Letter, The (1940)

Bette Davis gives her typical, powerhouse (and Best Actress Academy Award nominated) performance in this essential drama, as a woman accused of killing a man she claims was in self-defense. Herbert Marshall plays her husband, who engages his lawyer (James Stephenson, his only Oscar nominated performance, Supporting) to defend her. Howard Koch adapted W. Somerset Maugham's play, which takes place on a rubber plantation. The film, its director William Wyler, its Max Steiner score, Editing (Warren Low's first of four unrewarded nominations) & Tony Gaudio's (Anthony Adverse (1936)) B&W Cinematography were all Oscar nominated. Gale Sondergaard (also from Anthony Adverse (1936)) plays an unusual character, the Eurasian widow of the murdered man, convincingly as well; Cecil Kellaway also appears. The titled "letter" is valuable evidence, implicating Davis's character in an affair with the man she'd shot. It's held for ransom by his widow through a conduit, interpreter named Ong (Victor Sen Yung), setting up an ominous face-to-face between the two ladies.

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