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Midway is the perfect spot for this film for burgeoning gay youngsters. When first submitted, Joseph L. Mankiewicz' script was entitled "Best Performance." Which is pretty accurate because every actor AND every character in this film is giving a performance, but who the hell is the best one?
"All About Eve" makes more sense, for it gives the characters a central point around which they can all revolve. This film is ideal for young gays in the throes of puberty, because its real title should have been "How To Be A Bitch." Every character is an absolute bitch; even the understated Karen, played brilliantly by Celeste Holm, and whose fur coat I want to wear! Because this film prepares young gays for the world, because, let me tell you, darlings, in order to survive in this world as a gay person, you have to be a bitch. This film, and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara will teach you how.
Really, it is one of the best written screenplays, and almost every line is quotable. I will share a few of my favorites at the end, but I admired Mankiewicz using theater to poke subtle fun at Hollywood. And lunch at 21? Oh, girls, if you haven't, you simply must. And, of course, with hats.
My favorite scene is in the theater, when Margo pretends not to know Eve is her understudy. Probably the best example of ensemble acting captured on film. Regretfully, Celeste Holm is not in this scene.
Marilyn Monroe, as Miss Caswell, a graduate of The Copacabana School Of Dramatic Arts, has a line I have often wanted to use--"You won't bore him, honey. You won't even get a chance to talk.'" A star in the making!
I also want the dress Celeste wears in The Cub Room scene. Which ends in her breaking understatement with peals of laughter, realizing something no one else around her will--that Eve has abased herself for nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The best thing I can say about this film is it is a learning experience, a pleasure to watch, and the verbal sparring is unequaled.
If this doesn't make you a bitch, nothing will, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!
Favorite Lines Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe): "It is about time the piano realizes it has not written the concerto!" Karen Richards (Celeste Holm): "Don't run out of adjectives, dear." Birdie (Thelma Ritter) "Well, let's say she thinks only about you." Margo: "Nice speech, Eve. But I wouldn't worry too much about your heart. You know you can always put that award where your heart ought to be."
Max Fabian: May I say something? Lloyd Richards: NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Eve: "She was a liar! She was a LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Watch and learn, juniors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3 comments:
would you believe, I’ve never seen it?!!
only the Family Guy parody and the Mary Tyler Moore Show homage!!
Victoria, You owe it to yourself to see it! Perfection!
Totally agree: this is one of the few all-time classics where literally the entire script (including the camera directions) is quotable! You'd need a full month of posts to publish them all, but I'll just add one of my top five favorites here. At the conclusion of Anne Baxter's introductory scene, where she ingratiates (and insinuates herself into) Margo and Karen's orbit, the peerless Thelma Ritter in her perfect Brooklyn accent comments: "Such a tale of woe, everything but the dogs nipping at her heels!"
The subdued glare Baxter throws at her is a riot in itself, giving the first hint she is not what she seems. Like everything else in this film, Thelma was firing on all cylinders, imbuing the line with several simultaneous shadings (a mixture of of sympathy, streetwise skepticism, concern for her boss Margo but also fear of her reaction).
No one today could remake this movie at all effectively: its the most glaring example of a long lost skill set that even character actors in bit roles like Thelma were required to master. The ability to ring multiple notes on a line effortlessly, making each one land with impact but in a fun instinctive way that doesn't insult the audience with "look what a great actor I am" undertones.
This is why I could not stand Meryl Streep in her early years when everyone was falling all over her: I found her dramatics airless and dull. Her performances didn't come fully alive for me until she tried comedy in "She Devil" and beat Roseanne Barry at her game. Letting her silly side loose awakened a more layered, less self-serious tone in Streep's acting that won me over far better than her one-note dreariness in things like French Lts Woman. Come to think of it Streep would have made a great Margo Channing had a remake been tried 20 years ago!
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