Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageA Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Director: Joseph L Mankiewicz
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Traditional wisdom has Mankiewicz as more writer than director, but consider the marvellously cinematic opening of A Letter to Three Wives: shots of a prosperous town and its stately avenues of rich men's houses, all placidly awaiting the start of the country club season, as the venomously honeyed voice of an unseen female narrator (beautifully done by Celeste Holm) begins spinning a web of speculation and suspicion round three married women, shortly to be completed by their receipt of a poisonous letter indicating that the narrator has run away with one of the husbands. With the three wives trapped for the day supervising a children's picnic, flashbacks start exploring their marital worries, perceptively probing sensitive areas of social and cultural unease. Glitteringly funny at one end of the scale (Kirk Douglas and Ann Sothern), dumbly touching at the other (Paul Douglas and Linda Darnell), it's absolutely irresistible.Author: TM
User reviews of this film
-
- Leona Luk said...
- Posted on Sep 24 2007 23:22 The commentary by the sweet and salty Addie Ross, along with her always unseen yet felt presence, gives this film a real bite. The three wives of the title are interesting themselves, as is their relationships with their husbands, however without Addie Ross, this film would not exist so it is fitting that she is the most dynamic of the characters. A certainly enjoyable affair.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: Joseph L Mankiewicz
Producer: Sol C Siegel
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Ann Sothern, Linda Darnell, Paul Douglas, Jeanne Crain, Jeffrey Lynn, Thelma Ritter, Florence Bates full cast
Duration: 103 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
A Bond a day: No. 11 'Moonraker'
Time Out revisits the 21 Bond movies day by day to celebrate the release of 'Quantum of Solace'
The essential guide to the London Film Festival
Get the inside track on the all the films and events you'll want to catch at the Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival
Terence Davies: interview
Wally Hammond talks to visionary British director Terence Davies about his deeply personal and long-awaited new documentary ‘Of Time and the City’
W.
Read our early review of Oliver Stone's George W Bush biopic, 'W.', playing at this year's London Film Festival
Ten friendly ghost movies
To celebrate the release of 'Ghost Town' in which Ricky Gervais plays a New York dentist who can see dead people, Time Out counts down ten great friendly ghost movies.
What do you think?
Post your review now