1950: All About Eve (42nd)

What else happened this year? The Korean War started. By whom? It depends on who you ask. But let's recognise that today Korea is a pretty cool place to go to, while North Korea is a hellscape.

What is the plot - in one sentence? The titular Eve is a young wannabe starlet who ingratiates herself to an established star (named Margo), gaining some fame and exposure for herself.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? Despite Eve's 'aw shucks' naivety, she's really crafty, and manipulates her situation and Margo to become very famous and renowned. When he discovers the truth about her past (something about an affair with her boss) an unpleasant reporter binds Eve to him, as he's able to make or break her. Eve, without the friends or support group that Margo had, is in a much worse situation than the established star Margo. At the movie's end, a new wannabe, a teenager fan of Eve's, breaks into Eve's house and says the same things that Eve did to Margo in the first scenes.

Probably also telling is that this is a tale about the friendship between two Middle-aged women (Margo and her best friend), which is unusual enough today, as they are still probably underrepresented in the arts

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What is the meaning of the title? Eve is the newcomer star in the show, and the tale we get is all about her.

 

So, Eve is on the Left, Margo on the right, have a bit of a tiff. Margo's boyfriend (the one who looks like Phil Hartman) is behind her, while her friends are the visible ones on the stair. The one's obscured by Eve are the seedy reporter type, and Marilyn Monroe, If you want a better picture of everyone, you'd have to find someone less lazy than me.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? No. Weirdly, though the thing takes a really sinister turn when the reporter tells Eve that 'You belong to me'. He also gets to nail Marilyn Monroe, who is in it for a little while, so we can assume he's been doing the same thing to her?

Any thoughts? This was really good. All of the central performances were excellent, and it was a very interesting, well done movie. What's interesting is that Margo, a theatre actor, is 40, but is engaged to a 32 year old director. But because of the era and the fashion, he looks way older than she does. The couple are supported by their friends, and the relationship between both couples, and the tides of it seem very genuine. 

The central conflict of the movie seems to be between people who value people, and people who want to manipulate them to their end. We can contrast the genuine friendships between the Margo, her boyfriend, and her friends, with the support they offer each other to their lives and careers, with the lonely misery and manipulation that the reporter and Eve herself show. They may have success, but at what cost? The cyclical ending, where Eve gets her own hanger-on, is pretty telling too.

Would you recommend this? Yep. Even if this isn't something you think you'd like, it's worth a watch. It's central performance by Bette Davis is regal, and filled with emotion: pain and joy, and is very strong without being melodramatic. It's all ably supported. This was excellent.

Final thoughts? This is worth checking out. I hadn't seen the Eve character in anything before, but a quick Wikipedia search says that she's the granddaughter of Frank Lloyd Wright, which is kinda cool I guess.

Here we go, 42nd one down. I'm racing through it. Thank Christ I don't have any kids to look after. If you have some free time and want to read more inane thoughts, check here.