Synopsis
The Letter (1940) is a William Wyler crime drama you can watch online on iFILM. Bette Davis plays Leslie Crosbie, a plantation wife in British Malaya who shoots a man six times and explains it as self-defense — calmly, fluently, without a tremor.
Her husband believes her. Lawyer Howard Joyce takes the case. Then word comes that the dead man's widow is holding a letter in Leslie's own handwriting: an invitation, warm and specific, dated the very night of the shooting. Buying it back costs ten thousand dollars and nearly everything else. Davis plays the role from behind an immaculate mask — charming to everyone's face, calculating in every private moment. James Stephenson, as the attorney who slowly understands what he's defending, earned an Oscar nomination for supporting actor.
The film landed seven Academy Award nominations in 1941, including Best Picture and Best Actress. Stream The Letter online on iFILM — one of the sharpest courtroom melodramas Hollywood produced in the studio era.
Starring
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