering her eyelids at the same time that alerts you to an impending fit, temper tantrum, or epic take down.

This movie, much like Jezebel, showcases Bette’s ability to convey so much through just a few looks. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her and found myself saying, “Oh no you didn’t…” a lot to the screen when she was on.

This one is definitely on of hers I would recommend if you have never seen a Bette Davis movie, or one that was good at least.

Here is the opening sequence I was talking about above:

Here is an explanation on why this movie is considered noir by many film buffs

Up next I am watching Of Human Bondage, one of Bette’s most acclaimed early films.

My watch list for this feature:

It’s Love I’m After 

The  Working Man 

Another Man’s Poison 

Dark Victory

Jezebel 

Dangerous

The Letter

Of Human Bondage (June 2)

Now, Voyager (June 5)              

The Petrified Forrest (June 11)

Sources:

https://www.tcm.com/articles/18603/the-letter

https://classicforareason.com/2017/07/04/the-letter-1940/

https://classiq.me/breaking-the-rules-of-a-leading-lady-bette-davis-in-the-letter

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