Poison Pen

At first, this ‘whodunnit’ from 1939 might appear somewhat dated, however, its unexpected twist and some fine performances from stars Flora Robson, Robert Newton and Reginald Date keep things going on a good pace. The film even has the viewers guessing as to who might be behind that string of nasty and anonymous letters…

The idyllic and tranquil life of a little English village is crudely interrupted when some villagers start to receive anonymous letters with disturbing contents that implicates the receivers with all kinds of nonsense ranging from immoral to criminal misdeeds. Shocked and despairing villagers flock to their local Reverend Rider (Reginald Date) for help, and he advises them to ignore the letters and dismiss them as a nasty prank. The Reverend’s older sister Mary (Flora Robson), forever concerned with the physical and emotional wellbeing of the community, does her utmost best to convince the villagers to ignore the hate mail. But even Ann (Ann Todd), the attractive daughter of the Reverend, receives a letter in which her fiancé David (Geoffrey Toone) is accused of infidelity. David has just returned from Australia and is looking forward to marry Ann but the letter has somewhat dampened the spirits of the future bride and groom.

As the letters continue to arrive in random households and with ever wilder accusations, the once tight-knit community soon is at loggerheads with one another and everyone suspects even the most implausible candidate, despite the Reverend’s continuous warning to ignore the letters. Soon, the finger is pointed at Connie Fateley (Catherine Lacey), a young seamstress originally from Wales and thus a ‘foreigner’. Painfully shy, Connie tends to keep to herself and minds her own business, in short: the perfect victim of the witch-hunt that has descended upon the village. In particular a small group of gossiping women lead by Mrs. Scaife (Marjorie Rhodes) are convinced that it can be no other than Connie who is behind the ‘poison pen letters’ and soon the entire community turn against the Welsh woman although there is no evidence whatsoever that she’s the culprit. Out of despair, Connie hangs herself from the bell-rope in the church just as Reverend Rider is about to hold his weekly sermon. Shocked and angered by the event, Rider scorns the villagers for their short-sightedness and for having driven the poor woman to suicide. To make matters worse, the terror of the poison pen continues shortly after, and this time the letters claim another fatality when loose cannon Sam Hurrin (Robert Newton) shoots a man in a drunken rage after having received a letter claiming that his wife allegedly has an affair with said man.
Now it’s time for the police to take over and a 24/7 surveillance of all the letter-boxes in the village begins. On top of all that, a hand-writing expert (Roddy Hughes) is brought on board and soon he makes a discovery which steers the entire investigation into a completely different direction…

For fans of vintage dramas, Poison Pen makes for some great entertainment.