Editing The Letter (1940 film) (section)

===Critical response===
In his review in ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Bosley Crowther]] observed, "The ultimate credit for as taut and insinuating a [[melodrama]] as has come along this year — a film which extenuates tension like a grim inquisitor's rack—must be given to Mr. Wyler. His hand is patent throughout . . . Miss Davis is a strangely cool and calculating killer who conducts herself with reserve and yet implies a deep confusion of emotions . . . Only the end of ''The Letter'' is weak — and that is because of the postscript which the Hays Office has compelled".<ref>{{cite news |date=23 November 1940 |first1=Bosley |last1=Crowther |title=THE SCREEN; 'The Letter,' With Bette Davis and James Stephenson, a Communication of Brooding Evil, at the Strand |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/11/23/archives/the-screen-the-letter-with-bette-davis-and-james-stephenson-a.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923105811/https://www.nytimes.com/1940/11/23/archives/the-screen-the-letter-with-bette-davis-and-james-stephenson-a.html |archive-date=2020-09-23}}</ref>

''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' magazine wrote, "Never has [the W. Somerset Maugham play] been done with greater production values, a better all-around cast or finer direction. Its defect is its grimness. Director William Wyler, however, sets himself a tempo which is in rhythm with the Malay locale . . . Davis' frigidity at times seems to go even beyond the characterization. On the other hand, Marshall never falters. Virtually stealing these honors in the pic, however, is Stephenson as the attorney, while Sondergaard is the perfect mask-like threat".<ref>{{cite journal| date=31 December 1939| title=The Letter|url=https://variety.com/review/VE1117792559| magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref>

''[[Time Out London]]'' said in 2012, "A superbly crafted melodrama, even if it never manages to top the moody montage with which it opens - moon scudding behind clouds, rubber dripping from a tree, coolies dozing in the compound, a startled cockatoo - as a shot rings out, a man staggers out onto the verandah, and Davis follows to empty her gun grimly into his body . . . [The] camerawork, almost worthy of Sternberg in its evocation of sultry [[Singapore]] nights and cool [[Singapore Sling|gin slings]], is not matched by natural sounds (on the soundtrack [[Max Steiner]]'s score does a lot of busy underlining).<ref>{{cite journal| url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/the-letter| title=Review: The Letter| magazine=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]| date=September 10, 2012| accessdate=November 28, 2022}}</ref>

The film holds a 100% rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 8.40/10.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1012264-letter |title=The Letter |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=February 22, 2022 }}</ref>