A Letter to Three Wives | Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell | Mankiewicz at Acerbic Best; Darnell,...

A Letter to Three Wives | Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell | Three Wives unnerved

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A Letter to Three ...

	A Letter to Three Wives Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell 20th Century Fox, 2005 average customer review:based on 60 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Mankiewicz at Acerbic Best; Darnell, Crain and Sothern as Nervous Wives

World War Two had recently ended and things were settling back to normal in affluent Connecticut suburbia until a bombshell from out of the blue thrust three reasonably contented wives into a state of panic.

Joseph Mankiewicz had a genuine feel for dialogue and human conflict. He directed and wrote "A Letter to Three Wives" in between "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" with Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison and his classic of theatrical double and triple dealing, "All About Eve" when newcomer Anne Baxter on the surface seeks to befriend Broadway star Bette Davis while plotting to overthrow her theatrical dynasty.

The 1949 release reveals the women frightened over a letter that a local charmer noted for having her way with men has written to three wives informing them that one of their husband is preparing to run away with her and say goodbye to suburban Connecticut marriage. The question is "Which one?" and this is the driving force that makes this sophisticated Mankiewicz drama a pure delight.

We never see the dazzling woman who has such compelling power and presence over the opposite sex that three beautiful and intelligent women fear that she will run off with her husband. Mankiewicz knew how to tease his viewers, offering them just a little bit, then holding back to leave them begging for more.

This is illustrated by the fact that we never see this woman who seeks to manipulate events behind the scenes and drive three women into torturous tizzy. The voice generates a perfect mix of confident appeal and daring sophistication to convince viewers that this indeed is a woman that the film's three female stars have reason to fear. The narrator is Celeste Holm, who got her big break in "Oklahoma" on Broadway and would be cast as Bette Davis's best friend in "All About Eve."

Jeanne Crain exudes a sweet and sincere beauty, the kind that could attract a man like Jeffrey Lynn, her stalwart husband who demonstrates solidity. Crain is fearful that her homespun manner might not be sophisticated and worldly enough to compete with the likes of Addie Ross, the woman behind the scenes.

Ann Sothern is a woman of shrewdness and creativity who feels edgy over the fact that, as a writer of radio soap operas, she makes more money than her intellectual schoolteacher husband. Mankiewicz sets up a fascinating clash between Sothern's husband Kirk Douglas and his wife's bosses, the producers of the soap opera drama for which Sothern writes. Their commercialism and anti-intellectualism disgust Douglas. He gets even in the manner of a teacher by correcting the female boss' grammar.

Linda Darnell grew up literally next to the tracks. The trains pass by at speedy clips and the apartment where she resides with her mother and sister rocks. Linda, a sales girl at the town department store, sees an opportunity to move up the local social ladder when Paul Douglas, the store's owner, expresses romantic interest.

Darnell seeks to steer a discrete course between displaying interest and playing hard to get, eventually winning her man.

The scenes in the apartment being rocked back and forth periodically by jolts from trains speeding down tracks while Darnell's mother, Connie Gilchrist, along with her friend Thelma Ritter drink beer and play cards, deliver superb comic relief from the unfolding domestic suspense.

Ritter delivers her usual saucy lines as the film's Greek Chorus, a role she would soon reprise for Mankiewicz as Bette Davis's lady in waiting in "All About Eve" and eventually for Alfred Hitchcock as she lectures James Stewart on why he should marry Grace Kelly in "Rear Window."

Mankiewicz keeps the pot boiling, maintaining suspense until the dramatic conclusion when the nervous wives learn the identity of the man Addie Ross insists will forego matrimony for her. Who is the man and will he actually leave his wife as Ross confidently proclaims?

Enjoy the suspense and stay tuned.

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Three Wives unnerved

This is an excellent film and the strengths lie as much with the script as they do with the cast. The cast with includes Linda Darnell, Ann Southern, Kirk Douglas, Jeanne Crain, and the always marvelous Thelma Ritter are great, but it is doubtful they would be as good without the incredible script by Joseph L. Mankiewicz who also directed it.

For me, this movie should be shown on a double bill with The Best Years of Our Lives since it sums up so many aspects of the immediate post-war period and almost exists as a marvelous historical document of the concerns and day to anxieties of the period. That so many of these same concerns exist today also makes it still relevent.

The movie follows the concerns of three upper middle class couples all of whom are dealing with a particular set of problems. As the wives are leaving for an outing with underprivilage children, they receive a letter from Addie Ross, who is credited as the perfect woman by the men in tne movie. She announces that she has run off with one of their husbands and this uncertainty provides the dramatic tension of the film. Three distinct episodes follow in which each of the women ponder whether her husband has left. Is it Brad Bishop (whose wife worries about fitting in with her husband's upper class friends), George Phipps (whose wife is trying to have a career and a home) or Porter Hollingsway (whose wife is from the wrong side of the tracks) who has left town with the never seen Ms Ross?

The movie deals with issues such as commericalization, readjustment to civilian life after WWII, social mobility (a thread that runs through all the three stories) and what makes a marriage work. The script is so well done that it keeps the viewer guessing until the last minute who has left with Addie Ross. To be able to tackle all of these issues in an entertaining fashion is what marks this film as the important and still relevent vehicle that it still is.

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Intelligent & well-crafted

You don't see movies like this much anymore. Well-written, wonderfully acted, and impeccably crafted, this movie peels away the facade of the Good Life in Post-War America, and looks at three unsettled relationships where each wife has a pretty good reason for thinking that maybe her husband has decided that enough is enough.

When not examining the potential disintegration of these relationships, Mankiewicz is making scathing observations of the superficiality of your standard Country Club society, as well as the emerging consumerist culture in the Post-War United States. One wonders what kind of hay Mankiewicz could have made with our culture of the 21st century. If one likes intelligent dialogue & a briskly flowing narrative, this is a film not to be missed.

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A LITTLE GEM

I have watched this film on a number of occasions over the last 30 years and each time I find something more to enjoy about it. It is undoubtedly politically incorrect by today's standards, emphasising as it does the accepted thinking of the time that a woman was nothing without a successful husband. That aside, it is extremely well acted. Of particular delight is the inimitable Thelma Ritter as Sadie and Celeste Holm doing a superb "voice over" for the unseen Adie Ross. The film has a clever plot, a sharp, snappy script and faultless direction. The casting of Crain, Sothern and Darnell works extremely well, but for me, my favourite character of all has to be Porter Hollingsway, the typical hard nosed businessman with the soft centre, so admirably portrayed by Paul Douglas. I am sure Paul Douglas must have been one of the most under rated actors of his time. Unlike Kirk Douglas, who also appeared in this film, he was not, and did not become, a really "Big Star", possibly due in part to his untimely death in the 1950s. Nevertheless, his excellent portrayal ensures Porter Hollingsway comes over as the most natural and believable of "the three husbands". Overall, a truly super film which never fails to delight and which deserves a much higher profile than it currently receives.

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Dated but interesting social document

This is a film that has not aged well. The 1948 concerns of women moving in post-war American middle class suburbia are just not biting today. In fact the most interesting characters are those played by Kirk Douglas and Paul Douglas as two of the husbands. The "clever" dialogue is not that clever today - still it does have a few laughs. An interesting social document of the period. Includes a good commentary in the DVD extras.

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