Review of All About Eve (1950) by Sara I — 10 Feb 2011

"A part in a play. You'd do all that just for a part in a play?".

All About Eve is a sneaky tale about deceit and pure ambition, set within the world of the New York theater scene.

Eve (Anne Baxter) seems to be a sympathetic, helpful young woman, who find herself unexpectedly meeting her idol, the great stage actress Margo Chandler (Bette Midler). She begins to work for the star, seemingly completely content to help her in any way she can. But Eve is much more ambitious than her sweet, helpful demeanor suggests, and she brings all kinds of trouble to Margo and others in her bids for her own personal fame and stardom.

I can't really find any flaws with the premise of All About Eve, or the acting. It's a well-made movie with a great cast. For some reason, though, my interest in it stayed fairly subdued. I did get more into the story during the second half, but I'm forced to concede that for some reason, I wasn't the primary audience for this one. I did love the ending, though.

Solid movie, but I believe others will probably have a more enthusiastic reaction to All About Eve than I did.