All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950): USA

Reviewed by Kathleen Amboy.  Viewed on DVD.

  In 1951 George Sanders won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, as the acerbic stage critic Addison DeWitt in All About Eve .  His performance was one of a stellar ensemble cast which includes Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter.

The film opens with a scene at an annual awards banquet given to honor the best theater performances of the year.  Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) begins his VO narration, just as the emcee announces the “distinguished achievement” award to Eve Harrington.  The irony of the award is realized as we revert into a flashback eight months prior and discover how much Eve (Anne Baxter) really has achieved.

Margo Channing (Bette Davis) is a 40 year old acclaimed stage actress, still playing a twenty-something ingenue.  Eve is nothing more than a die-hard fan who idolizes Margo, and stands outside the stage door every night just to get a glimpse of her heroine.

One night Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), the playwright’s wife, takes pity on Eve and invites her into Margo’s dressing room, where Margo is swept up into Eve’s hard luck story.  Eve is offered a job as Margo’s assistant and out-performs each task with supreme diligence, predicting Margo’s every need, and exceeding her expectations.

Birdie (Thelma Ritter) is Margo’s dresser and personal maid, and the only female in the bunch with a good BS detector.  She’s on to Eve, and every rolling of the eye or sarcastic reply isn’t enough to alert Margo of Eve’s ulterior motive.

Suddenly the rug is pulled out from under Margo and she learns that Eve has become her understudy and is vying for the attentions of her friends and lover.  Enter the powerful critic Addison DeWitt, who above all else loves a great performance.  As Eve ensnares DeWitt into her trap, he plays the devil’s advocate and allows himself to be used by writing columns favoring Eve’s performance while taunting Margo’s.  When Eve decides to move onto her next victim, Addison informs her that he is “nobody’s fool” and instructs her on how things are going to be.

Witty dialogue, smooth and effortless acting, expert costume design and perfect direction is what distinguishes this film as a classic and a template for filmmaking – it won Best Picture for 1950.  Mankiewicz received an Oscar for both writing and directing, as did eight-time winner Edith Head for Costumes.

The two powerful leads Bette Davis and Anne Baxter were nominated for Best Actress Oscars, but neither won.  George Sanders deservedly received his.  Sanders was an outstanding actor in his own right and performed in many notable films, two of which I highly recommend The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945).