Dear Murderer

Some wives leave behind a Dear John letter when they pick up and leave their husbands, but Vivien Warren (Greta Gynt) leaves a “Dear Murderer” letter instead in Arthur Crabtree’s 1947 film. The Murderer is her husband Lee (Eric Portman), who kills Vivien’s lover Richard Fenton (Richard Price) and makes it look like a suicide in the film’s first act. But that’s just the first twist of this story; Lee’s plot and cover-up will take  soon enough, especially after he learns of Vivien’s newest lover, Jimmy Martin (Maxwell Reed), who had replaced Fenton as her man of the month. Make no mistake: the Warrens are terrible people, and neither of them deserves a break. The unscrambling of culpability for Fenton’s murder, led by Inspector Pembury (Jack Warner), will bring Lee and Vivien back into each other’s arms for one last effort at marriage bliss, but also more murder. It’s a tightly paced film with limited action in just a few settings, but it’s a thrilling ride through domestic immorality, the tension among characters ratcheted way up by the noir visual style, shadows draped across both exteriors and interiors, giving new expression to doorways and lamp shades, highlighting sharp angles, and wrapping around faces like cloaks.