All About Eve (1950)

Director:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writer:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (written by)

Release Date:

15 January 1951 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

It's all about women---and their men!

Plot:

An ingenue insinuates herself in to the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends.

Plot Keywords:

Actress | Critic | Theater | Director | Party

Awards:

Won 6 Oscars. Another 14 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Margo
Anne Baxter	...	Eve
George Sanders	...	Addison DeWitt
Celeste Holm	...	Karen
Gary Merrill	...	Bill Simpson
Hugh Marlowe	...	Lloyd Richards
Gregory Ratoff	...	Max Fabian
Barbara Bates	...	Phoebe
Marilyn Monroe	...	Miss Casswell
Thelma Ritter	...	Birdie
Walter Hampden	...	Aged Actor
Randy Stuart	...	Eve's Pal on Telephone
Craig Hill	...	Leading Man in 'Footsteps on the Ceiling'
Leland Harris	...	Doorman
Barbara White	...	Autograph Seeker

Also Known As:

Best Performance (USA) (working title)
Ève (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
La malvada (Argentina) (Mexico) [es]
бЯ╦ Н еБЕ (Soviet Union: Russian title) [ru]
A Malvada (Brazil) [pt]
Alles über Eva (West Germany) [de]
Allt om Eva (Sweden) [sv]
Alt om Eva (Denmark) [da]
Eva (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Eva (Greece) [el]
Eva (Portugal) [pt]
Eva al desnudo (Spain) [es]
Eva contro Eva (Italy) [it]
Ha-Kol Odot Hava (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Kaikki Eevasta (Finland) [fi]
Ola gia tin Eva (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Perde açiliyor (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Tot sobre Eva (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Wszystko o Ewie (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1987) | South Korea:15 | UK:U (2007) | USA:Approved (certificate #14544) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Brazil:Livre | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:S | Peru:14 | Spain:13 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

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."

Goofs:

Continuity: The hands in the bedside clocks do not move

Quotes:

Bill Sampson: Outside of a bee hive Margo, your beahvior would not be considered either Queenly or Motherly.
Margo Channing: You are in a beehive, pal. Didn't you know? We are all busy little bees, full of stings, making honey day and night. Aren't we honey?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in All About Steve (2009)

Soundtrack:

That Old Black Magic

Incredible

I had read comments about the quality of the writing in this film but I really had no idea to what extent this would elevate the experience. The fact is, it leaves me with no other choice than to give it a perfect 10. Unless you see this film, I don't think you'll have the necessary frame of reference with which to to base any expectations on. It's an incredibly engrossing, moving and often comedic experience, but time and time again what knocks you over is the absolute finesse with which this script was crafted. The fact that the acting and direction are flawless and surprisingly natural-seeming (most old movies usually seem stiff or people seem to "act" too much) only enhances it that much more. With this film, you can really imagine the *people* the actors are portraying.

"All About Eve" shows some similarity to one of my other favourite 50s films "A Face in the Crowd". Both are studies of fame and celebrity. Eve shows how a person will corrupt themselves in order to attain it, whereas A Face's premise is that fame corrupts those who find themselves in the spotlight. Both have themes that are perhaps even more resonant in our celebrity-obsessed culture now than when they were made. Interestingly, Eve predates A Face by several years.

And possibly most interesting of all is the honest and often raw way in which women are portrayed, the strength of their character and the power they wield. The male contingent is practically relegated to the back seat. One might be hard pressed to find a movie quite so "liberated" today. So what more can I say? If you love movies and you haven't yet seen it, you've suffered long enough; don't wait another day.