THAT CYNICISM
It's a bit embarrassing to admit the number of ALL-TIME CLASSIC films that I have never seen, but thankfully, I can now cross ALL ABOUT EVE off the list. Definitely worthy of its place in the canon, and Bette Davis truly is a force of nature (YES, this was the first time I had ever seen her on screen. Shame! Shame!) She's truly mesmerizing as Margo Channing, diva extraordinaire.
As I watched, I was trying to imagine if a film like this could succeed today, with a group of strong (but really, how strong?) women driving the action with their men on the side-lines? We have bemoaned here the sad state of roles for women in Hollywood, and EVE made me think alot about that. But most of all, it was just plain fun, with a rollicking, quick-witted script and spot-on performances. Special props must go to George Sanders, deliciously dastardly as Addison DeWitt. Some of the greatest handling of a cigarette holder ever captured on film.
In spite of its conventionality, I found EVE to be strangely feminist in some ways, perhaps best captured in Karen's response to her husband, Lloyd, when he asks he when she became so cynical. "I acquired that cynicism," she insists, "the day I realized I was different from little boys."
posted by Em @ 7:22 PM
4 Comments:
I could watch this movie over and over again. All that smoking!
Now you have to read "All about All About Eve" to learn what happened while they were filming. Juicy stuff! I Celeste Holm and Bette didn't get along. No surprise.
wait, i just found the quote - whee!!!
check out the trivia on IMDB for more juicy stuff.
Co-star 'Celeste Holm' spoke about her experience with Bette Davis on the first day of shooting: "I walked onto the set of . . . on the first day and said, 'Good morning,' and do you know her reply? She said, 'Oh shit, good manners.' I never spoke to her again - ever."
okay, sorry, one more trivia fact - which is relevant given Dorothy's comments in her post -
"Holds the record for the film with the greatest number of female acting Oscar nominations."
i guess it's true that bette was a bitch on wheels, but she has gravitas out the wazooh; no denying it.
i just loved the way the women drive the action in this film and the men (with the exception of dewitt) stand around looking clueless and impotent.
but what do we make of margo's declaration about her life being complete now that she's married? sort of epitomizes the tensions in the film between forward-thinking feminism and traditional notions of women's place.
Post a Comment
<< Home