The Letter (1929)

Nominated for 1 Academy Award:

Best Actress

Jeanne Eagels

It won 0 Oscars out of a total of 1 nomination in 1928-29.


The Letter follows Leslie Crosbie, who is a lonely woman that has become involved in an affair with a man named Geoffrey Hammond.  While her husband is away, she lures Hammond to her home and brutally murders him after learning that he has been living with a Chinese woman.  A single letter, however, must be bought and suppressed, or her guilt will otherwise be made public.

It is adapted from the play by W. Somerset Maugham.

Jeanne Eagels tragically died of a drug overdose shortly after the completion of this film, thus becoming the first actress to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination.

Once considered a lost film, a workprint was rediscovered and placed back into circulation in 2011.


Editorial:

Backtracking.  This hard-to-find film has now been reviewed after being put on hold.

This particular film is both absolutely preposterous and unforgivably racist.  While one can certainly comprehend a corrupt justice system that would garner sympathy for a maddened Caucasian woman, this movie weaves a world that simply could never exist in which the presence of a Chinese person only offers an opportunity for stereotypes to strangle any ounce of worth this film may have had.  The worst part is that a performance by Jeanne Eagels that could have been memorable for the sake of its performance becomes memorable for all of the wrong reasons.

Score  |  01/10  |  This motion picture is definitely not worth watching.