"While the picture is a standout in every aspect, there are two factors mainly responsible for its overall quality. One is the unique story, adapted from a John Klempner novel [by] Vera Caspary and given a nifty screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Other (sic) standout aspect is the fine film debut of legit actor Paul Douglas. His role in Wives is that of a big, blustering but slightly dumb tycoon and he really gives it a ride with some neat character shading. He's equally good in the more serious romantic moments with Linda Darnell."
- Variety
"The final romantic remembrance—that of the hard-boiled wife—is a taut and explosive piece of satire, as funny and as poignant as it is shrewd, and it is played with coruscating vigor by Linda Darnell in the gold-digger role and by Paul Douglas as the rough-cut big-shot whom she tangles with frank and ancient wiles. Indeed, this one rough-and-tumble between Mr. Douglas and Miss Darnell is deliciously rugged entertainment, the real salvation of the film."
- Bosley Crowther, The New York Times
"Traditional wisdom has Mankiewicz as more writer than director, but consider the marvelously cinematic opening of A Letter to Three Wives: shots of a prosperous town and its stately avenues of rich men's houses, all placidly awaiting the start of the country club season, as the venomously honeyed voice of an unseen female narrator (beautifully done by Celeste Holm) begins spinning a web of speculation and suspicion round three married women, shortly to be completed by their receipt of a poisonous letter indicating that the narrator has run away with one of the husbands. Glitteringly funny at one end of the scale (Kirk Douglas and Ann Sothern), dumbly touching at the other (Paul Douglas and Linda Darnell), it's absolutely irresistible."
- “Time Out Film Guide”
"As each threatened wife reviews her marriage, we get, at best, a sharp, frequently hilarious look at suburbia, and, at worst, a slick series of bright remarks. Mankiewicz coaxed good performances out of Jeanne Crain and Linda Darnell, and the others certainly didn't need coaxing—Paul Douglas is pretty close to magnificent, and Ann Sothern, Kirk Douglas, Florence Bates, Thelma Ritter, and Connie Gilchrist are first-rate."
- Pauline Kael, “5,001 Nights at the Movies”
"Amusing short-story compendium which seemed more revelatory at the time than it does now, and paved the way for its writer-director's heyday."
- “Halliwell's Film & Video Guide”
"A well-made psychological comedy of morals with witty dialogue. One of Mankiewicz's best films."
- Georges Sadoul, “Dictionary of Films”
"...sharp-edged yet ultimately sentimental...These people always talk to each other (Mankiewicz loves dialogue), but, like the characters on the radio soaps they listen to, their words don't communicate real thoughts. Picture is stagy, almost like three one-act plays put together, but the literate, Oscar-winning script....is perceptive, and, oddly, we care about the characters."
- Danny Peary, “Guide for the Film Fanatic”
Additionally, this film has received the following awards and/or honors:
Joseph L. Mankiewicz won Oscars for both directing and writing A Letter to Three Wives, but the movie lost its Best Picture bid to Columbia's All the King's Men (1949). Ironically, John Huston had done exactly the same the year before, winning for his direction and screenplay for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), but losing Best Picture. Mankiewicz also won the Director's and Writer's Guild Awards.
