228. All About Eve (1950)

Directed By Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Synopsis

Eve is a bitch, who Single White Female's fantabulous Margo, trying to take over her life, her career and even her husband. She kind of gets the career but at a high price. Moral of the story, never play a player.

Review

This film is a superb, bleak view of the theatre world. It is superb because there were very few, if any, American films to have so good or so natural dialogues until now. The whole thing sparkles with brilliance, the performances, particularly the one by Betty Davies are career defining.

This is a pretty long film going over 2 hours, but it never bores you, it keeps you on the edge of your seat just because of its tremendous dialogue writing, by the spectacular performances.

Really there is not much more than can be said about the film, except the fact that it deserves to be seen and that it really deserved all the 14 Oscar nominations it got, even if I don't understand how Betty didn't get an Oscar for it, it went to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday... yeah.

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

All About Eve received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics upon its release on October 13, 1950 at a New York City premiere. The film's competitor, Sunset Blvd., released the same year, drew similar praise, and the two were often favorably compared. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times says of Davis that "veteran actress Margo Channing in All About Eve was her greatest role". A collection of reviews from the film's release are stored on the website Rottentomatoes.com, and All About Eve has garnered 100% positive reviews there, making it "Certified fresh." Boxoffice.com stated that it "is a classic of the American cinema -- to this day the quintessential depiction of ruthless ambition in the entertainment industry, with legendary performances from Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and George Sanders anchoring one of the very best films from one of Hollywood's very best Golden Era filmmakers: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It is a film that belongs on every collector's shelf - whether on video or DVD. It is a classic that deserves better than what Fox has given it."

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