The Lady Eve (1941)

Director:

Preston Sturges

Writers:

Monckton Hoffe (story) and
Preston Sturges (writer)

Release Date:

25 February 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Eve Sure Knows Her Apples !

Plot:

Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike meets con-artist Jean Harrington on a ship...

Plot Keywords:

Ship | Snake | Con Artist | Lady | Divorce Settlement

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Eugenia 'Jean' Harrington
Henry Fonda	...	Charles 'Charlie' Poncefort Pike
Charles Coburn	...	'Colonel' Harry Harrington
Eugene Pallette	...	Horace Pike
William Demarest	...	Ambrose 'Muggsy' Murgatroyd
Eric Blore	...	Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith
Melville Cooper	...	Gerald
Martha O'Driscoll	...	Martha - the Maid
Janet Beecher	...	Janet Pike
Robert Greig	...	Burrows - Pike's Butler
Dora Clement	...	Gertrude
Luis Alberni	...	Emile, Pike's chef

Also Known As:

Die Falschspielerin (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
As Três Noites de Eva (Portugal) [pt]
En moderne Eva (Denmark) [da]
I gynaika peirasmos (Greece) [el]
Kvinnan Eva (Sweden) [sv]
Lady Eva (Italy) [it]
Lady Eve (France) [fr]
Las tres noches de Eva (Spain) [es]
Nainen Eeva (Finland) [fi]
Un coeur pris au piège (France) [fr]

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Sweden:15 | South Korea:12 (2004) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by MCA ever since.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jean is looking at Charles in the mirror, what she sees is the right way round (you can clearly see this by looking at the cover of Charles' book).

Quotes:

Gerald: I can't understand how the horse ran fifth!
Jean Harrington: There were only five horses in the race. What do you expect when you bet on a goat called "After You?"

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

Soundtrack:

Isn't It Romantic

An Interesting Combination That Works Very Well

This is an interesting combination of talents and material that works very well, thanks most of all to Preston Sturges's ability to create a distinctive feel to his pictures. "The Lady Eve" has many of the elements familiar to screwball comedy, and yet it is something a little different, a little more than the oddball characters and comical plot developments.

Barbara Stanwyck has quite an interesting role that allows her at times to assume several different personas. She shows good versatility, and effectively brings out the different sides of her character's nature. Henry Fonda works better than you would expect in such a comic picture. He is wisely used as a straight man most of the time, and even his occasional stiffness actually fits the role.

Much of the supporting cast gets only limited opportunities, but they are generally good also, especially Charles Coburn, who is perfectly cast as Stanwyck's shifty father.

There are many amusing moments, yet often with a current of humanity underneath. Sturges and the cast keep the laughs coming while also making sure that you care about the characters.