The Letter
Starring: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson
Director: William Wyler
The film: Born 100 years ago this month, Bette Davis made her most famous screen outing to the Orient as the murdering wife of an English rubber plantation owner in William Wyler's tropical film noir The Letter. Set in Singapore, it was the fourth screen adaptation of a play by Somerset Maugham (The Painted Veil) that was supposedly based on actual events.
Giving what critic Pauline Kael described as 'very likely the best study of female sexual hypocrisy in film history', Davis plays a woman facing a possible charge of murder after shooting dead an apparently shady Englishman whom she claims tried to molest her. With the law and colonial convention on her side, the ensuing trial is expected to be a formality, as the case for self-defence seems strong. Then the existence of a letter is made known to her lawyer. It's a passionate letter - seemingly written by Davis on the day of the killing - inviting the man to visit her at home.
Despite the fact that The Letter was filmed entirely at Burbank Studios in California, plenty of moody camera set-ups by cinematographer Tony Gaudio (Oil for the Lamps of China, Mandalay), ensured a more believable tropical milieu than was created by most similarly themed films of the day.