Rent A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Social Comedy. - A Letter to Three Wives review by Steve

Social comedy which is lightweight but clever. Though made shortly after WWII it feels more like the fifties America of prosperity and consumerism. Even the maid has bought a new fridge, by instalments. Class divisions are obvious, but cordial. Three friends receive a letter informing them that the sender has eloped with one of their husbands.

She doesn't say which. There's the timid wallflower (Jeanne Crain), the career woman (Ann Sothern) and the beautiful devil (Linda Darnell). As they spend a day together on an island retreat they reflect on their marriages and wonder which will return to an empty house on a conventional street in their small, quiet town.

They live ultra-conservative lives of dinner parties and evenings at the country club. There is satire at the expense of radio, materialism and difficult servants. Dig deeper and there are pokes at patriotism and conformity. Kirk Douglas (husband of feisty Ann Sothern) gets the best dialogue as an intellectual school teacher with an inferiority complex.

My favourite of the leads is Linda Darnell as a pragmatic but spirited working girl who marries into money. It's a well observed commentary on ordinary middle class life. The expectations of women have been transformed but the social themes remain relevant. They all want something else, maybe someone else's husband. Nobody values their privilege.

“Bad, not badly! You feel badly this way.” - A Letter to Three Wives review by LJ

Three women receive a letter from another woman telling them that she has run off with one of their husbands. We then get flashbacks showing each woman's strained marriage, leaving both the women and audience trying to figure out which is the unfaithful husband. It's an enjoyable comedy-drama, but the flashbacks aren't weighted evenly, with one of the husbands being in it a lot less, which makes it much harder to get invested.