Review of All About Eve (1950) by Adrienne L — 02 Mar 2011

Bette Davis chews up the screen as an aging stage actress whose suspicious of a conspiracy by her theatre peers to replace her with an only too available ingenue played connivingly by Anne Baxter. Davis's lines are so crisp and bitter they could cut through steel. She has never been better.

Anne Baxter was apparently so jealous of Davis that she demanded to be given a best actress nom push instead of a supporting one by the films producers. This demand split the votes at the Oscars, and both subequently lost to Gloria Swanson. Apparently the rivalry wasn't all acting. I still cringe watching Baxter to this day.

A young (and not quite so naive) wannabe actress played deliciously by Marilyn Monroe revels the lengths a young woman not as naturally gifted as Eve will lower herself to 'on the other end of the spectrum' to also make it. I love both character types. One ambitious with talent, the other ambitious with appearance. Obviously in reality Monroe had both down cold.

The rest of the cast do their jobs well, but its the two leading ladies that make Eve wat it is. This is a brilliant inside look behind the scenes of theatre life and also remarkaby film as well. A personal favourite for sure. I watch it all the time. Margo Channing is a diva, and nobodies dummy. But then neither is Eve Harrington.