After successfully directing three Philip Dunne screenplays and honing his skills as a filmmaker, Mankiewicz made a triumphant return to writing and directing, with A Letter to Three Wives, a confirmation of his status as a commercially successful and critically respected auteur. The film's famous central conceit of a suburban home-wrecker shooting a poisoned and playfully threatening letter simultaneously at her three "best" friends offers a dazzlingly philosophical prism that refracts flashback meditations of the women's self-doubt and painful scrutinizing of their married lives. The careful weaving of three distinct episodes and singular voices presents an impressive showcase of Mankiewicz's ability to musically vary tone, seamlessly turning from farce to melodrama to ribald comedy. – HG