The Letter

Bette Davis is at her celebrated best in this Somerset Maugham melodrama about a Malaysian planter’s wife (Bette Davis) accused of shooting a man who was a friend of both her and her husband (Herbert Marshall). She claims, and is believed, that it was self defence as he attacked and tried to rape her. Then a letter appears proving she had invited the man and that they were lovers. The attempt by her lawyer (James Stephenson) to suppress the letter leads to tragic consequences.

How to watch

Stream, rent or buy via Just Watch Logo

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

William Wyler

producer

Robert Lord

production company

Warner Bros Pictures

Duration

01:32:00:00

Production places

United States

Production dates

1940

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

302848

Language

English

Audience classification

PG

Subject categories

Adaptations

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - United States

Literature → English literature - Film and video adaptations

Literature → Literature

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Black and White

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Wikidata

Q1168233

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/81731--the-letter/ |title=The Letter |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=28 September 2023 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

United States, 1940

Please note