All About Eve is a realistic, dramatic depiction of show business and the backstage life of Broadway and the New York theater. The devastating debunking of stage and theatrical characters was based on the short story and radio play The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr. A cinematic masterpiece and one of the all-time classic films, this award winner has flawless acting, directing, an intelligent script and believable characters. The film is driven by Mankiewicz' witty, cynical and bitchy screenplay - through the character of Addison DeWitt, Mankiewicz represented his point of view and opinions about show business. Thematically, it provides an insightful diatribe against crafty, aspiring, glib, autonomous female thespians who seek success and ambition at any cost without regard to scruples or feelings. The acclaimed film also comments on the fear of aging and loss of power/fame.
Mankiewicz is the only known director/writer to ever win two Oscars back to back for both writing and directing. His career not only including writing and directing, but acting as well. His direction in "Eve" is flawless, and precise. He's smart enough to know that the words in this movie are the highlights, so there's never any fancy uses of the camera, or fancy lighting tricks. He allows the action and the actors bring the situations to fruition. There has rarely been dilogue in a movie like this. Perhaps "His Girl Friday", but thses kinds of films are very, very rare.
At MGM he directed some of the most brilliant films ever made. The Philidelphia Story among them. He left the studio because of Louis B. Mayer's treatment toward Judy Garland. Joeseph was a great champion of her talent and her persona. He was one of the few in Hollywood that knew what the studio was doing to her. They remained friends until her death.
"I wouldn't worry too much about your heart, Eve. You can always put that award where your heart ought to BE."
-Bette Davis, as "Margot Channing", to Anne Baxter as "Eve Harrington".
The great George Saunders won his Academy Award playing the deliciously venomous Addison DeWitt. Even the name of the character tells you what you're in for. His performance is snide, caustic and geniunely heart breaking. The scene toward the end of the film where he breaks Eve down armed with nothing but the truth is both horrifying and beligerent. We feel DeWitt's love for this woman, and marvel at his ability to worship her even though she represents a mirror image of his own neurosis. Saunders infamously committed suicide years later. He claimed he was "bored with it all."
Gary Merrill plays "Bill", Margot's love interest and director extraordinarre. His performance is a bit one dimensional and flat, but I always assumed that was part of the role. Unfortunately, Merrill will forever be remembered as Bette Davis' boyfriend. They were married in real life for almost ten years and adopted two children.
"We really thought we were Margot and Bill. Boy was WE ever surprised." Davis once remarked.
Although not Marilyn Monroe's first film, this was most assuredly her most important. She only has three short scenes, but practically walks away with them all. During this particular scene, where she meets Davis' character for the first time, Joeseph had Bette in center frame, with Monroe and Saunders flanking her. After seeing the rushes, Davis demanded a re shoot.
"Who the HELL is going to look at ME with that woman on my left?? Put the bitch in the middle, for Chrissakes!"
Mankeiwicz agreed.
When Marilyn enters the frame of this shot, all else fades away.
Miss Caswell: "Oh Waiter! Waiter!"
Dewitt: "That isn't a waiter my dear, that's a butler."
Miss Caswell: "Well I can't go around yelling 'Oh,Butler", can I? What if someone's name is Butler?"
DeWitt: "You have a point. And idiotic one, but a point."
Celeste Holme's "Karen" garnered her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting actress. Deservedly so.
The first day of filming, Holmes was to meet the uber Diva Bette Davis, whom with she had never worked. Celeste came from an upper East side town and attending the finest schools while she was growing up. She graduated from the East Side All Girl's Acting Academy, and was raised on good taste and manners. Davis entered the rehearsal room, and Celeste rose, extended her hand, and said with a smile:
"Good morning Miss Davis, it's wonderful to finally meet you."
Davis smirked, flipped her ciggarette, and said in passing:
"Jesus Christ. Manners before NOON?!"
There's a wonderful scene in the restaurant where the two lead couples are sitting around a table, and Margot has decided not to do the play for which the lead role was written. Karen, having had a heated conversation with Eve in the ladies room begins to laugh ironically. Hard. Long. Hefty. A great, great laugh...something very difficult for an actor to do without it sounding false and forced. It's a wonderful scene. Davis, jealous of Holme's talent (and probably her youth) mumbled under her breath how badly she wished she possesed that skill. Mankiewicz, knowing how badly Davis had been treating Holme's throughout the filming, decided to asisst Celeste in a bit of revenge. He secretly asked her how long and how may times she could duplicate the laugh, and have it still sound natural, and she answered:
"How many times would you like?"
They eventually did over 9 takes, speicifically for that purpose. Davis calmed down a bit after that day.
There's a scene where Karen is waiting in the restaurant for Margot's eventual appearance.
"We were on our way to have luncheon. Just like girlfriends. With hats on."
As she sits, Addison DeWitt passes by. They converse a bit about Eve, and Addison hands her the latest of his many gosspi columns. This one about Margot and her flailing youth.
"Here," he says handing her the paper "...read my column. The minutes will pass like hours."
Karen sits, back to the camera, and reads. The scene is silent. No music, no sounds at all except the restaraunt busy during a New York afternoon. We watch Karen's back literally arch, and then she scurries out the front door, in a hurried defense of her best friend. It's a marvel of a scene, both acted and directed with small yet fully realized artistry.
Thelma Ritter appeared in high school plays and was trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In the 1940s she worked in radio. Her movie career was started with a bit part in the 1946 Miracle On 34th Street. In the movie she played a weary Xmas shopper. Her performance in the short scene was noticed by Darryl F. Zanuck who insisted her role be expanded. During the period 1951 to 1963 Ms. Ritter was nominated for 6 Academy Awards. She is one of the most nominated actors who never won the statue.One of my favorite performnces of hers is in, coincidentally, one of my favorite romantic comedies "Pillow Talk". Shortly after a 1968 performance on the Jerry Lewis Show, Thelma suffered a heart attack which proved fatal. Her "Birdie" in Eve is exqisite. She was one of the few that got along famously with Bette Davis.
When Baxter was nominated for Best Actress along with Bette Davis, Davis reportedly fumed. Verbally. On the set. Days later, Davis received a telegram, which read:
"My Dear Miss Davis,
The movie is called All About Eve, not All About Margot.
Sincerely,
Ann Baxter
Baxter's complex, searing, focused performance is astounding. She is everything in this film. She is touching and sad, and maniacal and prone to theatrical histronics. Her brilliant monolgue on the foot of the stairs of Channing's home is one for the books. It is glorious and over the top, but ultimately and completely believable. Years later, they turned the film into a Tony Award winning musical called "Applause" starring Lauren Bacall.
There's no doubt of Bette's performance. She is in full throttle scene chewing mode. Imagine:
"Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night."
.....said by Claudette Colbert, who was the first choice to play Margot Chaninning. Bette was, at the time, the right age and in the right fram of mind to play Margot. She was 43 years old and was considered washed up. She understood Channing and breathed alife into her that is rare in screen characters. She and Mankeiwicz got along as far as she could get along with anyone besdies Cukor. They respected each other, and Davis adored the script. She knew it was the role of a lifetime, and she held nothing back. Her beautiful touching sentimental scene where she literally falls into Bill's arms after the scathing report in Addison DeWitt's column appears, is heartbreaking. Davis' ability to turn on a dime is unparralleled. People compare Jodie Foster to Davis, and, although I ama Foster Fan, I don't feel Foster has near the range.
Consider this.
As opposed to this.
All About Eve is a woman's picture, though not in the weepy or melodramatic sense usually associated with the term. It is a woman's picture because three leading characters struggle with themselves in an eternal female contest: personal fulfillment through career achievement or through relationships. (Although men too struggle with this issue on some levels, it has never been the same, because society never asks men to chose between career and family, only to find the right balance; whereas women are forced to chose between marriage and a career, the conventional wisdom -- then and now -- being that successful participation in both at the same time is impossible.*) What distinguishes All About Eve from other women's films however, is the fact that the surface story of treachery and ambition is sufficiently entertaining in itself for the rest of the audience, thanks to the superior writing and acting with which this film is blessed.
All About Eve Trivia:
* Claudette Colbert was originally cast as Margo Channing, but suffered a ruptured disc during filming on Three Came Home (1950) and had to withdraw. Bette Davis stepped into the role, even though 20th Century Fox producer Darryl F. Zanuck and Davis couldn't stand each other, going back to when Davis walked out from her post as president of the Motion Picture Academy in 1941.
* Although he received screen credit, Fisher, Eddie's scene was cut before the film's release.
* Darryl F. Zanuck envisioned Marlene Dietrich as Margo Channing, Jeanne Crain as Eve Harrington, and José Ferrer (I) as Addison DeWitt. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's early choices for the Margo Channing role were Claudette Colbert and Gertrude Lawrence. When Jean Crain became pregnant, Mankiewicz's final choice for the Eve Harrington part was Anne Baxter because she displayed a "bitch virtuosity" that Jeanne Crain could not provide. Other actresses were also named and considered for the part of Margo Channing, among them Tallulah Bankhead and Susan Hayward (I).
* In real life, Bette Davis had just turned 42 as she undertook the role of Margo Channing, and Anne Baxter, still an up-and-comer, not only wowed audiences with her performance, but successfully pressured the powers that be to get her nominated for an Oscar in the Best Actress category rather than Best Supporting Actress. This is thought to have split the vote between herself and Davis. The winner for the 1950 Best Actress was Judy Holliday for her noticeable turn in Born Yesterday (1950), so Baxter's actions in effect blocked Davis' chances for the win.
* In 1970, the story was adapted into a Broadway musical called Applause (1973) (TV). Lauren Bacall played Margo Channing. When Bacall left the show, the actress who took over the role of Margo Channing was Anne Baxter, who had played the role of Eve in the film.
* The theatre scenes in the film were shot at San Francisco's Curran Theatre at 445 Geary Street a couple of blocks from Union Square.
* Ranks first in the Most Academy Award Nominated Films with 14 nominations, set a record which has been tied only by the No.2 Titanic (1997).
* The original story "The Wisdom of Eve" appeared in "Cosmopolitan" magazine in 1946, and was produced as a radio drama for NBC - but every studio rejected it as a film project. Eventually Fox bought the rights for $3500 with no credit stipulations. Joseph L. Mankiewicz combined "The Wisdom of Eve" with a story he had been developing about an actress who recalls her life when receiving an award.
* Bette Davis's voice was strained from her recent divorce, and she had to re-record all her dialogue from the theater scene.
* The "Sarah Siddons Award" which Eve receives was invented by writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz. In 1952, a small group of eminent Chicago theater-goers, including Mrs. Loyal Davis, mother of future First Lady Nancy Davis (I), began to give an award of that name which is also physically modeled on the one in the film. The 1967-1968 Actor of the Year award recipient was Celeste Holm. In 1973, during the Sarah Siddons Society Anniversary Gala, an honorary Sarah Siddons award was presented to Bette Davis, even though she never appeared in a play in Chicago.
* Angela Lansbury and Zsa Zsa Gabor were considered for the role of Miss Caswell. Gabor's then-husband, George Sanders (I), did get the role of Miss Caswell's mentor, Addison DeWitt.
* Zanuck's casting notes revealed he had wanted John Garfield (I) for Bill Sampson and Barbara Stanwyck for Margo Channing. Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe and Thelma Ritter were the first choices for their roles.
* According to the casting director's list, future White House occupants Ronald Reagan (I) and Nancy Davis (I) were considered for the roles of Bill Sampson and Eve Harrington.
* Contrary to popular belief, Margo Channing is not based on Tallulah Bankhead. The original story the film was based on was itself based on a real-life incident involving actress Elisabeth Bergner during her run in the hit stage thriller "The Two Mrs. Carrolls" in 1943-44. The story about it being based on Bankhead persisted, however, and when Bankhead heard it, she told a live radio audience that the next time she saw Bette Davis, she would "tear every hair out of her moustache".
* 20th-Century Fox paid Mary Orr (I) $5,000 for all rights to "The Wisdom of Eve".
* Bette Davis admitted later on that Joseph L. Mankiewicz's casting her in this movie saved her career from oblivion after a series of unsuccessful movies. She said in a 1983 interview, "He resurrected me from the dead."
* Bette Davis fell in love with her co-star Gary Merrill during the shoot of this movie and the two married in July 1950 a few weeks after filming was completed.
* It was Darryl F. Zanuck who decided to change the working title "Best Performance" to "All About Eve" after reading one of Addison DeWitt's lines in the opening narration of the script.
* Was voted the 21st Greatest Movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
* The movie's line "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night" was voted as the #9 movie quote by the American Film Institute