Madeline
What drew me to this movie is the old Hollywood glamour. The cast includes Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and small part by Marilyn Monroe. It doesn’t hurt that it won best picture in 1950 at the Academy Awards as well as a number of other nominations and awards. It is an iconic classic that comes up in list after list of all time movies.
In the movie, young and fresh Eve Harington, played by Anne Baxter, slowly but surely pushes out Margo Channing, a staple actress in the New York theater. In the beginning Channing is just the bee’s knees but, as is inevitable in acting, her shine and, more importantly, her fame is starting to decline, while Eve moves from acquaintance to assistant. And in the end, the new young pretty thing is introduced into Margo’s theater show as her understudy and into the lead as the perpetual revolving door of women in this industry continues.
The movie may be called All About Eve, but it really revolves around Margo, played by Bette Davis. And she is just great! You love her and you hate her. She is opinionated and funny. In the party scene, she is just downing martinis like it’s no bodies business. Although I know the name, I am not familiar with much of Bette Davis’s movies. After her performance in All About Eve, I will be putting in an effort to seek out any of her more than 48 films.
The dialog is so well thought out, poetic, and smart. Watching this movie for the first time, I’d heard many of these lines before. They don’t write snappy dialog like this anymore. Each actor spouting insults back and fourth like a tennis match. This is not the first movie from this decade nor the last. Old Hollywood, here I come!
