The 1929 film "The Letter" featured Jeanne Eagels. It was very good. But in 1940 they made perhaps the best version due to Bette Davis' extraordinary performance. Despite two very good versions, a made for TV version from "Producer's Showase" was made and this review is for that third version I've seen...though, perhaps, there are OTHER versions out there as well.
I found this copy on YouTube. It's a crisp copy and also includes the commercials from the original broadcast. The original cast is generally very good...with esteemed actors John Mills, Michael Rennie, and Anna May Wong in various roles. Oddly, the film stars Siobhan McKenna, an Irish actress with few opportunities to play the leading lady on TV or in films (she was primarily a stage actress). And, like many TV productions like this, it was presented live on TV! Thank goodness they saved a copy for posterity.
The story begins with a vivid murder, as Mrs. Crosbie (McKenna) unloading her gun into a man fleeing her home in Malaya. It seems her husband is a foreman on a rubber plantation...but what led to her killing Jeff Hamilton, the man leaving her home?
In many ways, this film follows the other versions very closely...including the memorable opening scene from the previous incarnations...so closely you wonder why it needed a remake. It is well made...but so were the other versions...particularly the 1940 version. This is NOT to say McKenna was not very good in this TV version...she was excellent but tended to emote much like a stage actress.
So is this worth seeing? Yes. But I can't imagine seeing this without first seeing the Bette Davis version, which is better as well as more subtle.
