Best Picture: #23
Original Release Date: October 27, 1950
Rating: Passed
Runtime: 2 hours, 18 minutes
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Quick Impressions:
All About Eve has such a great script that my daughter and I hardly talked while we watched the movie, quite unusual for us. I’ve seen the film several times, but I’m only a casual fan. Until now, I’ve always been under the impression that it was an original screenplay by director Joe Mankiewicz, but as I’ve just learned, it’s actually adapted from a (very) short story called “The Wisdom of Eve” by Mary Orr (whose maiden name is Caswell). Right away, I searched for a copy of the story. My daughter so hoped this screenplay was adapted because she wanted to read the book! But all I’ve found for sale (so far) is a copy of the stage play Orr herself wrote based on her original story. Since she wrote the play after the Hollywood film came out, it’s not exactly source material. My daughter might want to read it, anyway, though. She’s been burning through Gone With the Wind.
I first remember watching All About Eve when I was about my daughter’s age (11), eager to feed my immense obsession with Marilyn Monroe. Of course, if you watch Eve for Monroe, it’s a bit of a disappointment. But I eventually matured into loving this brilliant film for its actual merits (of which there are so many).
It seems crazy to me that we’re twenty-three films into our project, and this is the first time we’ve encountered Bette Davis. Best Pictures are so rarely driven by powerhouse female performances. (In fact, we’ll never encounter Katharine Hepburn this way, despite her four Oscars for Best Actress.)
It was very clever of Marilyn Monroe to sneak into a Best Picture winner (so early in her career, too!). In fact, if you watch the film already aware of how small her part is, Marilyn Monroe actually gives a pretty great performance as the hopeful Miss Caswell, so much better with producers than auditions.
The Plot:
Aging stage star Margo Channing is paranoid, and for good reason. Someone is out to get her. At first Margo was delighted to meet Eve, such a devoted fan and eager employee. Lately, though, she’s starting to suspect that Eve is taking the sincerest form of flattery too far. Is Eve after her career? Is she trying to steal her man? Margo begins to give in to jealousy and fear, lashing out in ways that alienate everyone. Perhaps her behavior is self-sabotaging, but it’s very entertaining for the audience.
The Good:
The really great thing about All About Eve is that for most of the movie, Bette Davis so dominates the screen as the compelling, flawed, sympathetic, mercurial Margo Channing that we really don’t need any other characters. But we get them. The script just crackles with wit, but behind the sharp barbs and astute observations are emotional truths so deep and poignant that we need time to process and digest the exclamations and conversations after we hear them. And the entire cast delivers these lines well.
For me, the standout (aside from Davis) is George Sanders who actually won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of the urbane, venomous, and sometimes shockingly menacing theatre critic Addison DeWitt.
My daughter was impressed by Anne Baxter as Eve. Watching her watch the movie for the first time was so eye-opening. She was stunned when something happened midway through the movie. The transition was like a light-switch for her. She had no idea it was coming. No idea. I’ve seen this movie so many times that I’ve gotten used to watching the beginning through the lens of what I know is coming later. But my daughter had high, high praise for Anne Baxter’s versatility. (I, personally, think she overdoes it a bit in the beginning. I always worry I come across like that. And then I worry people will think I’m insincere, that I have some hidden agenda. Then I panic because I don’t know the agenda. Then I over-analyze all my statements and actions and others’ reactions to me. Generally, I go deeper and deeper down this rabbit hole until I have a panic attack. When I was younger, I used to make it all the way to full psychosis and believing I was evil (in a destined way that could not be stopped). But these days I don’t have time for so many breakdowns because I have to go to virtual kindergarten!)
Actually, as I watched the movie this most recent time, I thought a lot about mental health. All About Eve is always touted as an insightful film about the theater, about show business. But it’s quite a little pop psychology lesson, too.
Margo and Eve share acting talent, but they’re very different in other ways. Perhaps an outright sociopath, Eve seems cold, controlled, whereas Margo has all the feelings, every single feeling dialed all the way up so high the knob broke. Their interplay is quite something. The way Eve affects Bill and Addison (so strongly and so differently) is very interesting, too.
This film also has fabulous costumes. I especially like Addison’s long cigarette holder. Even better are the sets. I don’t know if this falls under art decoration or set design or what, but Margo’s house makes such wonderful use of staircases. In every scene, all the players are arranged so carefully.
Best Scene:
I always think of Margo’s party as a single scene. It’s actually a series of short scenes, but every one of them belongs to Bette Davis. The lines she gets are excellent as written, but her delivery sends so many of them out into the stratosphere. Of course the classic line, “Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy night,” is memorable, but I also love the way she tortures the piano player (and everyone within earshot) with her relentless moroseness, and I like her final venomous parting shots as she heads up the winding staircase to bed.
Best Action Sequence:
The most electrifying and shocking scene is between Addison and Eve. (Well, it wasn’t shocking to me because I’ve already seen the movie.) Anything could happen here. The scene has such energy and mystery. I love the way Addison reveals himself here. It’s a very powerful performance.
My Favorite Scene:
To me, the best part of the movie is always the part where Karen visits Eve in the bathroom. It’s very satisfying to see Karen so befuddled (but trying to do the right thing for once). What happens when she returns to the table is so…is it funny? I’m searching for the right word. Celeste Holm plays it perfectly.
Best Scene Visually:
The movie’s iconic ending with the mirror makes quite an impression and leaves us with an image that drives home a major point of the entire film.
The Negatives:
Celeste Holm’s character drives me absolutely crazy in this movie, and my frustration with her character made our viewing of the film unintentionally funny, as I kept yelling out, “What were you thinking, Karen?” “What are you doing, Karen?” The name “Karen” has acquired so many negative connotations since I first saw the film. The character isn’t “a Karen” in the 2020 slang sense (just as most women named Karen aren’t. I know so many people named Karen who are perfectly lovely individuals!) But boy Karen drives me nuts. Who in the world thinks that sabotaging someone’s career is a harmless prank? Her behavior is so passive aggressive. She lies right to her own face, downplaying the seriousness of her behavior, pretending she’s playing a harmless joke, when she must know that she’s actually upset with Margo and teaching her a lesson. I think she literally tells the audience that Margo needs a lesson and then just moments later is saying phrases like “harmless prank.”
I don’t think Karen is a very good friend. I mean, what kind of friend says, “I noticed somebody stalking you, so I brought her into your dressing room without your permission, and she’s been eavesdropping on your private conversation with friends until I just now decided to disclose her presence.” She really gets on my nerves so much. Her conversation with Eve reveals a baffling cluelessness about the industry she has been in for years. Her marvel, her bemusement–“You would do all this for a part?” She definitely needs to send Addison DeWitt a fruit basket and a bottle of wine (or whatever you send people when they save you from utter ruin).
I guess this really isn’t a criticism of the movie. I believe Holm plays the character as intended, and the character is certainly fascinating. But man she just makes me so mad! The thing is, initially, she comes across as a nice, kind-hearted person. But on closer inspection, not only is Karen oddly naive for someone in her position, but she’s also not as nice as she thinks. I do believe she is genuinely emotionally invested in her friendship with Margo, but I mean, if Margo were a transplant surgeon, right before the procedure, Karen would hide the new organ as a harmless prank. What a great friend!
I also find it rather astonishing that Addison is the only one able to size up Eve correctly. I guess Thelma Ritter’s character has pretty sound instincts about her, too, but where does she go? She completely disappears from the movie.
I’m not crazy about Lloyd (Hugh Marlowe) and Bill (Gary Merrill) either. Logically, I should like Bill. I think Merrill gives the better performance of the two. But I do think these two actors give the least interesting performances in the cast. Bill gets a lot of great lines, though. (I think his long-lasting, initial dismissal of Margo’s concerns just annoys me.)
Overall:
All About Eve is a great film. My daughter loved it, but ranked it #7 (between The Lost Weekend and The Best Years of Our Lives) because at this point, we’ve seen a lot of excellent movies. Next up is An American in Paris, then The Greatest Show on Earth. My daughter got really excited when I told her that many people say that is one of the weakest Best Picture winners. “I keep hoping something will knock Cimarron out of last place,” she confided. It certainly wasn’t All About Eve, a marvelous introduction to Bette Davis for my daughter.