All About Eve

All About Eve — Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Unedited Thoughts — This is part of my unedited thoughts series.

The tone is set brilliantly with the introduction of the award that Eve, Anne Baxter, is about to win. The voiceover makes fun of the garish media coverage that muddies ‘other’ awards like the Pulitzer. This is a comedic drama.
Then we jump back in time to when Eve is a nobody and we watch her meteoric rise. The introduction to all the characters is well handled and everyone is interesting and important.
At it’s heart this is a tale of the newcomer challenging the veteran actress at the top of her game. What makes this great is the way in which this old tale is told.
On it’s face Eve is a sweet unknown who is befriended by those close to Margo, Bette Davis, the actress at the top. Eve ingratiates herself with them all. She woes them all.
What is fantastic is that Margo becomes close with Eve but then begins to think that she is trying to usurp her. And we think that she is crazy — Eve has been nothing but lovely. As the story continues we are given small hints that perhaps Margo is right but then these hints can all be explained.
Then Margo is setup by her friends to miss a performance and Eve has to go on for her — she is brilliant and somehow the press were all there. This is the moment that Eve has been waiting for. She ratchets her manipulation up a notch and you think that she has won.
But Margo changes the objective she has had her moment in the spotlight and leaves it to Eve — who is going to be unhappily married to a horrid theatre critic that she tried to use. Margo wins in the end — leaving with her career finished and marrying the man of her dreams. Eve gets what she wanted but all too late realises that she didn’t want to pay the cost.
Then as the curtains are about to close Eve meets herself — Phoebe — the next up and comer.