Great movie. Depressing after watching Linda Darnell’s biography on the DVD. :’(
Anyways, I can’t believe no one in here has seen or like any of the Joe Mankiewicz films. I swear to god if you like Paul Thomas Anderson you’ll love Joseph Mankiewicz. My watch list has now been extended to three. My all time favorite being All About Eve with Bette Davis, Celest Holm, Frank Sanders, Anne Baxter and so forth. In a Letter To Three Wives I had the enormous pleasure of watching, gorgeous actress - Linda Darnell. The structure of this film is nothing less than extroirdinary. It starts off in a rich suburban neighborhood with a voice over provided by the woman who everyone talks about, and know very little of, her name is Addison. We never get to see her face, just a glimpse of her hand as she holds a smoldering cigarette - and of course she’s always an invicible presence in the film, as she is the talk of jealousy and the cause for many arguements. Addison is very well known by most men, and they are too - very intrigued by her.
(Texas born, Linda Darnell.)
The film focuses on three housewives with different lifes, husbands, insecurities, and worries. And one letter that makes them all look back in their lifes and relationships, shown in flash form. Mankiewicz himself described a “flashback” not as a cinematic device, but as a natural form of the human mind, we always tend to ponder of the past or even the future as we sit in our work desks, etc. The film moves by segment, going into each of the three wive;s lifes until the end result - which I won’t spoil. There’sno doubt Joe Mankiewicz is besotted by women, I’ve never seen anything quite like his pictures. I’ll be watching this again tonight. Oh and this is not a review, I just felt like ranting since my friends hate me when I rant about movies. :-</E>
