Begs to be remade

The Letter always struck me as an over-wrought, over-rated soapy women's melodrama to be quite frank. The treatment it is given in this so called 'classic' is awful. The original version with Jeanne Eagels hits closer to the mark for me. But ultimately no filmed version of The Letter has really succeeded. They've all descended into the absurd in their final scenes, that awful 'with all my heart...' bit. In the case of the Bette Davis film, there's only so much of Davis pacing and wringing her hands I can take. Probably one of Davis' worst performances in my opinion, and even William Wyler's direction - beyond that stunning opening sequence - is off kilter.

I reckon this begs to be revisited and I'd personally love to see it done with Helena Bonham Carter in the lead role, with greater and more realistic development of characters and narrative.