The Love Letter (1998 film)

"The Love Letter" is a 1998 Hallmark television film starring Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It is based on Jack Finney's short story of the same name, which was first published in "The Saturday Evening Post" on August 1, 1959, and reprinted in the same magazine in January/February 1988 issue. The story has since appeared in several books.

The short story as originally written by Jack Finney

In 1959, a young, lonely, single man in Brooklyn, New York is looking for used furniture to furnish his recently-acquired apartment. Walking in a section of the borough that contains very large, ancient, magnificent mansions about to be torn down, he finds a yard sale of antique furniture from a mansion about to be demolished, and is fascinated by an antique roll-top desk from the 1800s, which he purchases.

After getting the desk home, he opens a drawer and finds original stamps, pens and stationery from the previous century, along with several old stamps from that period. He also finds a love letter from a woman named Helen to her fiancee, who lived in the Brooklyn of the 1880s.

Enchanted with the letter, he feels compelled to answer Helen, by writing to her using the old stationery, pen and ink, and putting an old stamp on the letter and mailing it at the old "Wister" post office, which has been around for decades in Brooklyn, unchanged by time.

He returns home and opens the second drawer, to find to his shock, that Helen has received his letter, and she wishes to know who he is and why he has written to her. He writes her another letter, describing who he is, and the fact that he lived in the year 1959 and although they have fallen in love with each other, to meet is impossible because of the years between them. Expecting to receive a final, long love letter from her, he is surprised to find in the bottom drawer, only her picture and the inscription "I will never forget"."

After doing research on her whereabouts, he finally finds her grave in a local cemetery, and on her tombstone is engraved, "I never forgot"."

The movie and differences from the short story

The made-for-television movie is based on Finney's short story, but there are a number of differences:

1. The movie takes place in the year 1998, whereas in the book, the "modern" year is 1959
2. The woman in the movie, Elizabeth, lives in the Civil War era, whereas Helen in the short story lives in the 1880s in Brooklyn, New York
3. Apparently Elizabeth is able to travel through time to her future lover, whereas Helen never meets Charles, but dies in 1934, 25 years before he buys the desk.

External links

*imdb title|id=0140340|title=The Love Letter