A Letter to Three Wives
by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
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Actor: Ann Sothern, Jeanne Crain, Kirk Douglas, Linda Darnell, Paul DouglasDirector: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Brand: Fox
Cinematographer: Arthur C. Miller
Writer: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Editor: J. Watson Webb Jr.
Producer: Sol C. Siegel
Writer: John Klempner
Writer: Vera Caspary
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 103 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of A Letter to Three Wives
DVD Review: "Why is it that sooner or later, no matter what we talk about, we wind up talking about Addie Ross?"
Summary: 5 Stars
Beautfully acted with a stunning cast, the 1949 movie The Letter to Three Wives is part sharp social satire and part relationship drama with a hardnosed and cunning woman at the heart of the story. The big surprise is that you never really see this woman. Addie Ross (voiced by Celeste Holm) has a huge impact on the lives of the movie's three main protagonists Deborah Bishop (Jeanne Crain), Rita Phipps (Ann Sothern) and the stunning Lora Mae Hollingsway (Linda Darnell).
Insecure in they're marriages, yet truly loving their husbands, the three women are about to embark in a bucolic afternoon chaperoning a children's boating expedition. Just as they are about to board the ship, a messenger sends them a letter from their mutual friend Addie Ross, written to tell them that she is running away with one of their husbands - but she hesitates to say which one.
Powerless to get to a telephone and try to contact their husbands - as they watch the phone booth gradually disappearing into the distance - the three women end up spending much of the boat trip reflecting on their marriages in an effort to determine if their husbands have sufficient reason to leave them. The story is told in a series of flashbacks, with each woman given ample time to lay out the case for their respective husbands' infidelity.
Deborah (Crain) is the young and unsophisticated farm girl who feels out-of-place amongst her husband Brad's (Jeffrey Lynn) rich and cosmopolitan friends. At an engagement she gets rotten drunk and makes a fool of herself and then gets paranoid when she sees Brad gushing up to Addie.
Likewise, the irascible Rita (Phipps) is far too concerned with making a good impression for her overbearing boss (Florence Bates) and it cuts severely into the time she can give her schoolteacher husband George (Kirk Douglas) and their children. An over worked writer for radio programs, Rita is so preoccupied with getting an upcoming dinner party right, that she forgets George's birthday. Addie Ross doesn't, and she makes sure George remembers her by sending him a special addition of a Brahms record collection.
And then there's the gorgeous Lora Mae (Darnell) who works as a secretarial assistance for the wealthy refrigerator magnate Porter (Paul Douglas) and ends up marrying him because he wants to have a life in a gilded frame just like the picture Porter has of Addie Ross. Now they spend their days constantly bickering and squabbling - Porter thinks Lora Mae married him for his money, whilst she is convinced that he doesn't love her.
Director Joe Mankiewicz uses all his talents to great effect in this movie, and using the flashback stucture, he really offers up some tart and sophisticated observations on society and class and manages to convey the vulnerabilties of these women - and perhaps also their severe case of self denial. Of course, the big surprise is who did Addie Ross actually run off with, was it Brad, George or Porter?
The themes of the movie are obviously trust and loyalty and the roles of men and women in marriage, which I guess were quite relevant for the time - the roles of women were increasingly changing and this is no doubt reflected in the way these women relate to their husbands. Deborah, Rita and Lora Mae are enviable women and they all have marriages that perhaps some women could only dream of. This makes it all the more sardonic when they receive Addie Ross's letter; and it's as though she sending them up, even testing them.
A Letter to Three Wives is a witty, intelligent film that demands attention from the viewer. Many of the scenes - especially in the flashback sequences are driven by the arch, literate dialogue and you really have to concentrate to fully comprehend the back story for each woman.
Perhaps one of the niftiest techniques is to have Addie commenting on the action with a type of sly and ironic detachment. Although we never see her, her presence is always felt, she's not only a catalyst for the acton, but also an unseen presence in her friends marriages, a type of rival who ultimately contributes to their feelings of insecurity. Mike Leonard July 06.
Description of A Letter to Three Wives
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