Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

A Letter to Three Wives Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 12, 2015

Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary by Joseph L. Mankiewicz biographers Kenneth Geist and Cheryl Power and the director's son, Christopher Mankiewicz; original trailer; two radio adaptaitons;l and more. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring essay, interview material, and rare archival imagery. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The wives

The film is set in a small American town where it seems like nothing exciting ever happens. Life has a steady rhythm there and people are used to it. But on a beautiful day in early May, three wives who are on their way to an important picnic receive a letter from a mutual friend, Addie Ross (voice of Celeste Holm, All About Eve), who confesses to them that she is running away with one of their husbands. Without a name and unable to phone their husbands, the nervous wives board a small ferry and head to the picnic. Then, throughout the day, they recall how they met their husbands and try to think of a good reason why one of them would have left with Addie.

A series of flashbacks reveal what the wives might have lost. Deborah Bishop (Jeanne Crain, Pinky) is a beautiful farm girl who has married the man of her dreams, Brad Bishop (Jeffrey Lynn), a wealthy socialite-businessman, but she has struggled to fit in his world. He has noticed and she has started thinking that he might be getting frustrated with her, but would a man like Brad leave with someone like Addie?

Rita Phipps (Ann Sothern, The Best Man) and her husband George Phipps (Kirk Douglas, Ace in the Hole), an elegant and very intelligent high school teacher, have always supported each other, but in recent years she has been spending too much of “their time” writing for a local radio station. Rita has felt a shift in their relationship, but is it because she has been making more money than George or because he has been secretly seeing Addie?

Lora Mae Hollingsway’s (Linda Darnell, My Darling Clementine) plan worked perfectly -- she married richest men in the area, Porter Hollingsway (Paul Douglas, Panic in the Streets), and now has the financial freedom to do anything she desires. She could have married a younger man, but she would have spent her entire life working. While they were dating Porter told her that he admired Addie, but was he also seeing her after they tied the knot?

A Letter to Three Wives is based on a short story written by John Klempner which appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine. The initial adaptation for the screen was done by Vera Caspary, whose detective novel Laura inspired Otto Preminger to shoot the famous noir film in 1944, but producer Sol C. Siegel asked Joseph L. Mankiewicz to rewrite and direct it. In 1950, approximately two years after the film was completed, Mankiewicz won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay.

Much like the various melodramas Douglas Sirk directed during the mid-50s, A Letter to Three Wives tells two different stories. The first is about the three good friends whose seemingly normal lives are suddenly turned upside down by a small piece of paper. After the letter arrives, they begin to reevaluate their lives and in the process Mankiewicz carefully ridicules their prudish values and beliefs.

The bigger story is about the post-war world in which the women exist. This a time in which the American Dream is changing the way the two sexes interact and they begin to lose interest in true love -- success and status are already far more important to them. These adjustments are exposed in some brilliantly scripted and quite hilarious sequences, but anyone expecting a sophisticated period comedy will surely be disappointed.

The finale is the film’s Achilles’ heel. Balance is quickly restored in a rather awkward way that allows for multiple interpretations of the revealing exchanges between the main characters, but such were never intended by Mankiewicz.

A Letter to Three Wives Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's A Letter to Three Wives arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Eureka Entertainment.

The release has been sourced from the same master Twentieth Century Fox accessed when they prepared their Blu-ray release of the film in the U.S. Generally speaking, detail and clarity are very good. Before or after select transitions some minor density fluctuations are present, but depth remains pleasing (you can see an example in screencapture #11). Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. Grain is retained, though it could be slightly underexposed at times. There are no traces of problematic sharpening adjustments. A few very tiny flecks can be spotted, but there are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, or stains. Finally, overall image stability is very good. All in all, ideally the film could look a bit more vibrant and crisp, but this is a very good organic presentations that should delight its fans. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free Blu-ray player in order to access its content).

A Letter to Three Wives Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the film with the LPCM 2.0 track. The dialog is stable and easy to follow. Alfred Newman's score is also well balanced and breathes easily throughout the film. Clarity and depth are consistently pleasing, but occasionally some extremely light hiss/buzz in the high-frequencies makes its presence felt. There are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review.

A Letter to Three Wives Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - an original trailer for A Letter to Three Wives. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Movietone News - archival piece with footage from the 1950 Academy Awards ceremony, where A Letter to Three Wives won Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay Awards (Joseph L. Mankiewicz). The piece was arranged by Al Brick and described by Joe King. (2 min).

• Radio Adaptations - presented here are two radio adaptations of A Letter to Three Wives. In English, not subtitled.
  
  1. Screen Guild Theater - broadcast on November 3, 1949. (30 min).
  2. Lux Radio Theater - broadcast on February 20, 1950. (55 min).

• Commentary - in this audio commentary, Joseph L. Mankiewicz biographers Kenneth Geist and Cheryl Power, and the director's son, Christopher Mankiewicz, discuss the social environment in America after WW2 in which A Letter to Three Wives was shot as well as the studio system and its various restrictions, some of they key themes in the film, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's directing style (and specifically the satirical elements that defined his work), Darryl F. Zanuck's relationship with the top people from the Production Code Administration, the lives and careers of the principal actors, etc.

• Booklet - illustrated booklet featuring essay, interview material, and rare archival imagery.

A Letter to Three Wives Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The lives of three beautiful women are suddenly turned upside down by a small piece of paper in director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's witty social melodrama A Letter to Three Wives. The film is now out on Blu-ray via Eureka Entertainment and looks lovely in high-definition. Consider adding it to your collections, folks. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.