Terrific movie with great acting from everyone and a witty script that's still sharp today. It should never be remade, but if it is, I'd cast Annette Bening and Hilary Swank! My grade: A.

Watched this on amc classic tv last night, I didn't prepare for it, it was about to be on and decided it would be required viewing, as I can't get access to it at my regular video store.

I am aware that there are people who rags on older movies gaining their reputation because they are old, because they are "classics", rather than their quality, and I agree there are some movies that have gained a higher reputation than they should. All About Eve is a movie that doesn't carry the hype or household name status as some movies like Kane, On the Waterfront, etc., it quietly sits back with it's record amount of Oscar nominations and full acclaim among movie circles as a treasure of cinema.

But the scary thing about All About Eve is that it IS that good, and more. Not only in the way it portrays the rise and fall of being a star and the places people will go to achieve it, but in it's vividness of how the entire thing is played out, to the screenplay, direction, delivery, twists.

I've never seen a Bette Davis movie before, but she is INCREDIBLE in this film, one of the best female performances in any movie, ever. Anne Baxter as the conniving title character with hidden intentions and hidden qualities to her character is also dead on, and I believe either could've been a deserving winner in their year they hadn't cancelled each other out. The transformation of Eve throughout the film, from innocent at the beginning, to the lieing and cold hearted superstar at the end in her suite, just perfect.

Celeste Holm as a playwright side character, George Sanders as a poisonous writer, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, all light up the screen. This must be one of the best casts of all time, say what you want about B&W films and whether they live up to their fame or not, but in any case it is undeniable there just isn't acting like this anymore, it's a tour de force in that category.

The screenplay as mentioned is incredibly vivid and intriguing, the direction and set design of broadway is electric, the entire movie is just unstoppable. All About Eve is the definition of flawless, and one of the movies of it's breed that lives up to all the acclaim and reputation it's gotten. One of the best movies ever? Very much so.

A+

I would've never dreamed I'd see a better movie than Casino Royale this weekend, but I just did. Wow wow wow.

Excellent review, Shack.

Probably the smartest screenplay ever written. What an amazing movie. A+

What a script! Unbelievable dialogs with biting humor. Bettie Davis gave one of the best performances I've ever seen, and it's hard to believe she wasn't actually the first choice. But I still have to go back to the dialogs; it's like movies within a movie since everybody is playing a part. Amazing. A.

Bump, because of its undeserving low spot in the KJ Top(?) 100...

Go see it, people.

Bette Davis.
Best Screen Play Ever.
Bette Davis.


A+

Saw this today and LOVED it. I pretty much agree with everything Shack said in his review. This was my first Bette Davis movie as well, and I can see why she is seen as one of the greatest actresses of all time. She lit up the screen, and so did Anne Baxter. Her transformation from innocent, adoring fan to manipulative and cunning was perfection. The screenplay makes the movie as much as the acting does, alloying the characters to come alive even moreso than is usual for characters of this type. The end was extremely well done. The irony of it all hit me hard. Really, this was great. I wish I had seen it before voting for my top 100.

A

certainly the gold standard for writing for the screen

oh, the power of an excellent screenplay and a compelling performance. may be perfect.

One of the very best films ever, and perhaps the best screenplay I've ever witnessed. It's in my top 10.

Bette Davis crafted such an incredible and sympathetic character in Margo Channing. I need to rewatch this!

I have All About Eve fever

#2 all-time baby, woohoo

With all the praise for Bette Davis, please don't forget how terrific Anne Baxter is in this one. She has the much tougher role and does it masterfully.

Word.

Bumping my newly-anointed all time favorite for fun.

It's a great great great movie, with an unbelievable script. Thinking about it now, I want to revisit it again.

Or how about that George Sanders. After she's duped so many, he delivers the definitive verbal rebuttal.

Then there's the rest of the galaxy of twinkling soliloquys and stunning games of oral tennis, with performances to match across the board. If this film doesn't convince someone that some of those old black and white films are worth a shot, I don't know what would.

*Warning!: while this review does not reveal much plot, it does spoil a lot about character archs, etc. be advised if you haven't seen the film.

It’s not really about Eve

Surprisingly, all about Eve, is not really about Eve. I supposed you could argue it is largely about Eve’s actions, but it focsues more on her impact towards others than it does on her. In reality though, “All About Eve” is ‘about’ so many things it is hard to keep track: humanity, society, show business, theater, deception, trust, greed, ambition, contempt, and the physcology of its’ 6 key characters. This is easily one of the most ambitious films I have ever seen on the screen, and shockingly, it pulls it off. Down to the last layered and convoluted message.

This is probably not the smartest screenplay I have ever heard, but it’s almost certainly the second. The writer, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, also the director, is a pure genius. He tries to accomplish as much in his tone, theme, and characters in a 140 minute production as most great 300 page novels do. Moreover, he succeeds. Thoroughly. Mankiewicz brilliance lies largely in his ability to create fascinating and impossibly deep characters very quickly. His dialogue is also about as witty and clever as it comes, and to cap it all off, he knows how to tell a story, both visually and with a pen. Mankiewicz takes his time setting everything up, but he includes fascinating little touches: shifting narrative insights amongst three different characters, a flashback that extends for almost the whole movie, and never allowing you directly into the head of Eve, like he does for Margo Channing, Addison DeWitt, and Karen. These little pieces, that are effected both by the writing and directing, keep the whole thing movie quickly and give it an original feel. Even 60 years after the film was made, it is pretty clear you are watching something you have never seen before.

Mankiewicz uses a pacing technique, starting the film towards the end of the story, backing up throughout the whole film, and then going back to the end of the story at the end of the movie, that has almost become commonplace in modern film. However Mankiewicz handles it considerably better than anyone else I have ever seen. The fact that the beggining, which is almost the end of the story, is basically just a prelude to establish one of the 4 smaller but still key characters, Addison DeWitt, and allow for his fascinating and unique introduction to Eve, and her story. The entire film smolders and bites at your heels, but never quite like when George Sander’s Addison DeWitt is present.

This incredible character arch could be largely attributed to Sanders’ performance, which given with stunning ease and obvious effortlessness throughout most of the film, is very near perfect. Sanders’ character seems very indifferent and almost static throughout the whole film, the only character you can say that about, but in the last ten minutes he gives an arch that is done with shocking brilliance. We see into Addison DeWitt’s cynical and narcissistic mind almost as if it were our own.

But Sanders’ is not the only one, and perhaps not even the key one who deserves credit here. Overall, what a cast! Gary Mill plays the egotistic but good-hearted Bill Simpson. Mill, compared to the rest of the cast, can only be described as mediocre. However if you took this performance out of the movie itself and compared it to anything else, it would usually be described as brilliant. This is, obviously, a tribute to just how great the rest of the acting is. Celeste Holm is excellent as the lovely-until-provoked play-writes wife, Karen. This character is rather simple next to most of the others, but she is still intensely engaging. A large portion of the film is told through her personal narration, and she gives us an intriguing insight to her thought process. It’s Karen’s blunder that serves as Pandora’s box in the film, which provides for her characters edge and loss of innocence.

But Holm’s arch is just the beginning, her husband in the film, Hugh Marlowe, gives a tragically overlooked performance as Lloyd Richards, the playwright. Lloyd is one of the most emotionally established characters in the film, despite our inability to see in to his mindset. His big dramatic scenes, which are big dramatic fights with his wife, and the actress/best friend Margo, are the two of the three most emotionally charged and poignant pieces to the film. And despite the fact that Richards probably has the smallest roll of the 6 key characters, he is crucial to some of the films most universal themes: love, lust, human nature, and trust. Hugh Marlowe provides complete insight into all of these messages with his brilliant portrayal of Richards.

And then there are the leads. If George Sanders’ Addison DeWitt is a static character, than Anne Baxter’s Eve Harrington is as far removed from that as possible, which is perhaps the reason their chemistry is the most effective in the film. While Baxster’s performance is child’s play next her co-star’s, whom I’ll get to in a moment, she is still brilliant. The entire character arch is ‘bang the drum slowly’ as she enters as the most innocent, ignorant and sweet little creature, and gradually evolves into a souless, wretched monster of a woman. Eve Harrington truly is something out of a dark phsyco-analysis novel. Anne Baxter gives this character the darkest of edges with the fleetest of moments. For nearly the entire film Baxter and her character, are pretending to be a kind hearted person, something Baxter is good at, but not great. But when she is near Sanders’ DeWitt, we see the venemous edge of Harrington, which Baxter portrays beautifully. Her emotional climax at the end is slightly over-the-top and messy, but still engaging and rather believable.

With all this said, I’ve been saving the best for last. Bette Davis star turn as Margo Channing is something you dream to watch but never believe you will really see. Having seen Gloria Sawnsons’ performance in Sunset Boulevard, I am not confident in calling this the strongest female performance of all time, but it is without a doubt one of the top five I’ve seen. Davis’ gives her character an edge that simply could not ever be done by any one else. She combines the fears that plauged actress then and still do: aging, new stars, and her love of others, with the obvious good intentions and sincerity of Margo Channing. This character is in perfect contrast of the maniacal Eve Harrington, and their friendship fading to hatred is brought fully to life by Davis’ brilliance. Not once does she appear awkward, or over dramatic, or imperfect on the screen. She carries a natural charisma on the screen that is enhanced, rather than compromised, by the incredible variation of emotions her character experiences. I have never seen Davis in any other film, but I will make sure I hunt down everything else she has ever done.

Everyone in this film, both on screen and off, gave their absolute all in creating this revolving, timeless, poignant masterpiece. I can’t begin to touch on, with 500, or 1,000, or 5,000 words just how indescribably perfect this film is, from top to bottom. Even in the technical aspects, cinematography, editing, set design, score, sound editing, the film is absolutely top notch (for its’ time, of course.) Everything from top to bottom and on every side of the movie ranges from magnificent, to absolute perfection.

Summary: The single greatest film I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

*note- after a lot of thought, as you can note, I decided that this film was very slightly better than No Country for Old Men, and Network (which were my 1 and 2 films) and have given it the top spot on my all time list.
* 2nd note- is it just me or was 1950 one hell of a year for movies, this and Sunset Boulevard? wow.

I know this was a while ago, and it may have changed, just curious: what is your #1 film?



You mean we both have this as our #1 film? How cute!

Magnus, how many times must we establish just how ignorant I am of great film? I hate to admit it, but my "greatest of all time" just does not mean as much as it does for most of you. I have only been intensely watching film for about a year, it's been ten or twenty times that long for most of you. I will probably knock this off in a week or 2 as well, if these other films I have lined up are as great as I keep hearing.

Although, for the record, I had declared NCFOM the greatest film I had seen since I watched it the first time in janury 2008.So technically it took a year and 3 months.

I always knew there was a reason I keep a vial of cyanide in my back pocket.

haha, have fun with that,

i guess he just isnt on of the great directors...

Please excuse me if I'm being rude, but I'm trying to read your post, it just isn't making any sense. I see words on the page, but it's as if saying "an purple peach is the same thing as a kettle that is red which is calling the pot black" it just doesn't register.
Again, I apologise if you find this rude or offensive I am just trying to understand you, that is all.