Review of The Lady Eve (1941) by Edith N — 05 Dec 2006

I found this movie deeply disturbing, and not actually funny in most places. You see, I can't really laugh at people being deliberately cruel to the ones they love. Yes, these two people are in very uncomforatble situations regarding one another, but it could have been so much simpler.

It is, however, Barbara Stanwyck's fault. If she had just been honest! Oh, yes, I know--fear for her partners. Still, once she realized she was falling in love with him, that should have been the moment to at least tell him that there was more to her than he perhaps thought.

I did think it was an excellent movie, don't get me wrong. I just didn't think it was excellent on the same level, perhaps, that it was intended to be. I thought it was a good portrayal of the ways people can fail other people, and how the world often gets in the way of human interactions. No moment in the film exists wherein simple communication can't solve their problems, but of course, people [i]don't[/i] simply communicate when they're hurt.

Mind you, I'm not entirely exempt from such behaviour myself. I stew on things for too long, I know. However, I do tend to be very open about things when I finally do start talking. A lot of people continue ducking even then. It's repression, and it's dangerous.

Henry Fonda's problem was that he confronted her in public far too often. That's a bad plan. You'll never get the answers you should that way. You should find a private way to confront them, or else you don't get much of anything.

I wondered, for a moment, if the second time he used that line, the one about knowing her always, was a setup. It turned out not to be, though I'm curious how the story would have turned if it had.