The Letter (1929) YIFY - Download Movie TORRENT

Jeanne Eagels demonstrates why she was considered one of the best stage actresses of the 1920s. Her performance is absolutely outstanding. She's mesmerising to watch. Despite this, even by the low standards of 1929, it's not a particularly good film.Like so many very early talkies, this is essentially a filmed stage play. It's a good stage play and is very close to Somerset Maugham's story but you inevitably compare it to William Wyler's 1940 version and you appreciate the difference between a play and a film. Although because of the restrictive censorship code introduced in the mid thirties, the story in the "new" version was massively altered to conform, that version is so much more immersive. When you watch miserable old Bette Davis you become the judge and jury when considering the plight of Mrs Crosbie. You enter into what you think is the mind of Mrs Crosbie - or you think you do - Wyler has fun playing with your emotions. In this version however you're just watching the narrative unfold, you're not involved.Although this is inferior in terms of what you'd expect from a motion picture, it's still worth watching just for Jeanne Eagels' magnificent portrayal of raw emotion especially in the last act. What's remarkable and indeed a testament to her acting is that although you're being told from the onset that her character, Mrs Crosbie is a bad person, you're on her side, you're supporting a murderer! Thus is the power of seduction which this actress strangely imposes on you ninety years after her death.The film itself is certainly watchable and better than most films from 1929 but it has no innovative or imaginative direction. To be fair, it was Jean de Limur's first film - it seems an odd choice of Paramount to use a novice to direct such a high profile picture but his lack of experience is almost compensated for by Miss Eagels' skill and also by Herbert Marshall who is also fantastic - incredibly it's his first movie as well.It's interesting to note that a decade later Herbert Marshall is alive again back in the remake - not as Mrs Crosbie's lover but as the wronged husband. Also in the "new" version her lover wasn't sharing a bed with a Chinese woman (a fact used in the trial to prove he was a disreputable and disgraceful human being!) but a respectable married man - married of course to a respectable white woman!

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by 1930s_Time_Machine 7 / 10

Jeanne Eagels - what a brilliant actress!

Reviewed by a666333 7 / 10

definitely interesting, would like to see a restored version

Jeanne Engles is almost a physical ghost here. Everyone seems to be in love her as an actress. Based on this, I'm not that hooked but she definitely does get your attention.In this movie, the racism out in the open and cuts both ways which is closer to the real world. The movie does well to bring that forward. Unfortunately, here, as usual, Hollywood fell into bizarre caricatures and images when portraying the Chinese.With Anna May Wong in Europe at the time, Tsen Mei is cast as Li-Ti and only manages to extract a very average presence. It is difficult to imagine her as a love interest. (Tsen Mei went on to run theatres in New Jersey) With Anna May Wong in that role (and advising the directors), the movie would have been elevated considerably and the confrontation-over-the-letter scene likely would have become an all time classic.Technically, this movie is crude, especially the sound but a restored version might be a different story.

The Letter

1929

Action / Drama

The Letter

1929

Action / Drama

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Movie Reviews

Jeanne Eagels - what a brilliant actress!

definitely interesting, would like to see a restored version

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