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Film: All About Eve
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Country: USA
Released: October 1950
Runtime: 138 minutes
Genre: Drama
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Influenced: Vincente Minnelli, Mervyn LeRoy, John Cassavetes, Robert Altman, Paul Verhoeven
Like Sunset Boulevard, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve is another scathing critique of the ruthless world of showbusiness and the corrupting power of fame, this time set in the world of theatre. After a witty opening monologue delivered by George Sanders (whose syrupy upper class English tones also provided the voice of Shere Khan in Disney's 1967 version of The Jungle Book) as theatre critic Addison DeWitt, we first set our eyes on Bette Davis in one of her most iconic roles as Margo Channing, a celebrated Broadway star. Like Norma in Sunset Boulevard, Channing is supposed to be an ageing star but to my mind it's not so convincing here since Bette Davis is still in her prime – every time her heavy eyelids rise up and reveal the full magnificence of her eyes, it’s a cinematic moment in itself.
Mankiewicz based the movie's script on a short story by Mary Caswell Orr, entitled The Wisdom of Eve, which was published in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1946 – Orr rightly received a screenwriter's reward for her key role in the success of the film, even though she wasn't given a screen credit. The film revolves around the character of Eve Harrington (played with dewy-eyed menace by Anne Baxter), a young and ambitious fan who insinuates herself into Margo's inner circle, eventually becoming her assistant. However, Eve's true intentions are soon revealed as she begins to manipulate those around her, including Margo's director and her friends, in her quest for fame and fortune.
“Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!" One of the strengths of All About Eve is its razor sharp script and witty dialogue, delivering some of the most memorable lines in cinema history. "You're maudlin and full of self-pity. You're magnificent!", says Addison to Margo during the party scene, which is one of the film's highlights, featuring a young Marilyn Monroe as Miss Caswell (a tribute to Mary Orr). Monroe has a great line about theatre directors looking like unhappy rabbits, and later on in the film she has a hilarious discussion with Addison, in which he delivers his withering commentary about the rise of TV, which is fast winning audience share from the theatre (“that’s all that TV is, nothing but auditions”).
At the end of the film, Addison is involved in another brilliant exchange, this time with Eve, in which he confronts her “killer to killer”. He memorably says that she needs to step up a weight class to fight him. Margo also soon grasps that her protégé Eve is plotting to take over her career and life. In many Bette Davis films, female friendship and female rivalry is a key theme, along with a fear of failure and growing old, and All About Eve features her best performance and her most acid dialogue. The film ends with a scene of a young girl aiming to do to Eve what Eve did to Margo, showing the continued cycle of chancers who fake it until they make it as stars through charm, lies and sycophancy. The predatory Addison eyes his next prize.
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