Chaînes conjugales

In a small town, three couples are close friends: the upper class Brad Bishop (Jeffrey Lynn) went to the war and returned married with the insecure country girl and Navy military Deborah Bishop (Jeanne Crain); the university professor George Phipps (Kirk Douglas) is married with the writer of silly screenplays of radio soap operas Rita Phipps (Ann Sothern), who makes more money than him and financially supports their home; and the wealthy tradesman Porter Hollingsway (Paul Douglas) is married with the smart Lora Mae Hollingsway (Linda Darnell). In common, further to their friendship, the women hate and the men love the elegant and high-class Addie Ross. While going to a picnic in riverboat with the local students, the three wives receive a letter of their "friend" Addie Ross informing that she is running off with one of their husbands. Along the day, each woman recalls events that might have put her marriage in danger, while anxiously waiting for the end of the day.

One of my favorite movies ever is "All About Eve", of Joseph L. Mankiewicz. I know only a few movies of this outstanding director: "Sleuth", "Cleopatra", "The Barefoot Contessa" and "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir". A dear friend of mine gave me "A Letter to Three Wives" on DVD, I have just watched and I must confess that I am enchanted with such delightful, witty and intelligent screenplay. The romance is perfectly developed with the narrative in off and in an adequate pace, disclosing the lives of each couple and their problems in flashbacks and with a wonderful resolution. The cast is in state of grace, with awesome performances, and Linda Darnell is extremely sexy in the role of an opportunist woman and Jeanne Crain is very beautiful. There is a continuity goof not related in IMDb, when Lora Mae arrives with her car for the picnic, followed by Rita and Debbie's car, and the relative positions of the parked cars and buses change, but this mistake never diminishes this magnificent movie. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Quem É o Infiel?" ("Who Is the Unfaithful?")

Jeanne Crain was a very pretty girl, Ann Sothern was chiefly noted for her comic turns, and Linda Darnell was a memorable beauty--but although all three appeared in popular films none were particularly celebrated for their acting talents until Joseph L. Mankiewicz tapped them for the roles of three society wives in this poison pen letter to both sexes. Wickedly witty in script, and remarkably acid in tone, A LETTER TO THREE WIVES would put every one involved in the film firmly on the Hollywood map.

Three society wives (Crain, Sothern, and Darnell) are committed to hosting a children's picnic on an isolated island--and as the ferry prepares to depart they receive a letter from town femme fatale Addie Ross (never seen but memorably voiced by Celeste Holm.) Addie informs them that she is leaving town forever... but has decided to take one of their husbands along as a memento. And each of the three wives, cut off from the outside world for the day, is left to wonder: when I go home tonight, will my husband still be there? During the day each of the wives recalls scenes from her marriage. Deborah (Craine) arrived in town as a pretty but very awkward farm girl fresh out of the navy and with a wardrobe consisting of a single and very ugly mail-order dress; she has never felt entirely secure. Rita (Sothern) is married to a schoolteacher, and has committed the unpardonable sin of becoming the writer of a popular radio show that brings her more money than her husband will ever earn. And Lora Mae (Darnell) was a beauty born on the wrong side of the tracks who connived her way into a wealthy marriage and now specializes in bickering with her gruff and boorish husband. And always they have been victim to Addie--a woman who "has class," who stings them with competition and evil wit, and who has their husbands eating out of her hand.

Although the construction is artificial, the script is wickedly knowing, painting a truly subversive vision of American marriage and mores of the late 1940s. Of the three leads, Ann Sothern dominates with her spirited "Rita"--but Darnell has the best of the script, a series of manipulations and drop-dead quips and ripostes, and Crain is perfectly cast as the insecure beauty who is as out of place as a dove at a gathering of eagles. The supporting cast, which includes Kirk Douglas, Thelma Ritter, and Connie Gilchrist is remarkably fine as well. And before all is said and done, small town society gets raked over coals.

If A LETTER TO THREE WIVES has a flaw, it is the same flaw that would trouble Mankiewicz's later and even more celebrated ALL ABOUT EVE: the point of view that a woman is ultimately nothing without a man, an idea that tends to limit the scope of the film and at times even belittle its characters. Some viewers may also be disappointed with the film's conclusion, which--although extremely ironic--lacks the sharp bite you might expect. Even so, this is a truly memorable and often very funny film, and one that deserves to be seen more often today than it usually is.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Warning! - possible mini-SPOILER to follow...

Other comments herein attest to this film's amazingly well-achieved wit and sophistication, both for its time and, when viewed today, outclassing almost anything I can think of in recent release. Twentieth-Century Fox gave Joseph L. Mankiewicz top-notch professionals to help him win his eventual Oscars for direction and screenplay.

One moment that will always spring to my mind when I recall this film is that wonderful character actress, Connie Gilchrist (so perfectly partnered in her scenes with one of my all-time beloveds, Thelma Ritter), reacting to Laura Mae's announcement of her engagement to her boss, Mr. Hollingsway, so well-played by the great Paul Douglas. As she falls in a dead faint, she emits a jubilant exclamation on her way to the floor: "Bingo!" One of this film's best guffaws and a nice counterpoint to some of the more subtle examples of humor in this example of what Hollywood can do when everything meshes so superbly.

Usually films are only told from the view of one perspective as a flat narrative. It takes some real writing skills to do a screenplay and then photograph same from many angles.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz who was very involved with Citizen Kane took a page from that book to tell the story of A Letter to Three Wives. Addie Ross who is never seen has written a letter to three of her girlfriends saying she's leaving town and taking one of their husbands with her. The women, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, and Jeanne Crain are on a Day Line type cruise chaperoning some of their town kids. They all think they could be the unlucky jilted one and they start reflecting back on their lives and marriages.

We learn a lot about all of them in those flashbacks and like the way we learned about the complex Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, we also learn about Addie Ross. Celeste Holm is the voice of Addie Ross and she probably deserves an Oscar for best performance by an unseen player.

Linda Darnell is a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who marries wealthy department store chain owner Paul Douglas. Jeanne Crain is the sensitive girl who met and married upper crust Jeffrey Lynn who she met while they were both in the Navy. And Ann Sothern is a career minded woman married to teacher Kirk Douglas. The strengths and weaknesses of the relationships are carefully examined in each flashback.

I thought Ann Sothern and Kirk Douglas had the best chemistry between them, too bad they didn't work together again. Her flashback consists of a memorable dinner party with a couple of philistine radio executives played delightfully by Florence Bates and Hobart Cavanaugh. Douglas despises the way his wife cheapens her talent by writing tripe for these two and tells them in no uncertain terms.

Addie Ross's portrait is painted by all the comments made about her in each story. She's obviously a glamorous and chic woman, but who has the heart of a mackerel.

Three years later Kirk Douglas got one of his Oscar nominations in The Bad and the Beautiful. In that one he's the Addie Ross character, but he's very much seen. But their are undeniable similarities in A Letter To Three Wives to that film as well.

Joe Mankiewicz got an Oscar for Best Director in 1949 and he really earned it helming a deceptively complex story.

You have here a situation that is rarer than you might imagine-a top-notch cast with an even better script. This is a delightful film with fine performances all around and some of the best dialogue! Strangely, none of the cast were nominated for their work here, although three were nominated for other performances in other films they did that year. The script deservedly won an Oscar as did the director. This is a joy to watch and the voice-over narration is perfectly handled throughout. Highly recommended!