I once overheard a woman talking about her upcoming wedding and how she was excited that she would no longer have to dedicate time to her beauty routine because she no longer needed to attract a man. My wife, who was with me at the time, mentioned to me that this woman would soon learn that it was equally important to put the work in to keep him attracted to you. No man wants to marry a woman only to have her let herself go, no longer caring what he thinks of her, physically. When the sheen of being a newlywed wears off, then the true test of marriage begins and it is important that both parties do everything in their power to keep that fire burning brightly, lest it burn out and turn cold.
John Klempner understood this when he penned the short story A Letter to Five Wives, a story that appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine and later expanded into a 1946 novel by the same name. This novel was adapted by Joseph L. Mankiewicz into a 1949 film, trimming the story down to three wives to keep it more manageable on the screen. This film explores the lives of three women and their husbands, each of whom has been given reason to believe that their husband may have run off with another woman.
The three women in question are Deborah Bishop (Jeanne Crain), Rita Phipps (Ann Southern), and Lora Mae Hollingsway (Linda Darnell). These three women are friends from very different backgrounds who are leaving to take a group of underprivileged children on a riverboat outing when they receive a letter from an unseen fourth woman, Addie Ross (voiced by Thelma Ritter). This letter states that she has run off with one of their husbands but doesn’t specify which one. As the riverboat is just departing, none of the three women can rush off home, leaving them to worry for the rest of the day if it is their husband who is the one who has deserted them.
This leads into a lengthy series of flashbacks detailing the relationships the three women have with their husbands. Deborah, who was raised on a farm, has married Brad (Jeffrey Lynn), whom she met in the Navy during World War II. Upon returning from the war, Deborah doesn’t feel welcome in Brad’s sophisticated social circle. She sees herself as too simple and plain for this new life, especially her lack of even a nice dress to wear to a country club dance. To calm herself, she consumes too much alcohol. Making matters worse, she finds out that every one of Brad’s friends expected him to marry Addie, a woman that all three husbands lavish their attention on.
Deborah is comforted by Rita, one of Brad’s friends, who is a successful soap opera writer for the radio. She is so successful, in fact, that her income outshines her husband’s, George (Kirk Douglas). George is a school teacher who enjoys inspiring his students, but Rita, sensing the inequality in their marriage, wishes he were more ambitious. On his part, he wishes she were more content in her life and not always trying to better what he considers is good enough. This comes in the form of Mrs. Manleigh (Florence Bates), a radio sponsor who is driven by the new technology and obsessed with her radio ads.
The third woman, Lora Mae, comes from poverty, living with her mother in a small home so close to the railroad tracks that each passing train shakes the house excessively. Lora works for Porter Hollingsway (Paul Douglas), a divorced man who owns a statewide chain of department stores. The two date a number of times, but he is frustrated that she is holding out for marriage, something he doesn’t want to go through again. Eventually, he gives in, and, grudgingly on his part, the two are married. But Porter begins to believe she is only interested in his bank account, which causes tension to arise between them.
Three marriages, three different areas of discontent. This film does an amazing job of realizing real-world frustrations that can arise between a man and his wife. Surprisingly, this film isn’t dated in the slightest. These problems still exist in today’s world, perhaps even more so. On top of that, Rita and George’s marriage is much more modern than was typical on screen in the 1940s. We tend to think that in those days the man worked and the woman was a stay-at-home mother, raising the children and keeping the house. To see a two-income household, especially where the wife was the bigger breadwinner, was not typical in 1949.
The one thing that is missing is one of the couples having children in the mix. Reportedly, an early draft of the script included a fourth wife, played by Anne Baxter, who would have had the children story. This was ultimately considered one couple too many in a script that was already running long, and it was cut. The children were not relegated to one of the other couples, and so we get three pairs, none of which have offspring. This too can be seen as more modern as many couples these days actively avoid having kids. Seeing it in a film from the 1940s, however, makes it stand out more, and we lose that important aspect in marital struggles.
The ending of the film is ambiguous, left up to interpretation. The women arrive home and each assumes it is her husband that has run off with Addie. But George and Porter are both there at the house; Brad is not. Brad has left notice that he will not be home that night. Porter, who arrives home late, scaring Lora into thinking he was the one to run away with Addie, feels that she doesn’t really love him. Porter does confront his wife and offers her a divorce complete with financial support. He refuses to believe it when the others try to assure him that she loves him immensely. When he offers her the divorce, she convinces him that she really does love him. The two couples and Deborah attend a dance, and Deborah admits to the others that Brad is the one who left with Addie. Porter stops her from leaving in tears, telling her that it was he that ran away with Addie but that he changed his mind, reassuring her that Brad will be home later. Is this true, or is Porter trying to spare her a night of sorrow? We don’t ever learn the truth.
George Phipps, after hearing Porter make his confession: “Porter, you’re quite a guy.”
Porter: “Thanks.”
Rita: “She’d have known in the morning anyway.”
Porter: “She’ll have had a tough night; she’s just a kid.”
And that’s the only explanation given. Is Porter sparing her a night of misery or is he being truthful? We are to make up our own minds on that. So too is his wife and the Phipps. They are assuming Brad has really ran off with Addie and Porter is lying just to give Deborah one more night of happiness. It’s simultaneously brilliant and frustrating. Yet it invites conversation and insists that we rewatch the film in search of any clues that might tell us the truth.
This is a well-written examination of the art of marriage, showing some of the acerbic, witty dialogue that Joseph L. Mankiewicz would put to even greater use in All About Eve the following year. Marriage is not something we can afford to take for granted; not if we want it to last. It takes work, a lot of work, to keep it going. It takes reassurance that we love each other and it takes considerations for each other’s needs and wants. This film shows us what can happen should we forget that, even for a little while. The progressive views on display make this film feel timeless and relevant to husbands and wives, men and women, in any stage of a relationship. On top of all that, it has a wonderful sense of humor that runs the gamut from verbal jabs to sight gags, all of which serve the plot rather than distract from it. This is a near-perfect film all around and should have taken the Best Picture award that year at the Oscars. All the King’s Men ultimately got the votes, but this is the better, more relevant, film of the two.
Academy Awards Nominations:
Best Motion Picture: Sol C. Siegel
Best Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (won)
Best Writing (Screenplay): Joseph L. Mankiewicz (won)
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Release Date: February 3, 1949
Running Time: 103 minutes
Not Rated
Starring: Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Southern, Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, and Jeffrey Lynn
Directed by: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
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