All About Eve

All About Eve_360P

source: All About Eve

All About Eve

"A part in a play. You'd do all that just for a part in a play?" All About Eve is a sneaky tale about deceit and pure ambition, set within the world of the New York theater scene. Eve (Anne Baxter) seems to be a sympathetic, helpful young woman, who find herself unexpectedly meeting her idol, the great stage actress Margo Chandler (Bette Midler). She begins to work for the star, seemingly completely content to help her in any way she can. But Eve is much more ambitious than her sweet, helpful demeanor suggests, and she brings all kinds of trouble to Margo and others in her bids for her own personal fame and stardom. I can't really find any flaws with the premise of All About Eve, or the acting. It's a well- made movie with a great cast. For some reason, though, my interest in it stayed fairly subdued. I did get more into the story during the second half, but I'm forced to concede that for some reason, I wasn't the primary audience for this one. I did love the ending, though. Solid movie, but I believe others will probably have a more enthusiastic reaction to All About Eve than I did.

Much-celebrated, well-acted drama has Bette Davis in now-famous role as Margo Channing, Broadway actress with a heart-of-gold who takes in devoted fan Anne Baxter, unaware the neophyte has designs on her life. Boozy and bitchy, and written with a cleverly poisonous pen, but not especially interesting once all the pieces have fallen into place (with at least thirty minutes left on the clock). These pompous, dryly decadent people do a lot of emoting and sounding-off, but we don't learn much about what's going on under the surface. Writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz doesn't so much see this story as a chess-board as he does a gossipy cocktail party. Despite the film's multiple Oscars, it can leave one with a chilly, hollowed-out impression. **1/2 from ****

All About Eve is my idea of a perfect film,(and I am 17) beautiful and brooding at the same time. People consider this as one of the finest films ever made, and I cannot disagree. This and Shawshank Redemption are actually films that deserve to be in the top 250. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous, and the script is sharp and focused with great lines such as "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night". The direction is excellent, and this is further advantaged by a terrific cast, a very good subject matter and sumptuous costumes. I couldn't help being captivated by Bette Davis's performance as Margo Channing, her presence in the film is actually the film's main merit. Davis was an incredible actress, and while not exactly pretty compared to Maaureen O'Hara and Rita Hayworth and not very easy to work with at times, she always brought a sense of command to all her roles, especially in this film. I still think that All About Eve is her best film, I honestly do, and she is well supported by a terrific supporting cast with the likes of the idealistic Anne Baxter and the suave George Sanders. All in all, a beautiful film, that is a must-see, if you haven't seen it already. It is quite long, but it is well worth watching for Davis's performance. 10/10 Bethany Cox

What a movie! It's the cinematic ideal, the standard by which subsequent films are judged, at least in terms of acting and dialogue. Maybe the camera, which does nothing but sit there as the actors act, could have been made a little less static. But the story screams stage play, which implies lots of talk and not much "action". The film doesn't pretend to do all things. But what it does do, it does extremely well. As Margo, Bette Davis gives what I would consider one of the best performances, if not the best performance, in any film I have ever seen. She truly becomes Margo, that "fixture of the theater", so beloved yet so insecure. And as Eve, "the mousy one, with the trench coat and the funny hat", breathy Anne Baxter proves adept at subtleties that allow her character to change gradually over time. Then there's George Sanders who effortlessly slips into the role of witty, urbane, pompous Addison DeWitt, columnist magnifico, a man whose high opinion of himself allows him to declare to us, as viewers, that he is "essential to the theater". Celeste Holm and reliable Thelma Ritter give topnotch performances as well. And the Mankiewicz script, which tells the story of a group of theater people, is heavy on dialogue, but it's totally believable, as characters talk shop and interrelate, by means of suitable verbal conflict and subtle subtext. Even more than that, the dialogue is witty and clever, with tons of theatrical metaphors, like when Bill (Gary Merrill) angrily tells Margo: "And to intimate anything else doesn't spell jealousy to me, it spells a paranoid insecurity that you should be ashamed of." To which Margo just as angrily spits out: "Cut, print it, what happens in the next reel? Do I get dragged off screaming to the snake pits?" One of my favorite scenes has several people sitting on a stairway at a party. A curvaceous but bird-brained Miss Casswell (Marilyn Monroe), "from the Copacabana school of acting", desires another drink. "Oh waiter!", she yells out. Addison schools her: "That isn't a waiter, my dear; that's a butler." To which she fires back: "Well I can't yell 'Oh butler', can I? Maybe somebody's name is Butler". Addison then concedes: "You have a point, an idiotic one, but a point." I'm not sure I really like the characters in this film. Generally, they're self-absorbed, vain, haughty, and backbiting. They're not all that likable. And that would be my only serious complaint. Otherwise, "All About Eve" is a film that excels at great language and great acting. If ever there was a film that deserves the status of "classic", this is surely it.

Here's perfect writing if ever a movie ever had it-where did Joseph L. Mankiewicz come up with these people? Who would have thought he could not only revive Bette Davis' career with her greatest-ever role, but actually make her even more fascinating than she ever was before? Davis plays famous and established actress Margo Channing, a self-centred and tough but vulnerable woman who is purused relentlessly by Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), a seemingly innocent woman who worships Channing-she even becomes her personal assistant. However, her devotion soon becomes sinister, and Margo lets her friends know, though they just think she's being selfish and unfair. Celeste Holm is excellent as Margo's best friend, who at first is on Eve's side but eventually sees how conniving Eve can be and how ruthless she is in climbing to the top. The party scene early on in the film features some of the film's best lines (`Fasten your seat belts…it's going to be a bumpy night!'), though my personal favourite is when Davis tells Baxter to put her award `where you heart should be'; Margo Channing is just about the best female character of the fifties. Features Marilyn Monroe in an early role.

As close to perfection as they come. A film than can be viewed again and again without ever getting tired. Bette Davis's Margo Channing is a film icon of major proportions. A point of reference. Her fear of the abyss is as human as it is at the center of this selfish, insecure, sacred cow. She is surrounded by some other sensational women. Thelma Ritter, Celeste Holm, Anne Baxter and in a tiny but telling part, Marilyn Monroe - a graduate from the Copacabana school of dramatic art. Wittily prophetic. George Sanders is another piece of extraordinary casting and writing. "I'm essential to the theater" Indeed. And here is a film that has become essential to anyone who loves movies"

Among the greatest dramas ever written, this brilliant film elevates an outstanding script with extraordinary acting. It received 14 Oscar Nominations in 12 categories and won 6 including Best Picture and Director. However, it is much better than that. Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) is a waif that is constantly seen waiting outside the theater for her idol Margo Channing (Bette Davis). When Margo's best friend Karen Richards (Celeste Holm) invites her in to meet Margo it begins a relationship that is destined to turn into a typhoon. Margo is taken in by Eve's hard luck story and her obsequious deference, and she decides to employ her as her personal secretary. With duplicitous and cunning ambition, Eve maneuvers her way into becoming Margo's understudy. Just turning 40, Margo begins to become self conscious about her age and sees Eve as a threat to her career and her relationship with Bill, who is eight years her junior. The resulting tension between Margo and Eve is electric, with power plays, blackmail and conniving at every turn. John Mankiewicz was one of the most prolific and gifted auteurs of the studio era. He won back-to-back double Oscars for directing and screenplay in 1949 and 1950 for `Letters to Three Wives' and `All About Eve'. His accomplishment in this film is gargantuan, with a powerful script and forceful direction of a talented cast. The dialogue is fantastic, with snide humor and barbed innuendo that cuts like a stiletto. The scene between Eve and pompous theater critic Addison Dewitt (George Sanders) where he confronts her about her past is like a mating of snakes. The acting is stupendous. Bette Davis appeared in over 100 films in her 58 year career, nominated for 11 Best Acting Oscars and winning two. This was one of her very best performances and it escapes me why she did not win the award that year. Davis is a whirlwind of dramatic power in a riveting portrayal of the tempestuous Margo. She imbues Margo with a gigantic ego and equally enormous insecurity, which yields some of the best and most bitter tantrum spewing ever been put on celluloid. Anne Baxter is deliciously evil as Eve. Her sweet helplessness veils a cold, calculating serpent waiting for her opportunity to strike. The supporting actors were also superb. George Sanders won a best supporting Oscar for his haughty performance as Addison De Witt. Celeste Holm was nominated for a supporting Oscar and was terrific as Margo's well meaning, but meddling friend. One of my favorites was Thelma Ritter (also nominated for Best Supporting Actress) as Birdie, an unrefined and blunt woman with extraordinary perceptiveness about Eve's true nature. This is one of the best dramas ever made and among my favorite films of all time. It was rated number 16 on AFI's top 100 of the century. I rated it a 10/10. They don't make them like this any more. It is required viewing for classic film buffs.