Classic Film : One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

It's one of those BIG classic movies I've somehow missed seeing. I've heard lots and lots about it, but I have to admit I've just never seen it. It looks like that deficit will soon be remedied, though: it's going to be aired on TCM this Sunday around noon. I plan to DVR it so I can watch it several times if need be.

All About Eve (1950)

Anybody else here not seen it? Or, if you have, any special little things worth looking for?


Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Anne Baxter's amazing performance.
George Sanders amazing performance (so slimy)

And a young Marilyn Monroe!

And Bette Davis, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter etc

Fasten your seatbelt, it's going to be a great movie



Your future's all used up.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Actually, I thought Anne Baxter was terrible--completely wooden.
I feel the same way about all her performances.

I sometimes wonder if this otherwise great movie might have been even better if Marilyn Monroe played Eve.
But she was stuck in a typical "dumb blonde" role, which pretty much defined her career.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Marilyn Monroe is more of the sensual type, it wouldn't have worked as Eve is supposed to look all innocent. Baxter can also play cunning when needed, while Monroe sorry to say wouldn't be convincing as a smart girl.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Oh, Marilyn could have been made up to look plain.
As for playing a "smart girl", well, she did play a thoroughly unlikeable character in NIAGARA.

Maybe her character wasn't all that "smart", but neither was Eve.
After all, it took very little effort on Addison's part to dig up the truth about her.

Truth is, the people in Eve's orbit--except Addison and Birdie--were very gullible, and easily fell for Eve's lies.
IMO, Marilyn could have accomplished the same thing, especially under Joe M.'s direction.
And, who knows--she might have actually won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Terrific film.

Without spoiling anything, I'll just say that....George Sanders was born to play characters who do great blackmailing. I'll leave it at that.

Enjoy!



~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen =

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)


special little things worth looking for?


The beginning, the middle, the end... and all of the scenes between.

But seriously .... try not to expect so much that you will feel disappointed or let down ... but with this one ... you won't ! My personal "wait for it" scene is the one with very young Marilyn ...

Hope you'll post your reaction.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

I have to admit I sort of cheated and sneaked a peek at this great clip of Marilyn Monroe scenes from All About Eve, on YouTube. I was duly entertained. I'm quite looking forward to seeing the entire movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKhyLCjIpvw


Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

My TOP 10 Feature Films
01 It Happened One Night (1934)
02 The Wizard of Oz (1939)
03 The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
04 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
05 Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
06 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
07 Million Dollar Baby (2004)
08 Limelight (1952)
09 All About Eve (1950)
10 My Fair Lady (1964)

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

You haven't rated:

The Red Shoes (1948)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
The Innocents (1961)
Playtime (1967)
Fargo (1996)
Blow-Up (1966)
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)

which I recommend.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

I saw it multiple times in an arthouse, i own the DVD.
Every line is iconic, remarkable acting.
The sound is dated.

wilder50

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Watching it on blu ray would probably improve the sound. This is the version TCM will be playing.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Sometimes I wish I could "unsee" a film so I could enjoy it for the first time.

It is a very special film.

Back in 2003, I attended a staged reading of the script that was a benefit for the Actors Fund. It had some very interesting casting. I may not be remembering it all, but I will try.

Margo: Stockard Channing
Karen: Blythe Danner
Bill: John Ritter
Lloyd: Victor Garber
Eve: Calista Flockhart
Birdie: Angela Lansbury
Max: Carl Reiner
Old Actor: Kirk Douglas
Addison de Witt;:Tim Curry
Marilyn Monroe part: Jennifer Tilley
Piano player: Melissa Manchester
Phoebe: Lauren Ambrose

🎭All the world is a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.

Actors Fund benefit

I was there, too, LMayberry, and I loved it! It was a joy to behold, and all the cast had such a great time doing it. Always thought the script would have made a good Broadway production, and it did become the musical "Applause," which I saw in New York and I really enjoyed, too. But I love the film much more and would love to see a straight non-musical theatrical version of it.

The time of the singing of the birds has come.

Re: Actors Fund benefit

It was certainly an afternoon to remember. An online friend, who I had never met, flew down from Seattle to see it and was sitting in the expensive seats. The couple next to her had tickets for the after party, but wasn't going to use them. When offered them, she said yes, and Jack and I had tickets to paradise. We shared the elevator with Diahann Carroll and Neil Simon.

A couple of days later, my new friend and I took the Warners tour and had George Clooney go past us. The day after that, we decided to attend an anti-war protest at the federal building in Downtown LA. While trying to figure out if we were in the right place, we found ourselves crossing the street with Martin Sheen. Since the two of us had met on a "West Wing" chat group, we were in heaven. I snapped a photo of Martin that was used on the cover of "The Humanist" magazine. They asked me how much I wanted for the pic, and I said credit and two copies of the mag.

That was quite the week for me.

🎭All the world is a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.

Re: Actors Fund benefit

Quite a week indeed! So glad you were able to have that experience.

The time of the singing of the birds has come.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

It's a really wonderful film with a great cast of characters and some really good performances. Celeste Holmes was excellent, as was George Sanders. Baxter is compelling as the fawning/manipulative Eve. And what can I say about Thelma Ritter that hasn't already been said? Watch it a couple of times. There are some really great bits you may miss the first or second time.


Life can be arbitrary and comes without a warranty.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

My own favorite line comes from Addison De Witt when he is lowering the blackmail boom on Eve: (Remember the film came out in 1950)

Eve:"You must be joking! This is like something out of a bad melodrama"
Addison: "So has the history of the world for the past twenty years".

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Addison De Witt is a slimeball with intellegence, sharp wit (No pun intended), cynical, sarcastic, who uses the absolutely sharp knife words to either kill or help a career to benefit himself (It should be remembered that Newspapers in older movies always stood for justice, not like today when each and everyone can search the truth they want on the internet).
.

so many movies - so little time

read up on it too—it has it's own book!

All About All About Eve: The Complete Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made!

Jun 23, 2001

by Sam Staggs


"We will bury you"-NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

It's great, and I concur with what others have said about All About Eve. The only downside,--for some viewers, I mean--and this is worth mentioning, is that it's talk, talk, talk, all the way through. If you like witty, intelligent movies about smart people who live in big cities, this one's for you. I love it. What to look for? Hmm...I'd say, having watched the movie over a dozen times, pay close attention to the staging of the scenes, even the sets, as the art direction is unostentatiously (sic) excellent, and director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz had not only a terrific ear for dialogue but a good eye for things like furniture, drapes, how backstage dressing rooms look. There's little in the way of action in the film and yet it plays well, visually, I mean, and is pleasant just to look at, as it's from a bygone era of not only film but of theater as well.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

It's a great movie with memorable performances. Very witty, most of the scenes are very long so by the time it's almost over you're like "what, already ??". The ending gives me goosebumps.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

I hope by the time of my post you've been able to see it, Zolotoy.

Except for Anne Baxter, who I think is somewhat superficial and lacking any depth as the scheming Eve, the performances are uniformly excellent. As telegonus said, as long as you have no prejudice against superb dialogue against a lack of "action", you should really like this film.

A measure of its worth is that it was nominated for an astounding 14 Oscars...a record only equaled twice, and never bettered. This is especially striking because most other heavily-nominated films boast a lot of visual effects and spectacle which often bring Oscar recognition, but which Eve conspicuously lacks. Yet All About Eve had more nominations than such massive epics as Gone With the Wind, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia and almost every other such film.

Anyway, it's truly a monumental film and has aged scarcely at all, save in the inevitable few of its outward trappings. I hope you have enjoyed, or soon will enjoy, it!

Read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_About_Eve

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Hi, hobnob… yes, I did in fact get a chance to watch the film yesterday, thanks to the TCM telecast. Luckily I was able to record it to my DVR, which is a good thing, because this film definitely deserves several repeat viewings to digest all the dialogue and plot points.

As someone in this thread previously mentioned, it is a talk-heavy movie, and that is quite correct. I got the feeling well before I'd watched even a quarter of the film, that it would've been nice to just sit and listen to all these cast members read their lines on a cassette or CD recording – sort of an audio book-type presentation. It might have been just as entertaining as watching the film.

But the film was certainly well-staged, nicely costumed, and beautifully filmed in glorious black and white. So there was certainly great benefit to watching the film, not just listening to the dialogue.

One very minor issue I had with the film is the way the dialogue seems, by today's standards, so stilted and clearly “theatrical” – I was constantly aware that nearly every line was being read by a very polished actress or actor, and they were certainly wonderful, but I couldn't help thinking to myself, “Wow, *nobody* really talks that way anymore – and probably never really did!”

It's not a criticism so much as a comment on how a stylistic element from movies of the past is so obvious to us viewers of today.

Anyway, it was a real treat to see this much-acclaimed classic – one which somehow has escaped my viewing all these years. Now I know what all the fuss was about.

One last note: I was curious as to what happened to the career of Barbara Bates, the actress who played “Phoebe” at the very end. A quick check of her bio on Wikipedia indicates that things sort of went downhill for her. Quite a sad story, really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Bates


Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Since when is acting, or movies for that matter, supposed to be realistic ? Also, I don't think the acting of today is particularly realistic either.

Movies are thought, shot and edited in a way as to be an experience that differs from reality.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Since you have dvr'd it may I suggest watching specifically for Celeste Holm's performance. Especially in the dressing room right after she brings Eve in and Margo tells Birdie to give her the hook. After convincing Margo to actually meet her, Margo, I believe, deliberately, calls Eve Miss Worthington. Celeste immediately corrects her with just the slightest amount of exasperation. Very subtle. When she and Lloyd leave she calls to Margo, who is in the bathroom, I'll call you tomorrow and Margo says not too early. she gives a little chuckle, the kind I would give if a friend said something I already knew to be obvious.

And her congratulation to Eve at the SS Society dinner was a masterful *beep* You.

The movie is so much Davis and Sanders and Baxter but everyone, even poor Hugh Marlowe, excels. It took me a while to appreciate the subtlety of Holm's performance,it might get lost given how blazing Davis' was. They didn't like each other, but were professional and got the job done amazingly well.

I could, and probably have, watched it once month.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Karen had asked the taxi to wait all during that dressing room scene.
Can you imagine what the meter tab must have read when she and Lloyd finally got there?
LOL

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)………..

I'm glad you liked it!

Maybe there's a radio play based on this film. That way, the wish you expressed in the second paragraph would come true. Do a search on archive.org and youtube and see what comes up. I'll have a look later and see what I can find. Lux radio, perhaps?

~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen =

Re: "All About Eve" - Lux Radio Theater

As promised, I did a search for an All About Eve radio play. There seem to be two versions on Lux Radio, numbers 648 and 768.

By the way, just scanning that list, I'm amazed at how many film scripts were adapted for radio. Practically every title there is a movie title, too!

https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles

~~~~~
Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen =

Re: "All About Eve" - Lux Radio Theater

Interesting site. Lots of titles to choose from! Thanks for posting.


Don't mess with me, man! I know karate, judo, ju-jitsu..... and several other Japanese words.


Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Hi Z -- Yes, AAE definitely needs multiple viewings, not just to better get all the busy dialogue, but just for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Certainly it's "talky", which is a characteristic of Joe Mankiewicz's films. I read an interview with him in the late 80s in which he described himself as the last man to make "talking pictures" -- by which he meant movies that rely mainly on dialogue to drive them. Mankiewicz loved and respected the written word, and as he was an extremely erudite and educated man his films brim with brilliant and clever dialogue. I'm sure there are many people who can't deal with characters actually speaking meaningful words instead of machine-gunning one another; at best they can put up with a modern filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino, whose movies are both dialogue and action-driven.

Even so, sometimes silence is better than words. In Eve the one scene that I believe Mankiewicz should have dispensed with his parting words is where the angry and tearful Margo is venting to Karen over Addison's venomous column, and Bill rushes in to comfort her. When he takes the crying Margo in his arms and tells her, "Bill's here, baby," Mankiewicz would have done far better to have just had Karen get up and leave quietly, without a word. But as was his wont he insisted on inserting a bit of unneeded dialogue, with Karen rising and saying to Bill, "I guess at this point I'm what the French call de trop," and he replies, "Just a little around the edges," after which she leaves. That whole exchange is de trop, a superfluous bit of unnecessary verbiage added for its own sake, but which interrupts and derails the power of the scene, whereas a silent exit would have held the mood and made it stronger.

As to the dialogue being theatrical, well, in a way, it's supposed to be. But it's perfectly believable as to how people of that station in life in that era would have spoken. This is something of an upper crust we're dealing with, after all. Besides, acting and everything that goes with it is artificial -- actors today, and the dialogue they utter, are no more "realistic" than the styles and content of previous eras.

Yes, it is sad about Barbara Bates. In certain circles All About Eve is called a "triple-S" movie because three of its named cast members committed suicide: Barbara Bates, Marlyn Monroe, and George Sanders. Celeste Holm was the last surviving principle cast member when she died in 2012 at 95 (this year is her centenary).

And while this picture was considered Bette Davis's comeback film and is arguably her most famous and best performance, she wasn't the original choice. Initially Mankiewicz hired Claudette Colbert, who was all set to take it when she broke a leg (I believe) and had to withdraw; even so, other actresses, such as Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich and some others were at one time considered for the part before Davis was approached and leaped at it because of the quality of the script. (Apparently once Davis took the role Mankiewicz rewrote much of it to make the character bitchier, whereas before Margo was softer and more likable.)

Jeanne Crain was originally supposed to play Eve but she got pregnant and Anne Baxter got the part. When Fox was promoting the cast for the Oscars they wanted to nominate Baxter in the Supporting category but she insisted that she be put up for Best Actress, saying, "The picture is called All About Eve, not All About Margo." The effect of course was to split the vote and allow Judy Holliday to snag an undeserved win. In after years Baxter said she had made a big mistake in her insistence, and that Davis should have won. The two women were good friends despite the Oscar fiasco.

An irony is that 20 years later Baxter starred on Broadway in Applause, the musical adaptation of All About Eve, in the Margo Channing role. Later, in 1983, art sort of imitated life when Davis starred in the TV-movie that served as the pilot of Aaron Spelling's series Hotal, as the owner of the titular B&B. But Davis was considered too old and in dicey health to play the part in the regular series, so Baxter was brought in instead -- which couldn't have been an accident. A last, sad irony is that Baxter, 15 years younger than Davis and seemingly in good health, died suddenly of a stroke in 1985 at 62, four years before Davis's death at 81.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

i saw it once, not really my kind of film, my taste runs more to comedies, but it was fairly entertaining,

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

But, All About Eve is more or less a comedy.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

i don't remember it being very funny, but it is about thirty years since I saw it.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

It's extremely witty and ironic, and it feels like it's mocking itself and the whole industry. Just rewatch De Witt's narration in the opening scene, or the close ups on the characters as the announcer is praising Eve, and you'll see what I mean.

It's the best kind of comedy IMO.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

exactly.
Besides the movie is ironically shot as if the plot was on a stage.

wilder50

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Yep. The movie was perfectly suited to Mankiewicz's style.

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Hi Zolotoy,

I hope you get to see it sometime. Brilliant performances from the entire cast; George Sanders in particular is at his very best. Eve is a loathsome character and uses and hurts many of the main characters, but I believe the ending shows she won't be at the top for long.

Let us know your thoughts once you've watched it.



Go to bed Frank or this is going to get ugly .

Re: One major classic I've yet to see: "All About Eve" (1950)

Really glad I hadn't gotten around to watching this one yet. They're showing it at a local theater soon.
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