Joseph Mankiewicz directed this film in 1949. It was based on a novel by John Klempner and the script with writing help from Vera Caspary. It starred Linda Darnell, Jeanne Crain, Ann Sothern Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas and Jeffrey Lynn. The novel was titled A Letter to Five Wives. They cut one and originally Anne Baxter played the fourth wife. But it ran too long, so she was cut too.
A letter is delivered to three women who are boarding a train for an excursion with children. The letter says that the writer, Addie Ross, is leaving town with one of their husbands. They will not know which husband until they return home from the trip.
Each woman has some issue that makes her think she losing her husband.
This film handles the flashbacks very well and the cast is a fine one. Sudsy but memorable.
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12 comments:
I wonder how Baxter felt being the Spurned Wife...this is one of those films that I've started watching about five times over the decades...but always having landed on it somewhere in the middle...
Must have been nasty. From what I read, her storyline was the weakest--nothing to do with her per se.
If I am allowed to say it, this might be a movie for women. A weepy.
Wonder of wonders. I've actually seen this one! IT was very intersting.
have to admit I didn't see that one coming, Charles.
I haven't seen A LETTER TO THREE WIVES but I'll be on the lookout for it now.
I have seen this but have no memory of how it ends.
Patty, did you see the 1985 TV remake? It starred Loni Anderson, Stephanie Zimbalist and Michele Lee. I watched it as a fan of Zimbalist, and remember finding the ending baffling.
No, never knew about it. Interesting cast although certainly not first-rate actors.
Absolutely new for me but I'll check it out. There's Kirk Douglas for one...
Very witty and makes good use of Paul Douglas who excelled at playing big lugs.
I think of Mankiewicz as a screenwriter who had more than the usual amount of sympathy for women characters and (maybe wrongly) thought he understood them. Doesn't surprise me that the material expanded in his hands until two characters had to be cut. I've known about this film for decades but always missed seeing it.
Mankiewicz got back to back double Oscars (Director and Original Screenplay) for this and ALL ABOUT EVE (one of my favorite movies). Yes, it's sudsy but I've always liked it.
Jeff M.
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