Of three suburban couples suffering marital difficulties, one finds itself unexpectedly splitting when Addie Ross (Celeste Holm) runs off with one of the husbands while the wives are away on a trip--but which husband? Addie's note to the wives doesn't say. Entangled in suspense as to who has flown the coop, the three wives reflect on their marriages and the stresses within them: one wife met her upper-crust hubby while in the service and fears that she doesn't belong in his social class; another is a radio soap opera writer whose career is interfering with her marriage to a university professor; and the last is a gold digger from the wrong side of the tracks, in a turbulent marriage to a coarse businessman. Sympathetic insights into the strains and insecurities inherent in every marriage bear the genuine touch of director and screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, whose renditions of complex relationships also shine in his other movies, including ALL ABOUT EVE. Kirk Douglas, Thelma Ritter, Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, and Ann Sothern star in this film that won Best Screenplay and Best Director Oscars for Mankiewicz.
Three wives in spats with their husbands receive a note from a former friend that she has run off with one of their spouses. Trapped on a boat for a day trip, the ladies recall the faults in their marriages and agonize over which one of them has been robbed of her husband in this Academy Award-winning film by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
(ALL ABOUT EVE), starring Celeste Holm and Kirk Douglas.
Filmed on location in Westchester, on the Hudson River, and at the Bear Mountain resort in New York.
The movie is based on a magazine novel written originally for Cosmopolitan by John Klempner.
Remade in 1985 for television by director Larry Elikann, starring Loni Anderson, Michelle Lee, Stephanie Zimbalist, Charles Frank, Michael Gross, Ben Gazarra, Doris Roberts, and Ann Sothern.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Mono - English
Stereo - English
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary: Kenneth Geist - Biographer of Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Documentary: LINDA DARNELL: HOLLYWOOD'S FALLEN ANGEL
Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
Shorts:
1. MovieTone News about A LETTER TO THREE WIVES
2. Restoration Comparison
Art Director
Lyle Wheeler: Art Director
Director of Photography
Arthur Miller: Oscar Winning Director of Photography, '20s-'50s
Story
Vera Caspary: American Screenwriter/Novelist
Art Director
J. Russell Spencer: Art Director
Review 1:
"...[The] dialogue and performances are all A-list..."
Source: USA Today
p.3D 05/14/1993
Review 2:
"[With a] mix of clever observation and caustic humour."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.85 07/01/2005
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