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All About Eve

Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. (1950) Drama/Comedy. From Mary Orr's novel "The Wisdom of Eve." Aspiring actress Eve Harrington maneuvers her way into the lives of Broadway star Margo Channing, playwright Lloyd Richards and director Bill Sampson. This classic story of ambition and betrayal has become part of American folklore. Davis claimed to have based her character on the persona of film actress Talullah Bankhead. Davis' line "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night" is legendary, but, in fact, all of the film's dialogue sparkles with equal brilliance. A must-see.

Barbara

This movie will go over the head of any man watching it..... unless he has reason to pay attention (like his wife saying "See! That's what I mean!"). A woman with savvy will know all three of these females and exactly what is going on inside of each one. While we all can recognize the "game" played by some women, I think only a desperate, damaged, or spoiled female will actually engage in it. To play it you must be very skilled, determined, and without conscience..... willful!

I enjoyed the movie much more the second time I watched it because I could relax and enjoy Bill's role in it. He seemed to have the right amount of understandable male ignorance (protectiveness/chivalry), and then wised up when it became necessary to protect something of value within himself and also his relationship with Margo.
Barbara

Mike

Man, oh man, oh man, oh man! If I hadn't spent the last few months in heavy dialog and debate with Barbara, the whole thing would have gone right over my head! (Wink, wink.)

One of the things I like about b/w films, is the lack of 'colorful'distractions. I'm able to appreciate the light and shading of characters and also the attention to detail. Did you notice, for example, the scene when DeWitt and Eve were walking past the Schubert theatre in (what was the name of that town?). I believe that the background was actually a film, and they were walking in front of it and being filmed as though they were really out of doors. Or was it because of depth of field limitations back then...Susan? Anyway, I ramble.

Thelma Ritter 'Birdie' reminded me so much of my Aunt Mary, mostly in looks. Aunt Mary was not quite so caustic and obvious.

I saw Bette Davis' 'Margo Channing' as an especially stellar performance, and she does command a certain presence, doesn't she? She seemed to have been 'taken in' by Eve from the start.

Gary Merrill's 'Bill Simpson' was a strong man, deliberate in his position, determined in his appreciation of Margo and tolerant of her up to a point. I especially liked the way he rubuffed Eve's advances in her dressing room after her understudy debut performance. The only part I didn't like was after DeWitt's column of Eve's debut appeared. Then 'Bill' came 'running' to Margo, took her in his arms and said: 'Bill's back, everything will be alright now.' Oh, really!?

George Sanders 'Addison Dewitt' has always had a most commanding presence in his movies. And what a wonderful timbre to his voice! A well played opportunist, which he admitted to being, and everyone knew it, too. Did you know that he was notoriously gay in real life? Or perhaps I've just started a rumor...or

Celeste Holm' 'Karen' was sorta dopey in a nice way. However, when she played that little 'get even' trick on Margo, using Eve as her accomplice, it really backfired, much to her chagrin. Then she turned out to be just plain stupid!

Hugh Marlowe 'Lloyd Richards'...nothing special, just another 'toy' for Eve, and he fell right into her hands. Wake up Karen!

Anne Baxter's 'Eve Harrington' was the woman we men have always been warned about. Awesome and bad, and just as DeWitt said:...'killer'. Probably a descendant of Helen of Troy or Cleopatra or Josephine..

Finally...Marilyn Monroe?
Mike

Vicki

I selected this movie because I'd watched it last fall...on a Saturday evening when I was home alone. I loved it because I so understood Margo Channing. I could feel her frustration in those scenes when the "loving friends" around her misunderstand her. And as we watched it this time Patrick became one of those "loving friends"...chiding Margo to "get over it". And it was so satisfying that the storyline vindicates her. That was a fine moment indeed for the Vickster! And it was even finer when all the pieces clicked into place for Margo and then a new ingenue was curled up in Eve's hotel room after the awards ceremony. (Perhaps it was a bit too much justice, but I liked it inspite of its credibility gap.)

And Mike's comment about not buying the scene in which Bill rushes in to comfort Margo after the bad press review was actually not about him. It was to give Margo a chance to "practice being a woman"...it put closure on the scene in the car between Margo and Karen. Does that help?

When I read Mom's review, I said to Patrick, "see, see, she said just what I said while we were watching the movie." Yup, it was a movie very close to my core.

I enjoyed the power of the women, the working of karmic law, and the fact that everyone got what they wanted in the end (a very neat trick). By the way, this movie was almost as long as Shawshank...however, to me it was much faster. Patrick said he began to flag after 1.5 hours of viewing.
Vic

P.S. Mike really threw me for a loop when he said that Thelma Ritter was in the film...ain't that a kicker. Yes, I'd like to be Birdie!
Vicki

Kim

We have been having a real problem finding the pick of the weekend movies at the local Hollywood Video. It started with my own pick of COME BACK LITTLE SHEBA, then it escalated to Susan's pick of SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, and now to Vicki's pick of ALL ABOUT EVE. Finally on Saturday night there was a copy. I guess with the best 100 AMC movies, these gems are hard to rent now.
I have seen ALL ABOUT EVE several times and feel truly vindicated every time I watch it. I naively think every time that Eve is too good to be true and she is every time. It is Karma at its fullest: What goes around, comes around. And with Phoebe sitting in Eve's hotel room trying on her coat and holding her award infront of the mirror, it is almost too much.

The performances in this movie are truly staggering. Now we see Bette Davis at one of her best.

We also see Darwin's Theory of Evolution unfold between Eve and DeWitt in Eve's hotel room. Eve priding herself on how clever she is until DeWitt simply and eloquently puts her in her place. When she goes running into her bedroom, I just loved it and then DeWitt quietly pursued the conversation to ensure that their roles were crystaline.

This was a GREAT pick Vicki! Even Keith loved this movie. With Phoebe at the end, you have the right amount of a "happy ending" even though it was not really a happy ending. This reminded me of the movie GIANT when at the end, James Dean is sitting alone in the big dinner hall with all the money and what not a man could want. Sometimes you just have to be careful what you ask for - you might just get it.
kim

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