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Powerful

Just perfect...

Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I've always found this movie rather overrated.First, Addie Ross herself sounds like a vain and tiresome woman, and it is impossible to imagine her, as presented, getting involved with either Jeffrey Lynn or Paul Douglas. Nor is it possible to imagine any of them leaving their law practice/tenured position/retail chain and houses and running away with Addie. Why? when she's already right there in town? (Now running away with Linda Darnell ... maybe.) The actual letter itself is merely bad manners on an epic scale, and not at all what one would expect this self-confessed paragon to be up to.The first act, with Lynn and Jeanna Crain, is very over-written: again, it is impossible to believe in Jeanne Crain being so gauche after just finishing several years in the Navy, from whence one would expect her to come out pretty brisk, and certainly self-confident, and the silly business with the silly flower on the silly dress is high-school stuff. The second act is merely preposterous, starting with the very idea of Kirk Douglas being married to Ann Sothern, continuing with Sothern doing what she does for a living while Kirk does what he does for a living, and terminating with the ludicrous concept of entertaining the sponsor, which would be smoothly handled by the network management, not left as a risk in a college town home with a mad professor running amok. Again, this act is badly over-written, and the sponsor and her bad behaviour are beyond parody. And Kirk should already know better than to play his precious Brahms 78 (?) to the sponsor.The movie only really gets going in Act 3 with Paul Douglas and Linda Darnell going at it hammer and tongs. Darnell is priceless ('it's not a drive in') as the small-town bombshell, and all the family stuff is very well done.There are other good moments in the film, such as the terrible picnic, the terrible country club, and aspects of the small town setting, but overall it's a long wait for the fun to start. Until then, credulity is strained at every turn, and the talking never ceases.

Where to begin. I'd really rather not give away too much of the story-lines in this one because it's so enjoyable experiencing each in its own right. It's safe to read this and the next paragraph if that's what you decide for yourself. Joseph L. Mankiewicz not only won the Best Director Oscar for this film, but the Best Writing, Screenplay statuette as well. The picture itself was also nominated, losing to All the King's Men (1949). Mankiewicz would win these same two Oscars the following year with the Academy Award winning Best Picture All About Eve (1950); it features an outstanding cast, just like this one.After a brief introduction to two of the wives (Jeanne Crain and Ann Sothern), during which we learn all is not perfect in suburbia (e.g. their marriages), the third (Linda Darnell) joins them at the beach where they're about to embark on a ferry to an island for their community's day-long 18th Annual picnic together. However, just as they're about to board, a messenger arrives with a letter addressed to the three of them from an unattached "high class" socialite, whom had been expected to join them and, whom also has a history with each of their husbands. After debating whether to open it or not, they decide to do so. The letter is then voice-over read to "us" by Celeste Holm, whose voice appears uncredited as the aforementioned woman, Addie Ross. In essence, it says that she has just run off with one of their husbands! They then gaze longingly at the telephone booth on the docks as their ferry boats departs for the island, with them aboard (I guess this story wouldn't work as well in the age of cell-phones).We then learn about the wives' relationships with their husbands, each other and Ms. Ross, in a series of three flashbacks, one for each couple but which also includes the others as well (except for Ms. Ross whom, though we never see her, is involved or offstage in each of them). Crain was a small town girl who met and married the town's "high class" man (Jeffrey Lynn), whom she met while they served together in the Navy (during the war?). He'd always been expected to come home and marry Ms. Ross. This is the shortest of the three segments, and it basically consists of Crain being so scared of meeting her husband's established clan of country club friends, that she gets drunk and embarrasses herself during the event.The second flashback further introduces us to Sothern and her husband (Kirk Douglas). She brings home the bacon as a writer for a radio program, the newest rage, while he's a highly educated school teacher (interesting role for Douglas, eh?). They have twin children, who are never seen such that we don't know if they're boys or girls, and a hired cook (played deliciously, as always, by the marvelous Thelma Ritter, uncredited). She's prepared the home cooked meal for a big invite evening with Sothern's boss, appropriately named Mrs. Manleigh (Florence Bates), who runs roughshod over her husband (played by another great character actor, Hobart Cavanaugh). Darnell and her husband (Paul Douglas) are also dinner guests. There are a series of unfortunate events which lead to a row between the couple after their guests have left. The dialogue in this segment is particularly sharp and poignant. Carl 'Alfalfa' Switzer also appears briefly, and uncredited, as a messenger boy.The third segment details how the "other side of the tracks" Darnell hooked her "working class" successful business owner husband by playing "hard to get". Douglas's character had been previously married, and originally just wanted to "fool around" with his employee Darnell. This is probably the least interesting of the segments, you've seen it all before or since, but it does involve some noteworthy performances by Ms. Ritter (again), Connie Gilchrist as Darnell's Irish mother, and Barbara Lawrence as her baby sister.The influence of Ms. Ross "over" the husbands is felt by the wives in all three segments, though more strongly in some versus others. However, Mankiewicz's direction is much too clever to reveal the identity of the wayward husband ... and it would spoil it if I revealed any more!

This superbly written and acted soap opera brought writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz Best Director and Best Screenplay Oscars the year before he repeated the exact same wins with "All About Eve," to my knowledge the only time that's happened.Jeanne Crain, Ann Sothern and Linda Darnell play three friends who go off on a children's' outing for the day. Before they leave, they receive a letter from the fourth member of their circle, the enigmatic Addie Ross, who tells them she has run off with one of their husbands. The rest of the film plays out like a murder mystery, each woman thinking back over her marriage and wondering if her husband's the guilty party.In both this and "All About Eve," Mankiewicz proved himself to be a wonderful writer for women. He had a knack for addressing some of the negative aspects of the female personality, but in a way that felt honest rather than stereotypical. Many of the usual "types" are present in this film -- the career woman, the golddigger, the man stealer -- but the women themselves are so richly written that they're not easily pigeonholed. Crain plays the country bumpkin who feels inadequate among her affluent husband's set; Sothern is the working woman who begins to lose her identity to a job; Darnell is the aforementioned golddigger who treats marriage like a business deal. All three actresses give lovely performances, especially Sothern and Darnell, and the film builds a great deal of suspense as it works toward its revealing conclusion.The supporting cast features Kirk Douglas and Paul Douglas as two of the husbands; Thelma Ritter, unsurprisingly stealing scenes as Sothern's maid; and Celeste Holm, heard but never seen as the voice of Addie Ross.Grade: A+

Joseph L. Mankiewicz' beautifully directed, and wittily written, tale of post-1940s America begins with "A Letter to Three Wives": "Dearest Debby, Lora Mae, and Rita ~ As you know, by now, you'll have to carry on without me from here. It isn't easy to leave a town like our town, to tear myself away from you three dear, dear friends who have meant so much to me. And so, I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to take with me a sort of memento, something to remind me always of the town that was my home. And, of my three very dearest friends, whom I want never to forget. And, I won't. You see - girls - I've run off with one of your husbands. ~ Addie" The three troubled wives are: World War II veteran "W.A.V.E" Jeanne Crain (as Deborah Bishop), beautiful gold-digging Linda Darnell (as Lora Mae Hollingsway), and radio career "gal" Ann Sothern (as Rita Phipps). Fetching narrator Celeste Holm (as Addie Ross) professes to have absconded with one of her three "dearest" friends' husbands: Is it charming schoolteacher Kirk Douglas (as George Phipps), rich and forceful Paul Douglas (as Porter Hollingsway), or young and worldly Jeffrey Lynn (as Bradford Bishop)? Under Mankiewicz' expert direction, the wedded six perform very well. The couples have, arguably, less "chemistry" than you might expect; however, this helps suspend disbelief regarding the film's plot.At times, the unrelated Douglas actors (Paul and Kirk) seem to be the "voice" of Mankiewicz; and, their parts are expertly performed. The women are all terrific. The three lead actresses receive fantastic support from Connie Gilchrist (as Ruby Finney), Florence Bates (as Mrs. Manleigh), and Thelma Ritter (as Sadie Dugan). Ms. Ritter, in an early role, was not credited; but, her role is substantial. And, it was nice to see Mae Marsh in a small role. Unfortunately, the film's eagerly anticipated ending is a little weak.******** A Letter to Three Wives (1/20/49) Joseph L. Mankiewicz ~ Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas