SummaryThe wife of a rubber plantation administrator shoots a man to death and claims it was self-defense, but a letter in her own hand may prove her undoing.
Directed By:William Wyler
Written By:W. Somerset Maugham, Howard Koch
The Letter
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
84
User score
Generally Favorable
7.5
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
84
100% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
Bette Davis gave one of her best and nastiest performances in Wyler's stylishly sordid 1940 romantic murder-mystery from W. Somerset Maugham's story. [02 May 2008, p.C5]
91
In William Wyler’s richly torrid melodrama The Letter, Davis unsurprisingly mesmerizes as a duplicitous murderess pleading self-defense. What is surprising is how, with the help of a good, sympathetic director, she doesn’t play the role in all-out pit viper mode. Instead, Davis reveals something vulnerable and pitiable.
88
This might be one of Bette Davis’ least sympathetic parts, which is saying something.
80
Never has [the W. Somerset Maugham play] been done with greater production values, a better all-around cast or finer direction. Its defect is its grimness. Director William Wyler, however, sets himself a tempo which is in rhythm with the Malay locale.
80
A superbly crafted melodrama, even if it never manages to top the moody montage with which it opens.
75
A better-than-average Bette Davis vehicle (1940), well constructed by that shrewd old hack, William Wyler, from a Somerset Maugham play.
63
Like Frankenstein’s monster in the Universal horror classics, The Letter keeps its prize creature too long in the shadows. But a Davis movie cannot withstand scrutiny without her, and even a bad Davis movie where she’s hamming and mugging and even humiliating herself is more fun than practically no Bette at all.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.5
73% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
9% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
18% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Mar 28, 2025
9
Las bajas pasiones pueden surgir, aunque sepas que está mal. Es una de las mejores películas que he visto. Con una premisa sencilla, logran mantener el interés en todo momento. Cuando parece que va a ser una película buena, pero más del montón, sucede un giro inesperado de los hechos que la vuelve un clásico total. En todo momento mantiene ese tono misterioso y serio. Además, la parte final es espléndida, mostrando cómo las bajas pasiones pueden persistir incluso cuando sabes que está mal, y cómo esas mismas pasiones son castigadas por no arrepentirse de forma sincera de lo que se había hecho. Es una película completa en todo sentido, bastante inesperada, pero demuestra que no es necesaria la trama más complicada para ser una grandiosa película.
Production Company:
- Warner Bros.
Release Date:Nov 23, 1940
Duration:1 h 35 m
Rating:TV-PG
Tagline:With all my heart I still love the man I killed
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 7 Nominations
Photoplay Awards
• 4 Wins & 4 Nominations
New York Film Critics Circle Awards
• 2 Nominations
