A Letter to Three Wives

Manklewicz won two Oscars for this film, one for writing it and the ether for directing it, and it has yet to be excelled as a gentle, witty, civilized comedy on the foibles of marriage. The film is an examination of 3 marriages in a small Hudson Valley town, as the wives, thinking their unions are in peril, look back and try to understand why and how they might have failed. Before they all embark on a river trip as chaperones to a party of youngsters, each has received and read a letter from a certain Addie. The letters have a common message: Addie will leave town and take with her one of the three husbands, without saying which one.