Love Letters (1945)

Brilliant and touching

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Allen Quinton (Joseph Cotten) is a soldier in World War II who has been writing love letters for fellow soldier Robert Morland to his girl back home. Morland's kind of a jerk but the letters written is his name make him appear to be a kind, romantic soul and the girl they are written to falls in love with him. When Allen returns home from the war he discovers Morland married the girl but it ended in tragedy. Allen is intent upon finding out what happened. This leads him to a number of twists and a meeting with an amnesiac girl named Singleton (Jennifer Jones).Joseph Cotten's performance is great. Cotten, one of the great actors of his day, is sadly underrated today. Ann Richards gives a natural, sympathetic turn as Singleton's friend Dilly. Jennifer Jones is not up to Cotten's level. Her performance is OK but a little too manufactured. Still, she's competent here but outshined by Cotten, as well as supporting player Richards and vets Cecil Kellaway and Gladys Cooper.William Dieterle creates a lovely, atmospheric picture. I love the sets, the houses, the matte painting backgrounds. Victor Young's music is evocative and romantic. The script is by Ayn Rand (!) from a novel by Christopher Massie. My one real gripe is that I hated the name Singleton for this girl and every time they said it, it was like nails on a chalkboard for me. Hearing Joseph Cotten say "I love you Singleton" sounds like some secret joke forgotten decades ago. Whether it was Rand's idea or Massie's, I don't know. But it was stupid and provides clunky hiccups in the dialogue. Despite a few quibbles, it's hard to dislike. Interesting, romantic, effective mystery film that should entertain all but the stone-hearted among us.

Hmmm...this is a rather hard film to rate. On one hand, it has a wonderful and romantic feel to it and the actors do a great job. But, on the other, the plot strains credibility WAAAAAY beyond the breaking point.The film begins with two soldiers. One (Joseph Cotten) is writing a love letter for his buddy. It seems that the buddy has a female pen pal and he does not have a knack for words--so Cotten writes for him--much like the story of Cyrano. Now this is hard to believe, but I could suspend disbelief.Cotten is injured in the war and sent home. However, he's depressed and out of sorts and his life is a mess. Eventually, out of desperation, he seeks out the women to whom he wrote earlier in the film (Jennifer Jones). However, he has a lot of trouble finding her and even hears she might be dead! However, he eventually DOES find her--only to find that she has complete amnesia and has no idea who she is or her past or his letters. The amnesia ploy is very hard to believe, but I could still suspend disbelief.Next, Cotten is told some disturbing things about Jones. First, the "buddy" from earlier in the film married her--without telling her he really didn't write any of the letters. Second, and no one seems sure why, she was then convicted of killing him! So, in such a situation as this what would you do? Yep, you'd marry Jones and never tell her about the letters and begin a life based only on the present!! At this point, my sense of disbelief was screaming in my ear!! I could not possibly accept what was happening--even if Cotten and Jones made a nice romantic pair (just like they did in "Portrait of Jenny").While I've revealed a lot about the film, I can't really say much more about the plot, as there are some nice (though hardly believable) twists at the end. It's all rather enjoyable and glossy but the writing is hopelessly bad---very, very silly in fact. However, I do think many could look past the plot holes--I just know I could not.

"Love Letters" is one of the most interesting films of 1945, yet it's seldom seen these days. We watched an excellent copy of it courtesy of a cable channel. The picture has kept well throughout the years. Directed by an old pro of that period, William Dieterle, and with an excellent cinematography by Lee Garmes, it was a joy to watch again. Victor Young's haunting musical score plays softly in the background.Some comments seem to indicate that Ayn Rand wrote the original work in which the movie is based. Contrary to those opinions, the fact is it was based on a Christopher Massie's novel, "Pity my Simplicity", and adapted by the author and Ms. Rand into the finished product. Ms. Rand was an obvious admirer of the French playwright Edmund Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, which plays in the action without making it too obvious.The best thing in "Love Letters" was the casting of the main roles. Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten played with their characters with conviction. Ms. Jones was at a great moment of her movie career; her dual role of Victoria Morland/Singleton proved she was the right choice for it. Mr. Cotten was an actor that always delivered, as it's the case with his character, Allen Quinton, the man who has loved Victoria from a distance.The marvelous cast is enhanced by Gladys Cooper, who is seen as Beatrice Remington, the woman who brought up Victoria as her own daughter and who holds the key to solving the mystery of the tragedy that involves Victoria. Ann Richards and Cecil Kellaway are also seen in minor roles."Love Letters" will delight fans of the genre as it is one of the better exponent of the Hollywood of the 40s.

This is one of my favorite movies of all times. Jennifer Jones and Joseph Cotten once again create magic and enchantment together on the screen. It also features magnificent performances by Ann Richards, Gladys Cooper, and Cecil Kellaway. "Love Letters" has everything a true Hollywood classic needs: romance, suspense, a surprise ending and of course, wonderful actors. I give "Love Letters" a 10!~