All About Eve (1950)

All About Eve (1950)

starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders

directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

138 minutes

Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) gets a job working for Margo Channing (Bette Davis), a well known star of Broadway. Eve is doing a splendid job. Margo loves her but soon she starts to suspect Eve of trying to get between her and Bill, her long time boyfriend.

Karen, a friend of Margo, helps Eve become Margo's understudy in the play in which she is currently starring. Margo does not approve but Eve's star quickly begins to rise. Bill proposes to Margo which helps to clear the way for Eve to continue to rise. Eve attempts to seduce Lloyd, Karen's playwright husband, but Addison Dewitt (George Sanders) puts down his foot and convinces her that he is a better target for her affections.

The movie ends with Eve winning an award for her acting and then meeting a young woman with aspirations similar to her own when the movie began.

Thoughts

This is the second time I have seen this movie but it has been 25 to 35 years since I last saw it. I remembered some details but there was a lot that I had forgotten.

The first part of the movie focuses mostly on Margo and the second part on Eve. Margo isn't seen very much once the focus shifts to Eve. The same isn't true of the first part of the movie. There is some narration which seems to be done by Karen but it wasn't entirely clear to me why.

Marilyn Monroe has a small part in this movie. I have seen her in a number of other films but none recently.

All About Eve was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won 6 including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor (George Sanders). Bette Davis and Anne Baxter were both nominated for Best Actress but neither of them won. The award for Best Actress that year went to Judy Holliday for her role in Born Yesterday.

I really like the cyclical nature of the movie, how it seems to end in a place similar to where it began. I thought all of the performances were excellent. I can easily see myself watching this movie again even though it does feel a little overstuffed.