The Letter Blu-ray - Bette Davis

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

USA 1940

Six years after exploding to stardom in Of Human Bondage, Bette Davis equaled that excitement with another W. Somerset Maugham role as an adulteress using her sexual wiles to escape a murder conviction in The Letter. The film throbs with sultry tension thanks to Davis, an impeccable supporting cast, atmospheric cinematography and the artistry of three-time Academy Award® winner* William Wyler, Davis' director on Jezebel and The Little Foxes. Nominated for seven Oscars®, including Best Picture, Actress, Director and Supporting Actor, The Letter remains one of Hollywood's most special deliveries, a peerless example of melodrama as movie art.

***

William Wyler's dark and poisonous melodrama, based on the W. Somerset Maugham novel, features Bette Davis in one of her nastiest roles. The story begins in the shimmering moonlight on a tropical Malayan rubber plantation. Shots ring out and a wounded man, Geoffrey Hammond (David Newell) staggers from a bungalow as Leslie Crosbie (Bette Davis) coldly follows him, pumping the remaining bullets into his body. She later tells her husband Robert (Herbert Marshall) that she shot Geoffrey, a mutual friend, because he was drunk and tried to take advantage of her. Robert, who owns the plantation, believes her story and hires high-powered lawyer Howard Joyce (James Stephenson) to defend her. But then a letter surfaces in which it is revealed that Leslie had invited Geoffrey to the plantation on the night of his murder. When Howard confronts her with the letter, Leslie admits writing it and implies that she and Geoffrey were lovers. Howard, nevertheless, agrees to continue defending her; he explains to Leslie, "I won't tell you what I personally thought when I read the letter. It's the duty of counsel to defend his client, not to convict her even in his own mind. I don't want you to tell me anything but what is needed to save your neck." Meanwhile, the letter becomes the object of a $10,000 blackmail scheme from Geoffrey's widow (Gale Sondergaard).

Excerpt from B+N located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: November 15th, 1940 - USA

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Comparison:

Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC vs. Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray

Box Cover		Bonus Captures:
Distribution	Warner Home Video - Region 1,2,3,4 - NTSC	Warner Archive - Region FREE - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:35:03	1:35:08.953
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.54 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 38,542,177,205 bytes Feature: 27,837,468,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate Blu-ray:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Dolby)	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1987 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1987 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, French, Spanish, None	English (SDH), None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Warner Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Alternative Ending (9:58) • Lux Radio Broadcast 1941 (59:30) • Lux Radio Broadcast 1944 (55:58) • Restored Theatrical Trailer (2:17) DVD Release Date: January 11th, 2005 Keep Case Chapters: 23	Release Information: Studio: Warner Archive 1.37:1 1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 38,542,177,205 bytes Feature: 27,837,468,672 bytes Video Bitrate: 34.99 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Alternative Ending (10.00) • Lux Radio Broadcast 1941 (59:30) • Lux Radio Broadcast 1944 (55:58) • Theatrical Trailer (2:17) Blu-ray Release Date: September 24th, 2019 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters 24

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Warner Archive Blu-ray (November 2019): Warner Archive have transferred William Wyler's The Letter to Blu-ray. Over 14-years ago we got the DVD version and this appears to be the same well-maintained source. The distinguishing characteristics of the 1080P are the lush grain support and layered contrast. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate (slightly under 7X that of the Remastered DVD). Like Jezebel, it shows the DVD may be slightly horizontally compressed. Overall, this is heavy, but bright and a BIG improvement as seen on HD TVs with the rendering supporting a rich textured film-like image.

NOTE: 48 more full resolution (1920 X 1080) Blu-ray captures for Patrons are available HERE.

On their Blu-ray, Warner Archive use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel mono track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio and score by, one of my favorites, Max Steiner (The Hanging Tree, Tomorrow is Forever, Sergeant York, Key Largo, Casablanca, The Caine Mutiny, Bird of Paradise, Beyond the Forest, Pursued etc. etc.) and I thought the lossless transfer of the score added significantly to the film's mystery. Warner Archive offer optional English (SHOUTING yellow) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Warner Archive Blu-ray has the same extras as their DVD from 2005. We get the 10-minute alternate ending clip, two hour-long LUX radio broadcasts (I have come to love listening to these while working) and a theatrical trailer.

Such an amazing film, The Latter surely deserves more than a rehash of the past supplements - how about a commentary? We can't dispute the HD image and lossless audio though and for that this Blu-ray gets a very strong recommendation!