The Letters (1973 TV Movie) User Reviews (9)

Four divas for the price of one...

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 19 March 2014]

This Aaron Spelling produced T.V. movie (rumored to be a potential anthology series) is an all-star "Love Boat" where the title really could be "mail plane", tragically crashing and delaying the delivery of important letters for years. This is a film where the narrator is a postman (Henry Jones of "The Bad Seed" and TV's "Phyllis" fame) who delivers the missing correspondence that reveals the truths about the dramas of the first 3/4 of the rather short film. The divas are MGM musical star Jane Powell, drama queens Barbara Stanwyck and Ida Lupino and one of the heirs to the Barbara Hutton estate, the gorgeous Dina Merrill. The Jane Powell/John Forsythe film involves revelations concerning infidelity, while the Ida Lupino segment concerns an ultra possessive mother. However, the best segment is the Stanwyck/Merrill pairing as a couple of sisters who fight over the same man (Leslie Nielsen, and surely, I AM serious!) and the devious methods conductor Nielsen utilizes to get his hands on a fortune.

While the other two segments are notable for being very "domestic", the third segment I mention is very much in tuned with what Spelling would do years later on "Dynasty" and his other prime-time soaps. Stanwyck is the domineering sister who covets Merrill's beau, and seeing method in this powerful woman's madness, Nielsen chooses money over love, much to his detriment. The characters here are all a bit amoral, and the payoff is classic in the old Warner Brothers/MGM women's film tradition. Stanwyck shows she still has the power to dominate every scene she is in, and Merrill shows she's a tiger in kitten fur who really has what it takes when she gets the chance. This is one of those fun "so bad it's good!" T.V. movies that today would end up automatically on Lifetime, and to see so much Hollywood royalty in one 75 minute movie makes it even a lot more fun than any "Love Boat" or "Fantasy Island" would do a decade later.

The Letters. Postal Letters with great importance to the people involved get lost (delayed, actually) for a year. The news they DON'T bring changes people's lives forever.

[gleetroy · 9 March 2008]

I remember this film. I only saw it once when it first came out and have heard neither hide nor hair about it since then. Yet, that vague memory has stayed with me up to the present day. When I saw the credit on Barbara Stanwyck's biog I clicked on it remembering the film from long ago. The first thing I said was "Henry Jones." He was the mailman. Sure enough, as I scrolled down the list there he was as the very last credited player Henry Jones....Postman.

What I remember best about this film was the mailman finally delivering the letter to an obviously happily married couple. The husband looks at the wife and says "Don't Open it." She tosses it in the trash and smiles. That little scene brought the whole theme of the film into sharp focus. Sometimes the moves you don't make are the smartest and most memorable actions of your life. Excellent film. Very well done.

When you control the mail. You control information...

[ThunderKing6 · 2/10 · 30 October 2022]

Review written on Octo 30 22

About: I don't know. It had something to do with letters. I was left confused.

Genre: Caucasian Drama

Story and production: I didn't get what was going on therefore the story was hash. Production had some good acting but with a lack of understood story it does not matter.

Soundtrack: Classical

Highlight: nothing

Main Intelligence: N/A

Do worthless Mutts appear? Yes. Only for a couple seconds. That means you don't have to feel sick for too long.

Is this movie worthy?: No sir.

Should you watch this?: Nope. Don't even bother. Watch something better like Thor Ragnarok.

Three stories all bound together by letters lost for a year.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 31 October 2016]

"The Letters" is an interesting idea for a film and apparently was a pilot for a series that never came to be. You see three separate stories that are all tied together by a common thread...a letter which was sent but not delivered for a year. While you could argue that the Postal Service sucks, this is explained away by a bag of mail being on a plane that crashed in the mountains...and the missing sack of mail was only just discovered. In each story, you see the story up until the letter is written...then a break to show the plane crash...and then later the rest of the story once the letter arrives.

The film has a cast of various A and B list stars including the likes of John Forsythe, Barbara Stanwyck, Dina Merrill, Ida Lupino and many others. One story is about an unfaithful husband, another about a slimy pianist who murders his ancient wife and the final about a man who is killed on the way to doing the right thing and straighten up his life! I was surprised how touching some of the stories were (particularly the first and third) and in hindsight I would have liked to have seen more. Too bad the series never was made. It was well written, had an interesting cast and was quite original.

Better Late than Never - Find "The Letters"

[JLRMovieReviews · 8/10 · 18 December 2014]

"The Letters," this 1973 TV movie is told in three stories which have a common factor – they all received a letter a year late due to the carrier plane crashing. Story #1: We see married couple John Forsythe and wife Jane Powell. He is going on a business trip, but when he gets on the plane, we see him hold hands with the lady already sitting there, Lesley Ann Warren. Oh, John! While on his business trip and rendezvousing with Lesley, he writes a "Dear John" letter to Jane, but never mailed it. He then winds up going back to her, when he can't see a real life with children with Lesley. When Lesley sees he has accidentally dropped it, she has her own agenda that may hurt all of them. Story #2: Leslie Nielsen is a concert pianist, or at least wants to be. He has talent, but is undiscovered. Dina Merrill, who loves him, tells him it will happen. But Dina's rich sister Barbara Stanwyck sinks her teeth into Dina's love life and Stanwyck really packs a wallop with her spunky but brief role. And, Barbara mails a letter that will not surface for a year and will give someone the upper hand. Story #3: Ida Lupino is Pamela Franklin's controlling but loving mother who only wants the best for her when she tells Pamela's beau to hightail it out of town or she'll put him in jail for an accidental death he caused that he's wanted for out of the state. He ultimately leaves and learns something about himself in the process, thereby writing Pamela a letter. All three stories are modest yet very engrossing little vignettes. Some are more effective. Some are more melodramatic than others. All gave good performances, even John Forsythe who usually doesn't emote much. Stanwyck of course is a highlight. The second story is the most unsatisfying maybe, due to its superficial and unlikeable characters. The film, on the whole, was very entertaining, but you're not very likely to ever see this on TV now or know anything about it, unless you find this at a DVR website. If you do decide to get it, you won't be disappointed. I would watch it again. Movies like this always make me yearn for the more simpler time and life of the 1970s and 80s when everything was so completely different. This may seem to be undemanding but that also is its charm. Simple stories of simple yet multi-layered people who make mistakes and learn from them – a year later.

Great Film, Unknown, Underrated

[Dorian-5 · 12 January 1999]

I loved "The Letters" (1973, made-for-TV). Why is it never shown on TV or available in video rental? There are lots of people out here with a bent for romantic themes. For example, "Somewhere in Time" is the greatest love story ever made, hated by the critics, but loved by the fans. Today, 20 years later, the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan has an annual "Somewhere in Time" Weekend, and it is always a sell-out.. Shows what the critics know.

GOLDEN AGE OF MOVIES FOR TV

[asalerno10 · 8/10 · 26 November 2022]

The 1970s was one of the most prolific in terms of TV productions. Cable channels and VHS rental did not yet exist. Films for cinema were strictly for cinema and television had its own production, with a smaller budget but with great ideas and actors. This film narrates three different stories, the first about a middle-aged couple whose husband decides to run away with a young lover, the second about two sisters who fight for the same man, and the third about a young couple who are very much in love who have to face the refusal of her mother. The three stories coincide in that their protagonists have written letters that end up reaching their recipients 1 year later than expected. This detail gives a dramatic turn to the resolution of each segment. The film is simple but charming, the cast is wonderful, Barbara Stanwick, John Forsithe, Dina Merril, Ida Lupino and Pamela Franklin are just some of the established figures that participate in the telefilm. It is a pity that this, like many other productions of the 70s and 80s, have been practically forgotten.

Beautiful Noir

[mrdonleone · 8/10 · 29 May 2020]

Very beautiful music. Great actors. Interesting story. Everything about this movie is deliciously perfect. Bravo! I love all about the noirish drama type here. Real life like.

Intelligent drama

[searchanddestroy-1 · 4 June 2017]

I was pleasantly surprised by this little drama, very well acted which could have given a good TV show. what amused me the most is that's the same mail man for all those three stories. But after all, maybe the three stories took place in the same neighbourhood...

Yes, this is a pretty good surprise, the typical stuff that TV industry may give from time to time. I guess there must me many more hidden. I am myself a French mail employee and that tale amused me a lot. Thanks.