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By
NICK ZEGARAC
In a career of arguably no
lows, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's brilliant screenplay
and direction on "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949)
comes as close to perfection as any movie
melodrama has any right to. The plot, based on
John Klempner's novel, concerns itself with three
genuinely content women: Deborah (Jeanne Crain),
Lora Mae (Linda Darnell) and Rita (Ann Sothern).
Content, that is, until a mysterious letter
surfaces from an equally mysterious source that
claims to have carnal knowledge of one of their
husbands. Which one? Well, that's what the rest of
the film's plot is all about -- smelling a rat.
Deb' finds herself feeling helpless and lost
amidst her husband Brad's (Jeffrey Lynn) country
club set. Seeing her gold-digging way with a
pocket book and the right sort of heel, Lora's
husband, Porter (Paul Douglas) has just about had
enough of Lora. Could he be the one straying? And
what about Rita's husband, George (Kirk Douglas)?
With a career that bests George's ability to keep
the home front afloat, might he feel the need to
go slumming with another gal?
Mankiewicz's astute perceptions of the inner
struggles and insecurities that make us all human,
and his adept handling of the material from the
director's seat, justly won the veteran film maker
two Academy Awards. With a backup cast that
includes the diabolically juicy Florence Bates,
Hobart Cavanaugh and Connie Gilchrist, "A Letter
To Three Wives" proves that all any picture needs
to be thrilling is solid writing and fantastic
performances.
Fox has done a wonderful job in remastering this
film for DVD. Working from second generation
materials (no original camera negative exists),
the DVD exhibits a very nicely contrasted black
and white image with minimal film grain. Blacks
are perhaps a tad weak, but this is to be expected
from less than perfect source material. Otherwise,
fine details are nicely realized, whites are very
crisp and clean and shadow levels are adequately
represented. Every attempt has been made through
the use of digital technology to rebalance the
image quality to as close to the original
presentation as possible, and, for the most part,
that is exactly how the film looks. An English
stereo track is included. But this is a dialogue
driven film so there's really not much point or
difference between it and the original mono
recording. Extras include the Biography Special on
the tragic and brief life of Linda Darnell, a
wonderful audio commentary by Mankiewicz's son
Christopher and biographers Kenneth Geist and
Cheryl Lower, some "Movietones" newsreel footage
and the original theatrical trailer. Both the film
and the transfer come highly recommended for an
old time Oscar-winning night at the movies. |
