The Letter (1940) by William Wyler

Yet another play put onto the big screen, The Letter by William Somerset Maugham. In its second movie version Bette Davis's gave perhaps the greatest performance of her long career. In the movie almost everyone believes that she shot her husband's friend in self-defense. Her lawyer, however, must show her a copy of a letter that he just has received. This below is the clip in which Bette Davis does not say, "Philip, give me the letter!", but it's still a really great scene, and watching Davis's facial expression as the lawyer pulls the letter out of his jacket is indeed priceless. The original story was inspired by a real-life scandal involving the wife of the headmaster of a school in Kuala Lumpur who was convicted in a murder trial after shooting dead a male friend in April 1911. She was eventually pardoned [media=https://youtu.be/-y0lSR8UNWs]