A Letter to Three Wives

(Joseph L. Mankiewicz, US 1949, 103 min., 35mm)

Reinventing Hollywood. Prior to boarding a boat for an all-day charity picnic, three married women (Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, Ann Sothern) receive a single letter saying that another woman has run away with one of their husbands, but doesn’t tell them which. All three husbands have excuses for why they can’t be at the picnic, so the story depends on flashback to investigate which of the three husbands may have been the one to escape. Mankiewicz won two consecutive writing and directing Oscars for this film and the equally flashback-heavy All About Eve, released the following year.

Also showing: Thursday, October 4