Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948) (Blu-Ray) (*)

~~$21.99~~ $18.98

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Portuguese ( Subtitles )
Spanish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
Spanish ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Spain ( Blu-Ray/Region A/B/C )

Running Time:
86 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1948 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Max Ophüls

Written By:
Howard Koch
Stefan Zweig

Actors:
Joan Fontaine ..... Lisa Berndle
Louis Jourdan ..... Stefan Brand
Mady Christians ..... Frau Berndle
Marcel Journet ..... Johann Stauffer
Art Smith ..... John
Carol Yorke ..... Marie
Howard Freeman ..... Herr Kastner
John Good ..... Lt. Leopold von Kaltnegger
Leo B. Pessin ..... Stefan Jr.
Erskine Sanford ..... Porter
Otto Waldis ..... Concierge

Synopsis:

Perhaps the finest American film from the famed European director Max Ophüls, the film stars Joan Fontaine as a young woman who falls in love with a concert pianist. Set in Vienna in 1900, the story is told in a complex flashback structure as the pianist, Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan), comes upon a letter written to him by Lisa Berndl (Fontaine), a girl who has been in love with him for years. Stefan is in the process of fleeing Vienna on the eve of fighting a duel. As he prepares himself for the nocturnal journey, the letter arrives. It begins, 'By the time you read this letter, I may be dead.' As Stefan sits back in his study to read this letter, it turns out to be a confession of unrequited love from Lisa. The story flashes backs to when Lisa was 14 years old and Stefan was her neighbor. After following Stefan with a girlish obsession, the romance gets much more serious, and they have a brief encounter. Stefan promises to come back to her after a concert tour, but he never does. Meanwhile, Lisa marries another man when she discovers that she is pregnant with Stefan's child. When she runs into Stefan years later, he doesn't remember her and tries to seduce her. After Stefan reads the letter, he wants to rush to her side, but now poor Lisa is dying from typhus.

In Vienna, about 1900, a dashing man arrives at his flat, instructing his manservant that he will leave before morning: the man is Stefan Brand, formerly a concert pianist, planning to leave Vienna to avoid a duel. His servant gives him a letter from an unknown woman, which he reads. In flashbacks we see the lifelong passion of Lisa Berndle for him: first as a girl who was his neighbor; next as a young woman who, in secret, has his child; then as a mature woman who meets him again and abandons husband and son to be with him. Each time he does not remember who she is or that they have ever met. By morning, he has finished the letter, and her husband awaits satisfaction.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 10 July, 2019.