☆ ☆ ☆
The
13th Letter (1951) – O. Preminger
Otto Preminger’s remake of Henri-George
Clouzot’s Le Corbeau (1943) loses a lot of the bite and bitterness (and the
abortion references) but still retains enough of its mystery to be
interesting. A new young and handsome
doctor (Michael Rennie) in a small town in Quebec begins to receive anonymous “poison
pen” letters accusing him of having an affair with a senior doctor’s young
wife. The wife (Constance Smith) and the
senior doctor (Charles Boyer, almost unrecognisable) also receive letters, as
does most of the hospital staff and other people in the town. Some are ready to believe the doctor is
guilty but soon suspicion falls on the wife’s sister (Judith Evelyn), a nurse
at the hospital. When a war hero patient
commits suicide after receiving a letter, the nurse is arrested because she had
had a recent conflict with the patient, as well as with her sister and the
young doctor. But soon the letters
continue… even as the young doctor falls
for another patient (Linda Darnell). Filmed
on location in Quebec, the film looks moody and provincial, with a bit of French
spoken for good measure. Rennie is solid
as the aloof young doctor who has secrets of his own. Still, I can’t help recalling that Le Corbeau
struck me harder – I’ll have to rewatch it.
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