All About Eve 1950

The Film:

I've been looking forward to this one. It's one of my favourites but I haven't seen it for a while so it's going to be great!

As is possibly the case for other 40-something Brits, I first came across this film because one of my favourite 80s bands named themselves after it. My first associations with All About Eve were all long hair and dresses, folk goth in clouds and forests etc. The band members clearly had great taste in movies, but the film itself bares no resemblance to the band's image! (On a similar note, I really should watch Hue and Cry one of these days....)

There is so much to love about All About Eve - and I'm sure I'll discover much more to ramble on about in my review. I love George Sanders' character (as I think I said ten films ago about Rebecca!), but other than that this is all about the women. There are five of them that are quite magnificent (I include young Marilyn in that line up because she's fabulous in a relatively short space of time!) and this is almost unheard of even in films today. Forty years later people raved about the two strong female leads in Thelma and Louise and how they didn't take any nonsense from their men. And sixty-six years later a similar fuss was made about the three women in Hidden Figures because it was still so unusual. And yet here we are in 1950 with the women completely in charge - and the men not really seeming to mind too much!

The Ceremony:

The stage is set.....

The ceremony was held on March 29th 1951 at the Pantages Theater and was hosted by Fred Astaire. It was filmed in colour and there are loads of clips of it on Youtube. Now that the 50s are kicking in things are starting to look more and more like the more modern Oscar ceremonies I've grown up with.

The nominations were dominated by two films - All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard - that had 25 nominations between them, including nine acting nominations across the four categories. Both of these films, like the previous few years' winners, were very much led by the script and the acting rather than any other spectacle (unlike our next two films!). And both were directed by their scriptwriters (both of whom are multiple Oscar winners). It's a bit of a shame that they were up against each other.

Other Notable Winners That Night:

Gloria Swanson being gracious in defeat, with Jose Ferrer
and Judy Holliday

The acting nominations were dominated by the big two films. SB had one nomination in each category. AAE had two in each Actress category and Supporting Actor for George Sanders. Out of all of those, Sanders was the only one who took the Oscar home.

Judy Holliday won Best Actress for Born Yesterday. Some people claim that Anne Baxter's insistence that she was nominated as a lead rather than in Supporting lost both her and Bette Davis an Oscar as they split the vote. But I can't for the life of me work out why Gloria Swanson didn't get it! (I haven't seen Judy's performance - but I've ordered the DVD so maybe I'll edit this after I've watched it!)

Jose Ferrer took Best Actor for Cyrano de Bergerac and 73 year old Josephine Hull trumped Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter to take Best Supporting Actress for Harvey (I love that film - she's great in it, so fair enough....) Joseph L Mankiewicz took writing and directing awards for the second year running - interestingly, both times these were for films with strong female leads (- and Celeste Holm!)

The animation award this year went to a classic that I remember from my childhood (so it, and its followups, must have been shown a lot in the 70s!) and it's all here on Youtube. The great Gerald McBoing-Boing:

Best Song:

This year it's Mona Lisa from the film Captain Carey USA. Again, I know the song well but not the film. The film was an Alan Ladd post-war drama. The song was a big chart hit of the year for Nat King Cole and became a classic for him - but it was sung in the film by Charlie Spivak and I've found a clip of it in its original setting!:

What We Could/Should Have Been Watching:

"I'm ready for my Oscar Mr de Mille!"

There are some good films on the list this year. King Solomon's Mines is a big sweeping epic, Father Of The Bride is a great comedy (that has since been remade, with a sequel!) and Born Yesterday, though not one I've seen, sounds good and I will check it out.

As an avid fan of All About Eve there is no doubt in my mind that the right film won - but this is one year where I really wish they had given two Best Picture awards, because the other nominee was Sunset Boulevard. Gloria Swanson should have at least won the Best Actress award - and in almost any other year, Billy Wilder should have got Director as well as screenplay (thankfully there are two screenplay awards - so Wilder and Mankiewicz got one each!). It's a wonderful film and I watched it again last week anyway, just because!

Our Verdict:

One of my favourite scenes in the film - the writing, the acting,
the timing all brilliant.

This film is all about the characters. They are written brilliantly and they are played superbly. And that is what makes it such a good film.

The basic plot - Bette Davis plays Margot, an aging actress who is still playing leading roles but is starting to get bitter at the fact that she's growing older. Thelma Ritter is her dresser/assistant Birdie (who weirdly disappears for the last third of the film, which is a real shame.)

Margot and Birdie - and dialogue that could cut diamonds!

Anne Baxter is the titular Eve, a young fan who works her way into Margot's world ready to take over. Celeste Holm is Karen, the wife of a playwright who is a close friend of Margot's and first introduces her to Eve. George Sanders is theater columnist Addison deWitt who basically serves as, for want of a better word, the catalytic s**t-stirrer that encourages events to unfold a certain way. There are other male characters - Lloyd the aforementioned playwright, Margot's boyfriend Bill who is a Director and Producer Max. They play their parts well and serve their purpose (I particularly like Bill!) but they are all there to support the main point of the story, which is all about the relationships between the women in the cast. And the whole thing is wonderfully refreshing because of it!

George and Marilyn - the not-as-clever-as-he-thinks leading
the not-as-dumb-as-she-seems.

There's also Marilyn Monroe in an early role as a young starlet that Addison brings to Margot's party. She provides a lovely glimpse at what she did best - play a so-called "dumb" blonde in a subtly comic and incredibly intelligent way. (My favourite Monroe films are Some Like It Hot and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - and her performance here almost serves as an audition for Sugar and Lorelei!).

Another example of the corruption that goes along with power?

The pacing of the film is great, with the gradual revelation and unravelling of their lives, attitudes and motives. Margot gets gradually more bitter and paranoid, Karen gradually realizes how much her kindness is being taken advantage of - and Eve gradually reveals her true nature. With everything watched by the (almost) all-seeing eye of Addison - who generally enjoys the whole drama of it, definitely enjoys trying to play Eve at her own game, yet is ever so slightly appalled by the whole thing (although I'm guessing some people would disagree with that last point?).

And the ending is great! Just as with All The King's Men last time, it would be wrong for me to give anything away. But it is very satisfying indeed and serves as a great big cherry on the top of a deliciously tasty treat of a cake.

This is one of my favourite films of all time - if you haven't seen it, please give it a go. If you have, then it's probably worth watching again soon. The internet is full of people arguing about the relative merits of All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard. I love Billy Wilder (and I still think that dodgy insurance man put on a better show than those priests in 1944!) but, in this debate, I'm definitely All About Eve!