Movie Review: All About Eve, 1950

"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" (Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve, 1950)

All About Eve (20th Century Fox, 1950) is a movie title that I had seen several times throughout the years and I finally decided to borrow it from the library the other night to see what all the fuss was about.  Before I viewed it I basically knew two things: that it won an Academy Award for Best Picture and that Marilyn Monroe makes a brief appearance.  This is the first time that I've watched a Bette Davis movie and I truly loved her performance.  Actually the whole cast was excellent, and above all I enjoyed the dialogue, the story line, and definitely the casting.  The costumes were also great, but never too overdone, after all this is the theatre darling, not Hollywood. 

In the story the aging (all of 40 years old!) Broadway star Margo Channing is the idol of young and seemingly naive Eve Harrington (played by Anne Baxter), who has seen every performance of Margo's latest show.  One night Margo's best friend Karen invites Eve backstage, having noticed her several times before.  At first Margo is making comments about fanatic admirers and how they are nobodies, but soon enough Eve is charming and almost entrancing everyone with her tragic back story and her adoration of Margo and the theater.  Before long Eve is Margo's new Girl-Friday, but once the honeymoon period is over it becomes very clear where Eve's ambition lies.  The thing is that no one, except the drama critic Addison DeWitt, realizes just how far Eve will go to attain that new road 'paved with stars'.  There is blackmail, drunken accusations, backstabbing, and of course the appearance of a young Marilyn as aspiring actress Claudia Caswell.  I loved the movie, I'd watch it again, and I'm even inclined to say that it is now one of my favorite classic movies.  I highly recommend watching it next time you are in the mood for a classic flick.

Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington, Bette Davis as Margo Channing and Marilyn Monroe as Claudia Casswell