"The Letter" was Paramount's first all talking feature to be filmed at it's New York Astoria Studios. It was necessary because most of the principals were on Broadway at the time. The play, by W. Somerset Maugham, had little action but was centred on secrets and lies. There was an attempt to create an atmosphere of steamy tropical langour and Oriental streets.
Bette Davis played Leslie Crosbie with far less vigour and believability than Jeanne Eagels. Jeanne Eagels plays the bored and restless Leslie Crosbie who turns to another man, Geoffrey Hammond (Herbert Marshall) for attention when neglected by her husband Robert (Reginald Owen). Robert decides to go out for the evening to pick up a new rifle. Leslie's calm vanishes as she awaits an answer to a letter she has written Hammond. He has found a new love - a beautiful unscrupulous native woman Li Ti (Lady Tsei Mei) and has discarded Leslie. The scenes in the opium den are quite startling. After a blazing row Leslie shoots him - it was an amazingly realistic scene and was probably strong stuff for it's day.
The next scene shows Leslie in the witness box in all her stiff upper lip English glory. This film is told differently than the 1940 one. You know from the start that Leslie is lying but the thrill is in anticipating "the letter" and all it's consequences. In the 1940 film Gale Sondergaarde seemed more of a symbol and didn't have very much dialogue. Li Ti was a more rounded character in this film. When Leslie goes to buy the letter, she is taunted and humiliated by Li Ti and the prostitutes. The ending was quite sensational as Robert, now penniless because of "the Letter" forces Leslie to spend the rest of their married life living with her hated memories. She then tells him the truth "With all my heart and soul, I still love the man I killed"!!! Jeanne Eagels makes it so powerful that even though the copy I have is of appalling quality, I couldn't take my eyes off her for an instant - she is absolutely mesmerizing.
Highly, Highly Recommended.
Bette Davis played Leslie Crosbie with far less vigour and believability than Jeanne Eagels. Jeanne Eagels plays the bored and restless Leslie Crosbie who turns to another man, Geoffrey Hammond (Herbert Marshall) for attention when neglected by her husband Robert (Reginald Owen). Robert decides to go out for the evening to pick up a new rifle. Leslie's calm vanishes as she awaits an answer to a letter she has written Hammond. He has found a new love - a beautiful unscrupulous native woman Li Ti (Lady Tsei Mei) and has discarded Leslie. The scenes in the opium den are quite startling. After a blazing row Leslie shoots him - it was an amazingly realistic scene and was probably strong stuff for it's day.
The next scene shows Leslie in the witness box in all her stiff upper lip English glory. This film is told differently than the 1940 one. You know from the start that Leslie is lying but the thrill is in anticipating "the letter" and all it's consequences. In the 1940 film Gale Sondergaarde seemed more of a symbol and didn't have very much dialogue. Li Ti was a more rounded character in this film. When Leslie goes to buy the letter, she is taunted and humiliated by Li Ti and the prostitutes. The ending was quite sensational as Robert, now penniless because of "the Letter" forces Leslie to spend the rest of their married life living with her hated memories. She then tells him the truth "With all my heart and soul, I still love the man I killed"!!! Jeanne Eagels makes it so powerful that even though the copy I have is of appalling quality, I couldn't take my eyes off her for an instant - she is absolutely mesmerizing.
Highly, Highly Recommended.