This
movie is based on a play by W. Somerset Maugham. Leslie and Robert Crosbie live and work on a tropical rubber
plantation in Malay. Robert is
away and Leslie shoots one of their mutual friends. She says he stopped by, he was drunk and he made advances
towards her? She carefully
relates her experience to her husband, their attorney and the district
officer. Everything is going
smoothly until a letter surfaces in Leslie’s handwriting that invites the
victim Geoffrey Hammond to visit her.
It will cost Robert $10,000 to retrieve the letter from the widow of
Hammond.
The
widow of Geoffrey Hammond is Eurasian with a mysterious and powerful demeanor, chalky
face, bejeweled and dressed in the formal attire of Malay. She is very sinister and she speaks
only in Mandarin. There is a LOT
of drama in this film and you wonder if Leslie is telling the truth? Even the heat, humidity, the
always present full moon and the palms have a role in this film. 3 ½* (I liked this movie)
95 min, Crime directed by William Wyler with Bette Davis, Herbert
Marshall, James Stephenson, Frieda Inescort, Gale Sondergaard, Bruce Lester,
Elizabeth Inglis, Cecil Kellaway, Victor Sen Young.
Note: Imdb 7.7 out of 10, 100%
critic 83% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 121 reviews.
Special Note: In the role
of Leslie’s lawyer is James Stephenson.
He died of a heart attack the following year at the age of 52. Both Davis and Stephenson were
nominated for Oscars.
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