All About Eve; drama / satire, USA, 1950; D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, S: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Garry Merrill, Celeste Holm, George Sanders, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter, Gregory Ratoff, Marilyn Monroe
During the "Sarah Siddons Awards" for best theatre performances, Eve receives the award for best actress, while the critic Addison DeWitt remembers how she got where she is now: a few months ago, Eve was unemployed and attending every Broadway play the 40-year old actress Margo starred in. Karen, Margo's friend, introduced them. Margo, flattered by her biggest fan, gave Eve a job as a secretary in her home, all the while arguing with director Bill and the screenwriter Lloyd. But Eve reacted stranger and stranger and mimicked Margo's every move. Eventually, Eve started working as Margo's understudy, and one day even starred in the play instead of Eve, becoming a famous star. Addison discovered her plan was to replace Margo all the time. After winning the award, Eve met a devoted fan herself, Phoebe.
Shining humorous drama "All About Eve" has a screenplay that is so well written that even if the director had done a horrible job at directing, all the actors had done a catastrophic performance and all the people responsible for music, editing and set design had done everything wrong, the movie would have still turned out to be good. This is one of those old films that truly deserve to be called a masterpiece, and give that term real value and weight, an amazing satire and deconstruction of the glamour of show business (the story revolves around theatre actors, but it's undoubtedly a symbolic jab at movie actors) that has a few surprising parallels with Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard", released the same year (an aging actress longing for a younger fan), but is still somehow a step above it, winning rightfully several awards, since it has a permanent value. The script is so tight, it almost abounds with over-brilliance: almost every of these dialogues are fanastic, with witty lines that would be enough for three films, and with so many puns and plays with words that the viewers cannot absorb it all at once. There are many characters, and it's all just static talk, no action, but every character has something to say to rise to the occasion, from critic Addison ("Miss Casswell got lucky too late. The audition is over"), through theater director Bill who gives a bitting self-destruction of the uniqueness of theatre ("Do you wanna know what the theatre is? A flea circus. Also opera. Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets, Indian tribal dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man band, all theatre. Wherever there's magic and make-believe and an audience, there's theatre. Donald Duck, Ibsen and The Lone Ranger").
Writer and director Jospeh L. Mankiewicz created an amazing, surreal exposition: the opening shots reveal an invented "Sarah Siddons Award" ceremony where an older actor is holding a speech, but instead of his words, the narrator (Addison DeWitt) is speaking to the viewer: "This is a distinguished old actor. It is not important what he says, it is only important for you to know where you are and why". Then the narrator goes on to give a long description of all the major characters in the film, from Eve to Margo ("She made her stage debut at the age of four in "Midsummer Night's Dream," playing a fairy. She entered, quite unexpectedly, stark naked. She has been a star ever since"). Just as he finishes his long speech, he finally "switches off" and lets the old actor say his final words of the speech. From there on, the story is told from a flashback, displaying how Eve met her biggest idol, Margo. Anne Baxter is simply brilliant as the fragile, gentle, naive Eve who speaks childish lines ("If nothing else, there's applause... It's like waves of love pouring over the footlights") and the viewer can't help but feel motherly feelings for her, up until the twist ending where she turns out completely different. Bette Davis is equally brilliant as Margo, a fascinating character/theatre star, as is Celeste Holm as Karen, the playwright's wife ("Karen, let me tell you about Eve. She's got everything, a born actress. Sensitive, understanding, young, exciting, vibrant... - "Don't run out of adjectives, dear"). It's a great semi-bitter satire that delivers a dark message: there are no real fans, because everyone only thinks about their own interests, anyway, as Eve becomes a parabel about deception to climb up the social hierarchy and achieve success—whereas the film is virtuoso crafted, filled with dialogues that are hilarious, clever, modern, fresh and unique at the same time.
Shining humorous drama "All About Eve" has a screenplay that is so well written that even if the director had done a horrible job at directing, all the actors had done a catastrophic performance and all the people responsible for music, editing and set design had done everything wrong, the movie would have still turned out to be good. This is one of those old films that truly deserve to be called a masterpiece, and give that term real value and weight, an amazing satire and deconstruction of the glamour of show business (the story revolves around theatre actors, but it's undoubtedly a symbolic jab at movie actors) that has a few surprising parallels with Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard", released the same year (an aging actress longing for a younger fan), but is still somehow a step above it, winning rightfully several awards, since it has a permanent value. The script is so tight, it almost abounds with over-brilliance: almost every of these dialogues are fanastic, with witty lines that would be enough for three films, and with so many puns and plays with words that the viewers cannot absorb it all at once. There are many characters, and it's all just static talk, no action, but every character has something to say to rise to the occasion, from critic Addison ("Miss Casswell got lucky too late. The audition is over"), through theater director Bill who gives a bitting self-destruction of the uniqueness of theatre ("Do you wanna know what the theatre is? A flea circus. Also opera. Also rodeos, carnivals, ballets, Indian tribal dances, Punch and Judy, a one-man band, all theatre. Wherever there's magic and make-believe and an audience, there's theatre. Donald Duck, Ibsen and The Lone Ranger").
Writer and director Jospeh L. Mankiewicz created an amazing, surreal exposition: the opening shots reveal an invented "Sarah Siddons Award" ceremony where an older actor is holding a speech, but instead of his words, the narrator (Addison DeWitt) is speaking to the viewer: "This is a distinguished old actor. It is not important what he says, it is only important for you to know where you are and why". Then the narrator goes on to give a long description of all the major characters in the film, from Eve to Margo ("She made her stage debut at the age of four in "Midsummer Night's Dream," playing a fairy. She entered, quite unexpectedly, stark naked. She has been a star ever since"). Just as he finishes his long speech, he finally "switches off" and lets the old actor say his final words of the speech. From there on, the story is told from a flashback, displaying how Eve met her biggest idol, Margo. Anne Baxter is simply brilliant as the fragile, gentle, naive Eve who speaks childish lines ("If nothing else, there's applause... It's like waves of love pouring over the footlights") and the viewer can't help but feel motherly feelings for her, up until the twist ending where she turns out completely different. Bette Davis is equally brilliant as Margo, a fascinating character/theatre star, as is Celeste Holm as Karen, the playwright's wife ("Karen, let me tell you about Eve. She's got everything, a born actress. Sensitive, understanding, young, exciting, vibrant... - "Don't run out of adjectives, dear"). It's a great semi-bitter satire that delivers a dark message: there are no real fans, because everyone only thinks about their own interests, anyway, as Eve becomes a parabel about deception to climb up the social hierarchy and achieve success—whereas the film is virtuoso crafted, filled with dialogues that are hilarious, clever, modern, fresh and unique at the same time.
Grade:++++
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