A highly watchable and occasionally intriguing movie which rises above its "Woman's Own" magazine origins by a combination of imaginative construction, sharp dialogue and fine ensemble acting. The imaginative construction of course revolves around director Mankiewicz's use of amongst other things, a starting and concluding voice-over by the never-seen epicentre of the drama, "other woman" Addie, the interweaving of three separate stories of post-war upper middle-class suburban American married life and the disruption caused by the pervading influence of afore-said "everybody (make that every man) loves" Addie leading to a genuinely mysterious ending with the viewer (well this one anyway) left scratching their head over the denouement. I think the film might have benefited however with Addie's voice-overs continuing throughout the film although we are teased throughout with just-out-of-camera scenes throughout. Along the way we get some trademark pithy and racy dialogue, typical of this director, taking shots along the way at snobbery, sex and consumerism as well of course, marital mores. Although the attack on consumerism seems a little high-brow today, as school-teacher Kirk Douglas bemoans the fall in cultural values with the unstoppable growth in popularity of cheap, Philistine radio soap operas at the expense of an appreciation of the finer arts as embodied by his love for Brahms and Shakespeare, it still resonates today as we seem submerged in a never-ending TV diet of trashy soaps, daytime TV and reality shows. The acting is very good, particularly Linda Darnell as the sassy shop-girl on the make with her much older boss and I also enjoyed the humorous interjections of Thelma Ritter as a put-upon maid. The device of introducing the flashback sequences with onomatopeic background noises was used later to comic effect in the Danny Kaye vehicle "Secret Life of Walter Mitty". Whilst you never quite escape the feeling that this is a 1940's "chick-flick", with a story-line at its heart every bit as incredible as any of the empty radio dramas so vilified by Douglas (obviously speaking for Mankiewicz), I can accept it as superior soap, a precursor of the Douglas Sirk-style concoctions of the 50's. And yes, my eyebrows did rise upwards at the infamous double-entendre kitchen dialogue scene!
Review of A Letter to Three Wives
