The Letter (1940)

 William Wyler's "The Letter"


William Wyler and frequent acting collaborator Bette Davis teamed up once again for the adaptation of the 1927 stage play "The Letter," written by W. Somerset Maugham. The story, based on the true events of the Ethel Proudlock case, in which the Eurasian wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April of 1911. In the film, Davis' character defends herself by declaring self-defense, while a mysterious letter threatens this story.

I found the film to be rather boring and uninteresting. The whole crux of the film hinges on a letter than must be obtained in order to secure a guilty woman's innocence. There is nothing much to say about it, as it is a simply straightforward drama with no real juice. It has the aesthetics of something more noir-ish or melodramatic, but it did not engage with me in the slightest.



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