Review of The Lady Eve (1941) by Ben L — 14 Mar 2017

The Lady Eve was hilarious and fun through almost the whole movie. There were witty lines, and some great slapstick. All the kinds of humor that I enjoy could be found here. I particularly loved William Demarest popping in from time to time as Muggsy, because he was so a riot. His final line in the film capped things off perfectly.

Barbra Stanwyck is oozing with charm, and sex appeal in The Lady Eve. Not only is it convincing that she could make a guy fall in love with her in a single night, but I also could believe that she used her appeal in the efforts to scam men. I didn't sense why she fell for Fonda's character so quickly but I just assumed it was one of those film tropes where she is simply attracted to his pure innocence.

Now speaking of that innocence, this is where I struggled with the movie. Henry Fonda wasn't bad in the role, I believed the performance. My problem was how extremely naive his character seemed. He was nearly on Forrest Gump levels of ignorance at times, and that third act turn made me wonder if he had ever interacted with human beings before. It was silly and it worked for those moments, but I think it hurts the story a little when one character is that far from reality.

I kind of rolled with the goofiness because the story was so entertaining. And despite my serious problems with the third act and the resolution, it still felt good to see things work out in that way. The Lady Eve is a high quality film that I never heard of before watching and am delighted I finally got to see. If nothing else, it worked to give me a crush on the late-great Barbara Stanwyck.