The Original Letter

 

 (wikipedia)

THE LETTER-1929-First version of the classic story, later filmed with Bette Davis in 1940. In Singapore, Leslie Crosbie (Jeanne Eagels) a plantation owner's wife shoots her lover (Herbert Marshall in his US film debut) in a jealous rage after being jilted. Her jolly English husband Robert (Reginald Owen) stands by her when she pleads self-defense but the Chinese assistant to the judge on the case (Peter Chong) finds a love letter in possession of the murdered man's “half caste” mistress (Lady Tsen Mei). Mr. Joyce (O.P. Heggie; later the blind hermit in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN) defends her. 3 weird looking women do a kind of striptease and footage of a mongoose fighting a cobra is briefly shown (the crowd is supposed to be betting on the outcome). When Leslie goes to buy the letter back from the mistress, they exchange all sorts of hateful racist dialogue. After Leslie is acquitted, the judge spills the beans to the husband about the letter. He decides her punishment will be to remain in Singapore forever (since she wanted to go back to England). She tells her husband the truth: that she “still loves the man I killed”. The End.

THE LETTER was star Jeanne Eagels' last movie and she was Oscar nominated for her performance. Unfortunately, she died soon after completing the film at age 39 after several years of alcohol and heroin abuse. French director Jean De Limur may have also directed Eagels in a lost movie JEALOUSY the same year.

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Sci-Fi '50's

RIDERS TO THE STARS-1954-Scientist Herbert Marshall needs a meteor from outer space. He and a group of scientists set out to find three men to fly rocket ships (with wings) into space to get one. William Lunigan (a busy TV actor at the time) is the scientist most qualified. He’s also Marshall’s son. He falls in love with Martha Hyer while being trained. Richard Carlson (who was in THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON the same year) co-stars and directs as well. I’ve read “film doctor” Herbert Strock directed some scenes un-credited. It’s an early serious science fiction tale (based on a story by Ivan Tors) and it’s in color! Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay.

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Space and The World

RIDERS TO THE STARS-1954-Scientist Herbert Marshall needs a meteor from outer space. He and a group of scientists set out to find three men to fly rocket ships (with wings) into space a get one. William Lunigan (a busy TV actor at the time) is the scientist most qualified. He’s also Marshall’s son. He falls in love with Martha Hyer while being trained. Richard Carlson (who was in THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON the same year) co-stars and directs as well. I’ve read “film doctor” Herbert Strock directed some scenes un-credited. It’s an early serious science fiction tale (based on a story by Ivan Tors) and it’s in color! Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay.

BETWEEN TWO WORLDS-1944-Excellent but overlooked fantasy from Warner Brothers.

A group of people is killed during an air raid attack in London. They wind up on a mysterious ship along with a couple (Paul Henreid and Eleanor Parker) that committed suicide. The ship’s steward (Edmund Gwenn) eventually informs them they are dead and on their way to meet The Examiner (Henreid’s CASABLANCA co-star Sydney Greenstreet) who will decide if they will go to heaven or hell (but it’s actually the same place). As The Examiner states “You see my son, you make your own heaven and hell for yourselves on Earth, you only bring it with you here”.

John Garfield headlines as a cynical reporter. George Coulouris is an industrialist who realizes too late money can’t buy everything. Faye Emerson is a fame hungry actress. George Tobias, Isobel Elsom, Dennis King and Sara Allgood are the others. The second half when the groups’ lives are “examined” is the best part. It’s based on the play OUTWARD BOUND first produced on Broadway in 1924 and revived in 1932. Director Edward A. Blatt was usually a dialogue director and directed only three films.

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