Romance · Drama · Mystery
American
1949 · Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz · 103 min
Three women board a riverboat for a day trip with children and receive a letter from a friend who has just left town. She says she has run off with one of their husbands, and she does not say which. The film is a brisk, sharp-tongued comedy of manners with real sting underneath.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining example of late-1940s Hollywood literate comedy-drama. It joins the flashback structure made famous by Citizen Kane to a domestic, women-centred story about class and marriage in postwar America.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a puzzle about the women, not the husbands: each flashback shows what its wife fears about herself.
Save this film, rate it and keep your notes.
Free, no ads. Your journal, your lists, a Cine Guide that remembers you.
Create your free space
