While Gene Kelly leaped around New York, while Olivia DeHavilland melted into Monty
Clift’s embrace, and while Katharine Hepburn jabbed Spencer Tracy in the rib,
Joseph Mankiewicz geared up for the film
that would garner his first of double-Oscar wins for Best Screenplay and Best
Direction - A Letter to Three Wives(1949).
After years of work,
this achievement , at the end of a tumultuous decade, would give him more power
at his studio (20th Century Fox) and more control over what would become one of
his most famous films -All About Eve (1950). For Eve the writer-director would
win the same two awards the following year and lasting credibility for that
decade and beyond.
However, Letter has more in common with Eve than the awards.
Letter seems to be a precursor to Eve, filled with prototypes that would be
further explored in the later movie. Letter and Eve are a diptych of films
about postwar relationships, expectations and anxieties.
NARRATOR
The crux of Letter is discovering whose husband has run away
with the omnipresent narrator, Addie
Ross (voiced by Celeste Holm). Three wives are given a letter from Addie just
as they embark on a picnic that takes them far away from a telephone. This
leaves each wife ample time to daydream about what has gone wrong in her marriage. This leads to flashbacks and narration –
very popular storytelling method in ‘40s films. This also means the narrative
is taken away from Addie for a long while and control is given to each wife.
Although Addie is an eerie presence that we never see, she does not get to choose the ending no
matter how much she’d like the wives to believe she does.
In Eve – a film about one actress’ fall in theater while another
one rises – the most powerful narrator
is a theater critic named Addison Dewitt (George Sanders) who –like Addie-
manipulates our story. Only, Addison sometimes manipulates the narrative physically.
Through voiceover, Addison can
turn down the audio and summarize dialogue. He can also freeze frames. Though the two characters serve a similar function (and have similar names), Addison,
the interloper in the later film, is allowed to be more powerful than Addie. It’s as if Addison and Addie have
shared notes on how to manipulate a plot and Addison is outstripping his teacher.
FOCUS ON THE WOMAN
In Letter, all the men are focused on one woman – Addie Ross. They
constantly recount to their wives the virtues of Addie - her poise, good taste,
intelligence and class.
In Eve, all the men – the theater director, the producer,
the playwright, the critic- of necessity are focused
on and dependent upon one woman – the
Broadway star, Margo Channing (Bette Davis). She resents it when their attention
turns to a new actress, much like the wives in Letter resent the possibility of
their husbands running off with another woman.
THE WOMEN
The wives of Letter bear a striking resemblance to the
females in Eve. Most noticeable traits are that of the country girl, the career woman and the toughie.
The Young Country Girl
In
Letter, Deborah (
Jeanne Crain) is a young woman desperate
to get away from the farm, so she joins the Navy and marries an officer - Brad
(
Jeffrey Lynn).
In Eve, the title character (Anne Baxter) is also desperate
to separate herself from her provincial upbringing, and concocts a story about
working in brewery and marrying a military man. It’s almost as if Eve has pieced
together her life story from a movie script.
Deborah and Eve each get two makeovers. Deborah and Rita try
to update Deborah’s mail order dress, without success. Eve gets a hand-me-down suit
from Margo. Later on, when they have become more sure of themselves and their place
in the world, their respective looks are bespoke.
The Career Woman
In Letter, Rita Phipps (Ann Southern) is a busy career woman
who juggles home and work, and forgets her husband’s birthday. Addie, the flirt,
doesn’t forget and sends George Phipps (Kirk Douglas) a present.
In Eve, Margo is a busy Broadway star who forgets her
boyfriend’s birthday. Eve, the eventual flirt, doesn’t forget and - in addition
to setting up a birthday call from Margo- sends Bill Sampson (Gary Merrill) a
telegram.
As in Letter, the birthday episode sparks suspicions of infidelity.
However, Eve is a lot more subtle than Addie. It’s as if Eve has studied Addie’s
performance in the other film for ideas on how to “steal” another woman’s man.
The Toughie
In Letter, Lora May Finney Hollingsway (Linda Darnell)
covers her vulnerability -the fact that she does love her husband Porter (Paul
Douglas) - with wisecracks and one-liners. She is the toughest woman in the
room, quick with putdowns, and yet she is also the most fragile.
In Eve, Margo is like Lora May – stalwart and strong and yet
the most pathetic person in the room. Take the scene where she’s ranting over
Addison’s interview of Eve, pacing back and forth, raving in loud voice. However, when Bill comes in , she just
collapses into his arms and weeps uncontrollably.
THE MEN
Just as with the ladies, the men in Letter are similar types as those in Eve - the intellectual, the lout and the lover.
The Intellectual
In Letter, the intellectual is school teacher George Phipps.
George has an opinion about everything and is the character who is given the
longest amount of time to rant about his philosophies.
In Eve, you get two for the price of one.
Director Bill Sampson is the intellectual who favors
long monologues and seems to be the voice of our screenwriter- Mankiewicz. With
both Bill and George, the movie stops stock still for the character to jump on the
proverbial soap box.
Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), the playwright in Eve, refers to himself as the brain of the team.
The Lout
When Mankiewicz makes a lout (either in the sense of being
brutish or in the sense of being submissive), the guy is characterized by his stomach. In Letter, roughhewn, self-made man, Porter Hollingsway
cares more about his meals and his stiff drinks than about being polite. Eve has dyspeptic producer
Max Fabian (Gregory Ratoff) who bends to everyone else’s will.
The Lover
Deborah’s husband in Letter is, at first, the calm, soothing
lover of a wife frustrated with her new challenges. He later grows a bit tired
of her. Margo’s boyfriend in Eve is also
a long-suffering character, until he just cannot take it anymore. This leaves
both men vulnerable to the machinations of a wily female on the hunt for fresh
prey.
THE AUDIENCE’S VOICE
In both Letter and Eve, the voice of reason – and the voice
of the audience- comes from Thelma Ritter’s character. In both films she plays
a maid who hears and sees far more than almost any other character and tells
you what’s on her mind.
FLASHBACKS AND
ENDINGS
Both films use daydreams of different characters to reveal
the root crisis at hand. Both films utilize flashbacks for these daydreams then
take you out again to the present for the ending. Both films conclude fairly
ominously, or at least in a manner that leaves the conclusion up for debate.
Letter marks Makiewicz’ return to writing the films he
directs after a self-imposed two year hiatus from screenplays to concentrate on
honing his directorial skills. Letter is a great movie on its own, but it is
also a warm up ( in characters and in film technique), the last gasp of a
decade before the making of Mankiewicz’ magnum opus – Eve.
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