A Letter for Evie
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''A Letter for Evie'' is a 1946 American
comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Jules Dassin Julius "Jules" Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, whe ...
.


Plot

New York city girl Evie O'Connor works as a secretary for the Trojan Shirt Co. in Brooklyn. She has her mind set on finding a tall, strong man to marry - one that can wear a Trojan shirt with a 16 1/2 neck size. She writes a short letter and puts it in a shirt that is to be sent to an army camp. The shirt eventually ends up on private Edgar "Wolf" Larsen, who has quite a reputation as a ladies' man. Wolf reads the letter aloud to his bunk mate John Phoneas McPherson, then throws it away. John picks it up again and gets interested in finding the woman behind the letter. Although John is not big and strong like Wolf, but short and small, he decides to pursue Evie by writing her back. John and Evie become pen pals, but he sends her a picture of Wolf when she asks for a picture of him, since he is afraid she will lose interest if he admits to not being of the same size and dimension. Some time later John's unit passes through New York, and he goes to see her, posing as his own friend Wolf. When he sees her he is smitten at the first glance. The two get along wonderfully, having a lot of the same interests, but he is afraid that if she discovers his deception she will hate him, so he continues to pretend being someone else. Wolf finds out about the correspondence between him and Evie, and makes a surprise visit at Evie's place when John is there. Wolf takes her in his arms and kisses her, pretending to be the one who wrote the letters. Evie is at first madly in love with him, but feels some chemistry missing that she felt when he wrote the letters. He explains to her that he can only be eloquent when writing, but not when speaking. A commotion occurs as John tries to stop Evie and Wolf from being alone with each other, and at the same time fending off Evie's roommate Barney Lee, who is attracted to him. He eventually pretends to be drunk and forces Wolf and Evie apart. Jealous, John strikes Wolf outside Evie's apartment and tells him to stay away from "his" girl. Wolf ignores John's command and meets Evie again in secret. John finds out about their meetings when Wolf answers her phone call. John rushes to Evie's apartment building and starts a fire to smoke the couple out. In the ensuing commotion, Wolf trips and falls, hurting his head. Subsequently, when not in his right mind, Wolf asks Evie to marry him. She accepts, but the marriage is postponed, since the unit is shipped overseas the next morning. While away on his mission Wolf meets and marries a French girl, placing the burden on John of telling Evie about the deception. Evie, not receiving any letters from John for several months and becoming worried, goes to visit John's family in New York. While there, she discovers by looking through a photo album that the man whose home she is visiting, and who wrote her the letters, is the short small one, and not the tall strong one. She is heartbroken, and back home she cries to her roommate that she never wants to see either man again. She also confesses to being confused as to which man she had really loved: the one who kissed her, or the one who wrote the letters. Meantime John, who doesn't know that Evie knows, is trying to figure out how to break the news to her. Just released from the army hospital with a wounded leg, he decides to protect both Wolf's honor and Evie's faith by telling her that John is dead, and that he died loving her. He gives Evie the gift of his purple heart. Evie then realizes that all along it was this man who had loved her, and this man whom she had fallen in love with. She is delighted, and they unite in a kiss. The story is a spinoff of
Cyrano de Bergerac Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac ( , ; 6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655) was a French novelist, playwright, epistolarian, and duelist. A bold and innovative author, his work was part of the libertine literature of the first half of the 17th cen ...
, updated to a modern setting.


Cast

* Marsha Hunt as Evie O'Connor *
John Carroll John Carroll may refer to: People Academia and science *Sir John Carroll (astronomer) (1899–1974), British astronomer *John Alexander Carroll (died 2000), American history professor *John Bissell Carroll (1916–2003), American cognitive sci ...
as Edgar 'Wolf' Larson *
Hume Cronyn Hume Blake Cronyn Jr. OC (July 18, 1911 – June 15, 2003) was a Canadian-American actor and writer. Early life Cronyn, one of five children, was born in London, Ontario, Canada. His father, Hume Blake Cronyn, Sr., was a businessman and ...
as John Phineas McPherson *
Spring Byington Spring Dell Byington (October 17, 1886 – September 7, 1971) was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of '' December Bride''. She was a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player who appeared in ...
as Mrs. McPherson * Pamela Britton as Barney Lee * Norman Lloyd as DeWitt Pynchon * Percival Vivian as Mr. McPherson *
Donald Curtis Donald Curtis (born Curtis D. Rudolf; February 27, 1915 – May 22, 1997) was an American actor who had roles in dozens of films and television series. Biography Curtis was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl W. Rudol ...
as Capt. Budlowe *
Esther Howard Esther Howard (April 4, 1892 – March 8, 1965) was an American stage and film character actress who played a wide range of supporting roles, from man-hungry spinsters to amoral criminals, appearing in 108 films in her 23-year screen career ...
as Mrs. Edgewaters *
Robin Raymond Robin Raymond (born Rayemon Robin, October 4, 1916 – June 20, 1994) was an American film actress. Early life Raymond graduated from Northwestern University with a BA degree and worked as a press agent in Chicago. Personal life Ray ...
as Eloise Edgewaters


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Letter For Evie, A 1946 films 1946 comedy-drama films American comedy-drama films American black-and-white films Films directed by Jules Dassin Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1940s American films