ALL ABOUT EVE

In 1949, 'A Letter to Three Wives' was released, written and directed by Joseph L Mankiewicz, which earned him two Oscars, one for Best Director and one for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Then the very next year this masterpiece was released, and yes, once again Mr Mankiewicz won the same two Oscars. Quite an achievement.

It's a long time since I first saw it, but the basic storyline had stuck with me: ambitious young actress Eve Harrington (played by Anne Baxter) supplanting aging actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis).  But I had forgotten that this film starts by giving away the ending, with an awards ceremony where Eve is the star turn.  We then get a series of flashbacks, narrated by different characters, which show us how we got to this point.

By doing this the film removes some element of mystery (where is the film heading?) and replaces it with suspense (how will Eve's startling rise to stardom affect Margo and her friends?).  I'm sure Hitchcock would have approved - see 'Vertigo' for example where the truth is revealed to the audience long before the end so as to create the suspense of wondering what will be the reaction of James Stewart's character when he discovers it.

The opening scene introduces us to the other main characters, Margot's best friend Karen (played by Celeste Holm), her lover and theatre director Bill, and her favourite playwright Lloyd who also happens to be Karen's husband.

Best of all is the splendidly named Addison DeWitt, a cynical and sardonic theatre critic, played to perfection by George Sanders.

The film works on several levels. 

There is the fascination of seeing how Eve worms her way into Margo's circle, and then schemes her way into taking the lead role in Lloyd's new play.

Then there is the witty and sparkling dialogue, which may never have been bettered.

Best of all we have Bette Davis, one of the all-time greats, giving one of her best performances.  It's almost biographical in that she is about the same age as Margo (early '40s) and like Margo she is having to face the reality that her illustrious career can only go in one direction.  Margo is worried that she is eight years older than Bill, but happily they end up marrying; in reality Bette Davis married the actor who plays Bill (Gary Merrill) who was seven years her junior (the marriage lasted ten years). 

Beneath Margo's outward display of self-confidence there lies an insecurity but surprisingly it's not to do with her career, but instead it's to do with her relationship with Bill.  Davis (and the script) do a great job of showing us this vulnerability, and her recognition of the sacrifices she has had to make to succeed in her career.

Remarkably four actresses in this film were nominated for an Oscar, all unsuccessfully (Davis, Baxter, Holm and Thelma Ritter).  A fifth actress, a young Marilyn Monroe, has a couple of scenes where she shows her comedic timing to perfection (DeWitt describes her character as "an actress, a graduate of the Copacabana school of the dramatic arts").

At one point Gary Merrill's line delivery reminded me of that of William Holden, and the thought occurred to me that the only way this film could possibly be improved would be to have Holden play Bill, but then I realised that wouldn't be possible because in the same year as this film came out Holden was in 'Sunset Boulevard', playing a younger man in a relationship with an aging actress.

Both this and 'Sunset Boulevard' are masterpieces the likes of which don't get made any more.