Description
Joseph Mankiewicz's unique intriguing comedy stars Ann Southern, Linda Darnell and Jeanne Crain as three wives who must wait out a long day to learn which of them has lost her husband to another woman.

Just as their boat sets off for the day, Deborah (Crain), Rita (Southern) and Lora Mae (Darnell) receive a letter from the alluring Addie Ross (narrator Celeste Holm) stating she has left town with one of their husbands. Each wife spends the fretful day pondering the state of her marriage and the affection each of their husbands has for Addie. By the end of the day, each woman is convinced she must surely be the betrayed wife.

Amazon.com essential video
Before he made the classic All About Eve, writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz made this clever story about three wives who spend an afternoon at a children's picnic mulling over a letter all three had just received, from a woman who says she's just run off with one of their husbands. As the wives--a former farm girl (Jeanne Crain), a radio soap opera writer (Ann Sothern), and a social climber from the wrong side of the tracks (Linda Darnell)--mull over the troubles of their marriages, each begins to think that she's the one left behind. A Letter to Three Wives doesn't have the crackling show-biz milieu of Eve, but it has the same mix of snappy dialogue and topnotch performances. The tone ranges from florid sentiment to unblinking cynicism, yet Mankiewicz holds it all together with smooth, witty direction. Also featuring Kirk Douglas and the great character actress Thelma Ritter. --Bret Fetzer

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 60 reviews)

A Letter to Three Wives

I purchased this movie for my father who recalled to me that he had tried to find this movie here in Australia. I found it here on Amazon and purchased it for him. I watched this movie with some hesitation as I am not familiar with old black and white movies. This movie from 1949 kept my attention throughout with it's slick photography, direction, and plot. I was impressed with the cast and the acting. I would heartily recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a well scripted and acted movie. The remastering to DVD was excellent even on playback to high definition screen. Five stars from me. (Daniel Hume)
July 09, 2008

All star cast

I love this movie with so many movie stars. It has a different twist to the plot and you don't know until the end who Addie has run off with. If you like old movies, this is a good one.
June 25, 2008

Letter to Three Wives

Was a well advertised feature in it's day. Doesn't have the "Punch" today it origionally did. But plays for the cinemafile.
May 25, 2008

GREAT MOVIE!!!

This is one of the best movies of all time! I am thrilled that it is on DVD and I was able to purchase it. I sold my VHS movies and sold the one I owned and was very lucky that they had this movie available in DVD format. You will love this movie. It is clever and funny and has you guessing all throughout the movie. There are great characters delivered to you by even greater actors! It is a must own!
April 03, 2008

JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ, OPUS 6

***** 1949. Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Two Film Academy awards (Best Director and Best Screenplay) and a nomination in the Best Picture category. Addie Ross writes to three women that she's just left town with one of their husbands. This social study about couples in 1949 is still accurate today thanks to the intelligence of Mankiewicz who manages, in 103 minutes, to talk about social humiliation, the role of the man in a couple, the power of advertising, the American dream and women who earn their lives. Masterpiece.
February 24, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

The Women (Keepcase)
by Joseph Ruttenberg, Hunt Stromberg, Anita Loos, Clare Boothe Luce, Donald Ogden Stewart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Murfin
Directed by George Cukor
Starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Mary Boland, Paulette Goddard
Warner Home Video

Leave Her to Heaven
Directed by John M. Stahl
Starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Philips
20th Century Fox

Laura [Region 2]
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian, Otto Preminger
Starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
by Charles Lang, Dorothy Spencer, Fred Kohlmar, Philip Dunne, R.A. Dick
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Edna Best, Vanessa Brown
20th Century Fox

All About Eve (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Milton Krasner, Alfred Newman
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Bess Flowers
20th Century Fox