The 13th Letter

A small Quebec town is rattled by a series of anonymous poison pen letters. Preminger takes a stab at Clouzot's LE CORBEAU (Clouzot himself being one of the finest purveyors of European noir, including LES DIABOLIQUES, THE WAGES OF FEAR and QUAI DES ORFEVRES). I don't recall the original very well, but I do know it had a more biting, cynical edge to it (as well as overt references to abortion, which of course was verboten under the Hays code) as opposed to the moodier tones found here. The subject matter is ripe for common noir themes like the fragility of civilized society and the darkness lurking beneath pleasant facades. Every performance is quite good, especially Michael Rennie and the sultry-as-ever Linda Darnell. The film keeps you guessing and keeps you interested, never playing a hand too soon. Although my copy was rather blurry, I could still appreciate the artful framing and use of light. The score is the weakest aspect, often laying on the strings too thick. Otherwise, quite a fine film.

1st watched 5/30/2000 - (Dir-Otto Preminger): Well-done whodunit which revolves around a series of letters written supposedly to defame a local doctor in a Canadian town, but ends up becoming more fatal.It keeps you guessing until the end which is pretty much the measuring stick for this kind of movie.

The film stars out as an interesting mystery with an atypical premise. Then it deflates and gives you a disappointing ending.

Boyer is the only Quebecianite who has a French accent and as usual, he really pours it on.

Otto Preminger directs "The 13th Letter" from 1951, a remake of the Cluzot film, "Le Corbeau."

This dark and heavily atmospheric film takes place in a small town in Quebec. Doctor Pearson (Michael Rennie) has left a big practice after his wife left him and subsequently committed suicide. Tall and handsome, he is attracting a lot of attention, some from a woman (Linda Darnell) he considers to be a hypochondriac vying for his attention. He has been receiving anonymous poison pen letters, as have others in the town.

The wife (Constance Smith) of Dr. Laurent (Charles Boyer) has received a letter accusing her of having an affair with Pearson. A letter sent to a hospitalized war hero states he has cancer and is just not being told. This causes the man to commit suicide.

Dr. Laurent takes charge of looking for the culprit - and there are many suspects.

Good, solid film with Rennie giving a wonderful performance as a good man trying to move on after a tragedy. Boyer is energetic as Dr. Laurent, an older man married to a beautiful younger woman who doesn't want to lose her. Linda Darnell is beautiful and sultry, on her way to a second career as a femme fatale and a long way from her innocence in "The Mark of Zorro".

Constance Smith won a Hedy Lamarr look-alike contest but her career in films ended in ashes due to her bad attitude and inability to get along with studio heads. At one point, she was imprisoned for stabbing her then-boyfriend, Paul Rotha, whom she later married and stabbed again as well as making several suicide attempts. She turned to drugs and alcohol and died after being in and out of hospitals and occasionally working as a cleaner.

Good film which takes you into the story and keeps you there, wondering about the identity of the villain.

The script is intriguing, especially in the way it points the finger of suspicion at several different characters as to who is the writer of a series of poison pen letters in a small Canadian town, but it's also talky, and Otto Preminger's direction is strangely lacking in style, for the man who helmed the highly celebrated "Laura". This looks more like a TV movie before TV movies where in vogue. Linda Darnell and especially Constance Smith are gorgeous, Charles Boyer is very good, but Michael Rennie is miscast in the central role. ** out of 4.