Review of All About Eve (1950) by Daren F — 18 Dec 2008

A dark, satirical masterpiece with a performance by the goddess Bette Davis and a disturbingly brilliant one from Anne Baxter. It is truly upsetting that neither Bette Davis or Gloria Swanson won Best Actress for this year, two the greatest performance of the 20th century.

The supporting cast in this film is also magnificent, Anne Baxter is truly great, especially the final act, Celaste Holm as Margo's best friend is endearing and upsetting in a wonderful performance, George Sanders is magnificent as the horrible DeWitt, with just the right amount of pleasant fun to balance his horrific venom, and the always wonderfully angry Thelma Ritter, she always brings to the right amount of working class charm to everything she is in.

This is an ensemble to die for, and then the screenplay to gives them all the room to work and all the lines to become these intriguing characters. The script truly is one of the great wonders of the 20th century, creating a story so eloquently woven so that the flashback story is always told from the proper perceptive and with the proper amount a biting satire.

God, the quotable lines are endless in this film and Davis gives every last one of her lines just the perfect amount of...well Bette Davis. It is really hard for me to come up with the words to describe this wonder of a movie, one of the greatest films ever made.