The Lady Eve. (U.)
Directed by Preston Sturges. 1941
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest and Eric Blore. Black and White. Out on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. 92 mins.
This glorious Preston Sturges romcom with its charm and sophistication and hilarious patter and real stars is the epitome of They Don't Make 'em Like That Anymore. It comes from an era when people wanted to see people who were smarter and wittier versions of themselves up on the big screen, rather than ripped, indestructible, super-powered, smarter and wittier versions of themselves.
It is a film filled with frauds, phoneys and fools and each of them is absolutely adorable. Fonda is the bookish son of a brewery millionaire, back from a year of scientific research down (or is it up?) the Amazon. On the cruise liner back to the States he is assailed by an army of gold diggers all trying to distract him from his reading, but the only one who gets through is scam artist Stanwyck. But having landed the catch, she goes and ruins it by falling in love with him.
Sturges' script is filled with zingers and punctuated with moments of slapstick. There is an array of strong supporting players, and almost all of them get at least one corker of a line, but it is the two stars that excel. Fonda is a glorious chump, and the part makes clever use of his inherent onscreen decency. It uses it against him, making it believable that he would be gullible enough to fall for a number of ruses. But then it also means we stick with him and continue to find his failings endearing and don't resent him for being led by the nose by Stanwyck. Stanwyck, who rather alarmingly bears a resemblance to Davina McCall from certain angles, is just phenomenal. Here is star quality: there's so much packed into this film but, even so, she is the one the commands your attention. I think it says a lot for her performance, and Sturges's script that giving her heart doesn't weaken or diminish her in the slightest bit.
If people ever feel like discussing the movies with me it is usually to say what rubbish they all are these days. Yet they still command attention, even in an age when everybody is all about the box sets. In the 30/40s films like this must've instilled a habit in audiences, an underlying addiction for the big screen, so strong that it is still beating in our collective unconsciousness eight decades later. Films like The Lady Eve are the reason we still love the cinema, even though it is now a largely abusive relationship.
Extras.
Among these is the first Covid 19 specific extras feature I've encountered: a seven way Zoom conversation hosted by Preston's son Tom Sturges. Can't speak to its quality really but the first three minutes were taken up with the participants testing to see if their sound was on and if everybody could hear them and announcing how good it was to see each other again.
Audio commentary from 2001 featuring film professor Marian Keane
Directed by Preston Sturges. 1941
Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest and Eric Blore. Black and White. Out on Blu-ray from the Criterion Collection. 92 mins.
This glorious Preston Sturges romcom with its charm and sophistication and hilarious patter and real stars is the epitome of They Don't Make 'em Like That Anymore. It comes from an era when people wanted to see people who were smarter and wittier versions of themselves up on the big screen, rather than ripped, indestructible, super-powered, smarter and wittier versions of themselves.
It is a film filled with frauds, phoneys and fools and each of them is absolutely adorable. Fonda is the bookish son of a brewery millionaire, back from a year of scientific research down (or is it up?) the Amazon. On the cruise liner back to the States he is assailed by an army of gold diggers all trying to distract him from his reading, but the only one who gets through is scam artist Stanwyck. But having landed the catch, she goes and ruins it by falling in love with him.
Sturges' script is filled with zingers and punctuated with moments of slapstick. There is an array of strong supporting players, and almost all of them get at least one corker of a line, but it is the two stars that excel. Fonda is a glorious chump, and the part makes clever use of his inherent onscreen decency. It uses it against him, making it believable that he would be gullible enough to fall for a number of ruses. But then it also means we stick with him and continue to find his failings endearing and don't resent him for being led by the nose by Stanwyck. Stanwyck, who rather alarmingly bears a resemblance to Davina McCall from certain angles, is just phenomenal. Here is star quality: there's so much packed into this film but, even so, she is the one the commands your attention. I think it says a lot for her performance, and Sturges's script that giving her heart doesn't weaken or diminish her in the slightest bit.
If people ever feel like discussing the movies with me it is usually to say what rubbish they all are these days. Yet they still command attention, even in an age when everybody is all about the box sets. In the 30/40s films like this must've instilled a habit in audiences, an underlying addiction for the big screen, so strong that it is still beating in our collective unconsciousness eight decades later. Films like The Lady Eve are the reason we still love the cinema, even though it is now a largely abusive relationship.
Extras.
Among these is the first Covid 19 specific extras feature I've encountered: a seven way Zoom conversation hosted by Preston's son Tom Sturges. Can't speak to its quality really but the first three minutes were taken up with the participants testing to see if their sound was on and if everybody could hear them and announcing how good it was to see each other again.
Audio commentary from 2001 featuring film professor Marian Keane
- Introduction from 2001 by filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich
- New conversation among writer-director Preston Sturges’s biographer and son Tom Sturges; Bogdanovich; filmmakers James L. Brooks and Ron Shelton; film historian Susan King; and critics Leonard Maltin and Kenneth Turan
- New video essay by film critic David Cairns
- Costume designs by Edith Head
- Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of the film from 1942 featuring Barbara Stanwyck and Ray Milland
- Audio recording of “Up the Amazon,” a song from an unproduced stage musical based on the film
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and a 1946 profile of Preston Sturges from LIFE magazine
