Movies and letters

Greetings and cinema salutations

A short, one might say, from my work-in-progress on the joys of correspondence:

I enjoyed reading the list published in the online site Vulture, by Barry Levitt: “Please, Mr. Postman: 20 Essential Movies About Letters.” He makes some interesting points about correspondence in movies, and I believe they reflected the historical (nice word for antiquated) dependence of culture on letter-writing.

Levitt writes, “The joy of letters has been captured in film since the start of the medium, with letters playing an essential role in delivering plot information: watch any film from the 1930s or ‘30s and you’ve got a good shot that someone will read a letter revealing vital details. The role of letters has evolved from being a convenient plot device to practically beoming its own character: films that don’t just feature letters but are about letters.”

The idea is wonderful but Levitt fudges his list somewhat by including “You’ve Got Mail” and others that are about e-mailing and instant messaging, not letters transmitted via postal services.

He writes, “We’re probably not far off from a film where the primary form of communication happens via Instagram DM. Until that fateful day, these are the essential movies about letters.”

Here is Levitt’s list:

Only Angels Have Wings, 1939

The Shop Around the Corner, 1940

Le Corbeau (1943)

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Cause for Alarm! (1951)

Love Letter (1953)

News From Home (1977)

84 Charing Cross Road (1987)

Beaches (1988)

La Ceremonie (1995)

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

You’ve Got Mail (1998)

A Cinderella Story (2004)

The Lake House (2006)

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Zodiac (2007)

Letters to Juliet (2010)

The Last Letter From Your Lover (2021)

Wicked Little Letters (2024)

A few thoughts before “Fin”:

I am guessing other films out there portray letters as central to plot. In “White Christmas” two letters are key to the story: the disappointing one the old general receives and another from one sister to the other.

How can we forget “Casablanca” and Rick Blaine standing in the rain on the Paris train station, reading and then crumpling the goodbye note from Ilsa?

Also, Levitt’s (or the editor’s) use of “essential” is interesting. Hard to argue, but it does not close out the possibility of other movies making the list. I appreciate the distinction between movies about letters, with letters approaching status as character, but my own list would include “Cold Comfort Farm,” which opens with a series of letters, one of which moves the story directly forward.

While I have not seen the film “The Letter,” based on my reading about it I’m a little surprised Levitt left the 1940 Bette Davis movie off his list. Also, while I have not seen “P.S. I Love You,” like “The Letter” is should make the list for the title alone.

Letters figure prominently, if not framing the story itself, in “Sense and Sensibility,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and “Dial M For Murder.”

I saw a film on Saturday afternoon TV in the 1960s and I can’t remember the name of it but it revolves around a kid writing a note to a suspected killer. Despite lack of memory of the title, one scene stands out: the moment the killer realizes the kid knows who he is and destroys the note.

It brings to mind one of those vague-yet vivid memories – like a dream where the overall setting and theme are unclear but you remember one specific detail.

“If dreams are like movies then memories are films about ghosts …” — Counting Crows.

One last item: the photo above is taken during previews from the screen at Newberg, Oregon’s lovely Cameo Theater. It is so cool to see the theatre given some star treatment by The Oregonian in the April 5 edition. “Let’s go out to the lobby …” — N.R.