Love Letters (1945)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

William Dieterle

Writers:

Christopher Massie (novel)
Ayn Rand (writer)

Release Date:

26 October 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Allen Quinton writes a fellow soldier's love letters; tragedy results. Later, Allen meets a beautiful amnesiac who fears postmen...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Love Letter | Murder | WWII | Male Female Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Jennifer Jones	...	Singleton
Joseph Cotten	...	Allen Quinton
Ann Richards	...	Dilly Carson
Cecil Kellaway	...	Mac
Gladys Cooper	...	Beatrice Remington
Anita Louise	...	Helen Wentworth
Robert Sully	...	Roger Morland
Reginald Denny	...	Defense counsel Phillips
Ernest Cossart	...	Bishop
Byron Barr	...	Derek Quinton

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language including sexual references, and for some thematic elements.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:16 | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #10072)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Goofs:

Continuity: Dilly Carson relates to Allan Quinnton that she found Singleton sitting by the fireplace with a bloody knife and a letter from which Dilly quotes the signature line, "I think of you my dearest as the distance promise of beauty". But during the climactic flashback, we see the letter with that very line burning in the fireplace.

Quotes:

Singleton: I think very few people are happy. They wait all their lives for something to happen to them - something great and wonderful. They don't know what it is but they wait for it. Sometimes it never happens. What they want is the kind of spirit I found in those letters. A spirit that makes life beautiful. I love that man. I loved him more than my own life. I still love him. So you see, I couldn't have loved Roger Moreland, the man I killed.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blue Velvet (1986)

Modern Cyrano de Bergerac

I have seen this video many times mainly because I absolutely adore Jennifer Jones.She is an awesome beauty and I must be honest, a sexual fantasy of mine.The fact she is playing a Canadian orphan in the film at least explains her accent.The story of an amnesiac who gradually becomes her true self is OK but why oh why does Hollywood insist on producing "twee" versions of "little 'ole England" in California complete with "gargoyles"? Surely English actors playing English characters in England would have been more authentic.Just to throw in a few English actors (Gladys Cooper and a boy in the London Journal reading room plus stock film company footage of London England, is not convincing enough to the film connoisseur).Also how could a private home have a view overlooking Trafalgar Square!This is unsubtle image - fixing on innocent susceptible eyes.I am sure Americans cringe just as much when they hear unconvincing American accents from non-U.S. nationals.Jo Cotten had the great good fortune to appear to my knowledge with Ms Jones also in Duel in the Sun (1946)/Portrait of Jennie (1948) and Since you went away (1944).Therefore they had already done a film together and their scenes worked well and I almost found myself forgetting his "English" accent! JJ never looked more lovely than in this 1945 picture and there is a very memorable scene when Alan (Jo Cotton) comes back to his house in Essex and receives a call from Dilly Carson (Ann Richards) that "Singleton" appears to have gone missing.Suddenly there is a giggle and the lovely "Singleton" a.k.a.Victoria Moreland, (JJ), pops up from the sofa to surprise Alan- JJ looks absolutely stunning!