Letter, The

The most famous (and best) version of Maugham's oft-filmed melodrama stars Davis as Leslie Crosbie, the woman who murders her lover but escapes the death penalty on a self-defence charge, only for circumstance to come back to haunt her in the shape of a letter that she wrote to him. A complex and provocative interpretation from director Wyler, with Davis (who received her fourth Oscar nomination but no trophy here) perfect as the cold-eyed, emotionless and thoroughly manipulative killer who becomes so convincingly vulnerable when pleading her case that it seems impossible not to forgive her crime.