Review of The Lady Eve (1941) by Bob V — 14 Apr 2011

Delightful and sparkling comedy, audacious for its time, going rather far in suggesting unmarried sexual relations (or at the very least the interrupted intentions to have them). Most likely the film managed to sneak past the Hays office because there is eventually a wedding of sorts, kind of (you'll understand when you watch it) and the film is heavily couched in symbolism about the Fall, which I guess makes it alright.

Also rather groundbreaking in taking the well-known Battle of the Sexes element and turning it upside down, making the woman the aggressor, and a charming scoundrel, with the man as the passive partner, and the gullible fool. Not at all uncommon anymore now of course, it was enough to raise eyebrows and elicit chuckles at the time.

Sturges - by all accounts one of the most colourful directors to ever exist, and directors are known as a colourful group already - started out as a screenwriter, and he only ever directed films he had written himself. The mere fact of a writer/director was itself something of a novelty in the day. The actors all remembered the set of this film as a circus, but an enjoyable one, with Barbara Stanwyck rarely retreating into her trailer, just so she wouldn't miss any of the going-ons. Perhaps this atmosphere was conducive to her performance, which is pitch-perfect and sharp. Fonda, being the 'straight man' in the story, and as a character really rather sours instead of lightening up over the course of the film, is perfectly cast to play it, though he becomes rather dim next to Miss Stanwyck. Even in the ancestral home of Fonda's character, he is outdone in the comedy department by his odd family & his coterie of servants and hangers-on. Mind, this is not a draw-back, and the fact that Fonda, and Stanwyck both have dramatic skills just as developed as the comedy ones, improves greatly this picture, and keeps the darker, or soppier moments from gliding into melodramatic cringe-scenes.

An all-round bravo!