The Letter

Adulteress Leslie Crosbie fires a bullet into her lover then, for good measure, five more. At trial, her plaintive testimony tilts the jury toward acquittal. Then scheming Leslie learns someone has a telltale letter she wrote to her paramour. Starring in the 1929 screen tale of Somerset Maugham's The Letter is the actress who made a name for herself as the stage's Sadie Thompson in Maugham's Rain: Jeanne Eagels. As Bette Davis did when she famously played Leslie 11 years later, Eagels earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her volatile performance. Eagels tragically died six months after the film; today it remains the lone available talkie testament to her talent. Kim Novak played Eagels in 1957's biopic Jeanne Eagels.