Review of All About Eve (1950) by Kylie P — 14 Feb 2010

From July 20, 2008:

All About Eve is an outstanding film, as entertaining as it is artistically sound. Director Joseph L. Manciewicz's ingenius screenplay, taking gentle but uncompromised swipes at the world and society of theater, was simply brilliant, and his Oscars were well-deserved. The script was so smart, so clever, and so wittily ascerbic, there were some true moments of sardonic comedy that played very well in this satire. The dialogue was amazing, and the story was original, complete with some intriguing shades of gray. Some of it may seem dated, but it has a timeless relevance. After all, the theater isn't going anywhere, and as Lloyd Richards eloquently jibes, "Actresses never die!".

And those actresses! The women rule this movie. Margo and Eve are two of the juiciest roles for women, and Bette and Anne played them to perfection. Bette Davis in particular was stunning as Margo; she gave Margo a complex and multilayered existence with many emotional undercurrents that were all at once human and otherworldly. Her quiet philosophical moments were just as entertaining as her temper tantrums, and her delivery of some of those fantastically bitchy barbs were so unique, original, imitated but never duplicated, and awesome. The "fasten your seatbelts" quote is so notable and so famous because dear Bette made it that way.

Yet, Anne Baxter was also brilliant, playing this ambitious young upstart with impenetrable moral ambiguity, until her goose is finally cooked, and she lets loose. Eve is arguably a good kid at heart, but her greed and ambition and addiction for applause consume her. She makes you want to feel sorry for her and cheer for her, even though you knew all along that she was a conniving little minx. That's a great performance on many levels, not only for the audience but for the characters she was trying to fool.

Then, there was George Sanders. His appearance in the film was limited to, perhaps, a third, but his portrayal of the snake-like Addison made the character one the audience hates to love or loves to hate. He won the Oscar too.

From a filmmaking perspective, there was nothing particularly novel, except for the awesome costumes. All About Eve was the whole package, but the true art lies in the story and the performances.

The ending felt rushed. Margo's last barb to Eve lacked some of the punch of her earlier ones, and taking the focus away from Margo and Eve to focus on the cycle beginning anew felt somewhat anticlimactic. It felt like there was a rush to get it done and to break with the characters, particularly with Eve, the seemingly misunderstood antagonist. The ending fit in a sense, but it also didn't fit in a sense.

All About Eve has all the film ingredients that work, including a relatable story based on an interesting and relatable premise that also contains some remarkably candid and not untrue observations about women, then and now, without sexist undertones. For 1950, that was an amazing feat in and of itself.