The Letter

A gunshot in the dark can set a whole world wobbling. The Letter (1940), directed by William Wyler and starring Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, and Gale Sondergaard, plays as a crime drama with noir-adjacent shadows and moral pressure. The story’s long trip from W. Somerset Maugham source material to the screen—and the squeeze of the Hays Code—hangs over every choice the film makes. Set inside a colonial social order where privilege decides who gets believed, a contested account of a shooting kicks off a tense chain of legal maneuvering. Then a single letter becomes leverage, and the stakes turn from public story to private damage control. Join us—Pete Wright and Andy Nelson—as we continue our Bette Davis series for a one-off return with a conversation about The Letter.

Why The Letter Still Hooks
This conversation starts with the film’s immediate, high-tension opening and the way it locks in mood before anyone can catch their breath. From there, the focus shifts to how the movie handles —Hold on there! This is currently only available for members of The Next Reel family of film shows. It’ll be available to everyone else soon, but why not become a member so you can listen to it now? We’d love it if you became a member to support our shows, but you’d love it because of everything you get across all five shows—Cinema Scope, The Film Board, Movies We Like, The Next Reel, and Sitting in the Dark. We have monthly bonus episodes that only members can access. You also get access to members-only Discord channels, and early ad-free releases for every episode. Plus, you get to vote on the movies we discuss in our members only episodes of The Next Reel! What can we say? It pays to be a member. Learn more about supporting The Next Reel family of film shows through your own membership — visit TruStory FM.