The Letter (1929) Director: Jean de Limur Studio: Paramount Pictures Starring: Jeanne Eagels (Leslie Crosbie), O. P. Heggie (Howard Joyce), Reginald Owen (Robert Crosbie), Herbert Marshall (Geoff Hammond) Release Date: April 20, 1929 Runtime: Approx. 84 minutes Format: Black & White | Sound | Drama | Crime Country: United States Language: English Genres: Drama, Crime, Romance Summary: Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a British rubber plantation manager in Malaya, shoots and kills her lover, Geoffrey Hammond. She claims it was in self-defense after he tried to assault her. However, a letter she wrote to him on the night of the murder surfaces—threatening to expose her real motives. As her lawyer struggles to keep the scandal contained, Leslie’s calm façade begins to unravel, revealing guilt, manipulation, and despair. Background: The Letter (1929) is the first sound adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s celebrated 1927 play of the same name. This version marked Jeanne Eagels’ final film performance and earned her a posthumous Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, making her one of the earliest posthumous Oscar nominees in history. Notable Features and Legacy: One of the earliest “talkies” to successfully translate stage dialogue to film. Jeanne Eagels’ performance is widely regarded as electrifying and psychologically complex. The film’s success demonstrated the power of early sound cinema to deliver nuanced, dialogue-driven performances. A later remake in 1940, starring Bette Davis and directed by William Wyler, became the more famous version. Long thought lost, surviving prints of the 1929 version were rediscovered in archives decades later. Trivia: The film’s production was plagued by sound recording issues typical of the early talkie era. Herbert Marshall, who played the murdered lover in this version, later played Leslie’s husband in the 1940 remake. Jeanne Eagels died of a heroin overdose shortly after the film’s release. Hashtags: #TheLetter1929 #JeanDeLimur #JeanneEagels #HerbertMarshall #SomersetMaugham #ParamountPictures #EarlySoundFilm #ClassicHollywood #FilmHistory #PreCodeCinema