The Lady Eve (1941) User Reviews (160)

Hell Hath No Fury As The Lady Scorned...

[gaityr · 9/10 · 21 September 2002]

On the surface of it, THE LADY EVE is a delightfully shallow evening's entertainment. It's a clever little film, filled with great dialogue ("Don't be vulgar, Jean. Let us be crooked, but never common.") and eccentric characters, from the leading lady Jean (a marvellous Barbara Stanwyck) and her much-beleaguered main man Charlie Pike (Henry Fonda) down to the other con artists that make up Jean's circle, including her dad Harry (Charles Coburn), sidekick Gerald (Melville Cooper) and Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith (Eric Blore)... or just Pearlie for short. Charlie is heir to the Pike Ale fortune, and while on a cruise home from South America, Harrington father and daughter decide to take the hapless lad to the metaphorical drycleaners. What neither of them gambles on is a romance that was always in the cards for Jean and Charlie. But just as Jean is about to go 'straight' for Charlie, he discovers that his girlfriend is part of a con racket, and unceremoniously dumps her. Hurt and determined to get revenge for his cruel parting words, Jean initiates a farce as the Lady Eve Sidwich of the film's title and infiltrates Charlie's home and heart again. She quickly teaches him a lesson he'll never forget, just as she realises how much she really still loves Charlie.

Story-wise, then, it's no doubt that THE LADY EVE provides fine frothy entertainment. Pair that with the surreal touches added into the film by Preston Sturges (take for example the supposedly climactic scene in which Charlie repeats his words of love to Eve--Fonda never gets to play the scene straight, even though he has to maintain a stony face as his horse keeps butting into his speech... presumably to try to get him to stop talking!), and there's certainly plenty to keep one occupied as is. The film is, of course, a screwball comedy absolutely bent on throwing every possible obstacle it can into the path of its intended couple, coming up with more twists than you expect...

However, thanks largely to the brilliant writing and direction provided by Sturges, it actually also plays very close and very insightfully to the theme of what Stanley Cavell calls 'remarriage comedy'. The idea behind this is that legal or religious marriages, the 'first' marriages of the couple concerned in such comedies, are actually sham marriages. It isn't saying 'I do' or signing a piece of paper that makes a marriage a marriage; it's the behaviour of the couple, their own endorsement, that makes it a true marriage. This theme is reflected in, for example, THE AWFUL TRUTH, which sees Lucy and Jerry Warriner divorcing (their first, sham marriage didn't work out) but getting back together again for a true, albeit not yet legalised, union. The same theme pervades THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. Preston Sturges very skilfully and effectively--but subtly!--brings this theme to his film as well. Eve and Charlie are married, but it is only when Charlie asks Jean for forgiveness and vice versa is it possible for the fact that they are married (to each other, as poor Charlie does not know!) to become significant and actually positively affirmed.

This isn't the only interesting point the film makes while appearing to be little more than a fluffy piece of entertainment--when Charlie breaks Jean's heart, she tells him, "The best [girls] aren't as good as you think they are and the bad ones aren't as bad. Not nearly as bad." She sets out to prove this, both in her fabricated 'good-girl' persona as Eve (later revealed to have had many MANY suitors) and her real 'bad-girl' con-artist self Jean (who has a soft heart and a love for Charlie that proves to be one of her virtues). Practically everyone in the film has (at least) two names by which they're known: Jean/Eve, Charlie/Hopsie, Muggsy/Murgatroyd/Ambrose, Harry/Colonel Harrington, Pearlie/Sir Alfred and so on. This suggests, quite rightly, that people are complicated complex beings, and that appearances often have nothing to do with reality. It also brings the film's story to a head--Jean and Charlie can never be happy together until Charlie can accept Jean as she is, and this he presumably will have learnt through his short, disastrous 'marriage' to Eve.

Stanwyck and Fonda are really outstanding in this film. Stanwyck's job is to persuasively depict two characters, and then effect a blend of the two of them in the final minutes of the story, and she pulls off both the sassy, confident Jean and the elegant, British Eve perfectly. It's not hard to imagine Charlie falling hard for Jean, even with her hard-headed casing of the joint and her prospective competition (appropriately deemed second-rate) for his affections... a very memorable scene involving her make-up mirror and a narrative voice-over, the latter of which is used to great effect in the lead-up to the 'romantic scene and horse' bit which follows later in the film. Fonda has the apparently easier job of appearing mostly colourless and stodgy as he spends most of his screen time reacting to situations created by both Jean and Eve, but I contend that it must really take quite a lot of true acting ability to execute the pratfalls that he does without making Charlie such a wimp that you can't imagine Jean still wanting him at the very end. Though not quite as effective as Cary Grant, who has to do the same thing in the face of Katharine Hepburn's breathlessly effusive Susan Vance in BRINGING UP BABY, Fonda still brings a sweet charm to his role as the not-at-all-slick, often befuddled Charlie Pike. Add these two classy performances to that given by the able supporting cast, and THE LADY EVE is not just well-scripted and directed, but also very very well-acted indeed.

So, watch this film the first time just for fun--be charmed by the characters, by the dialogue, by the actors, by everything. Then watch it again to realise just how subtly and effectively THE LADY EVE actually makes several comments on marriage and on love. I highly recommend getting your hands on the Criterion Collection DVD, which has (aside from a tremendous photo gallery and interview with Peter Bogdanavich and other special features) a fantastic, thought-provoking commentary by film critic Marian Keane--it most certainly got *me* thinking!

Great film, great entertainment, great message!

Sturges Perfection

[richard-mason · 9/10 · 11 October 2003]

A second viewing of this after many years has confirmed it as truly one of the great comedies. I don't think Sturges was ever better (although I haven't seen all his films), and certainly he was never blessed with a better star pairing than Fonda and Stanwyck, plus his usual wonderful array of character comedians in the supporting roles. A double bill of Eve with "Hail the Conquering Hero" reveals that, while both still have their charms, Eve can still have a theatre rocking with laughter, while Hero leaves them a bit cold with its descent into Capra-cornish patriotism and mother love.

The Lady Eve has one of my favourite performances ever from Henry Fonda, showing that his grave sincerity could serve screwball comedy equally as well as Fordian moral uplift. He takes some of the funniest deadpan pratfalls this side of Buster Keaton.

And of course Stanwyck is a delight ... and Charles Coburn ... and Eugene Pallette ... and William Demarest ... and ... and ... ssshhh ... Eric Blore.

If you've never seen it, give yourself a treat

"Oh Hopsie"

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 16 February 2007]

In this period of Henry Fonda's career, most of the good films was stuff he made away from his studio at 20th Century Fox. The Lady Eve is one of the best examples of that,

With the success that Preston Sturges had with Christmas in July and The Great McGinty the year before, Paramount decided now they could trust Sturges with a big budget and an A list pair of leads. In fact they borrowed Henry Fonda from Darryl Zanuck and signed the then freelancing Barbara Stanwyck.

This was a banner year in the career of Barbara Stanwyck. She did Meet John Doe, The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire in the same year, the last one she got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The Lady Eve came first and paved the way for a similar role in Ball of Fire.

She's a street smart dame in both films, in the Lady Eve she's a shill for her conman father Charles Coburn and in Ball of Fire she's a nightclub singer and moll for gangster Dana Andrews. In both films she falls for rather withdrawn, naive, and bookish sort of men who bring out the mother instinct in her. In fact she has similar nicknames for them, Gary Cooper is called Pottsie and Henry Fonda is Hopsie.

Stanwyck, Coburn, and Melville Cooper are a trio of con artists who are looking for a fresh pigeon and they find one in Henry Fonda who is a millionaire's kid. Fonda today would be called a trust fund baby, but he has an interest in science and he's coming back from the Amazon on a boat when meets up with the slick trio.

Of course Stanwyck falls for the shy and bumbling Fonda, but there are many hurdles to overcome before these two find happiness.

This may have been Henry Fonda's best comedy part. And like Joel McCrea in other Preston Sturges films, Fonda does so well in the part because he plays it absolutely straight. No tongue in cheek, no winks at the audience, Fonda plays it straight and sincere.

The usual Preston Sturges stock company is here and prominent in the cast is always William Demarest as the mug that is a kind of bodyguard factotum for Fonda. Hired of course by Eugene Palette in another one of his crotchety millionaire father roles.

Best scene in the film is right at the beginning as Stanwyck analyzes all the moves a lot of the other females on board are using to attract Fonda before she decides on a very direct approach.

The Lady Eve holds up very well as do all of Preston Sturges's work after over 60 years. I do kind of wonder though if Stanwyck can control that streak of larceny in her even though she's marrying a millionaire who can give her anything.

A Tonic For The Senses

[fowler1 · 11 July 2001]

As a lifelong Preston Sturges fan, I find the problem with submitting 'user comments' on his films to be twofold. The first is where to begin, the second how to stop. A third problem (growing out of the first two) manifests itself immediately upon watching a flawless jewel like THE LADY EVE: why even bother to praise it? No matter how accurate or elegant a rave you write, they'd still be merely words, and words can't do Sturges justice...not after hearing and seeing his own words spinning like a thousand plates over the 90-odd minutes it takes for this film to utterly captivate you. Unlike many black-and-white products of the studio era, which generate condescension or apathy among the Gen X'ers of today (when do we get to Gen Z - or are we there already?), the Sturges cult grows with every passing year, as younger fans fall under his spell, drawn initially to his work for the still-startling energy of the stream of raspberries he blew at the Production Code. (In this sense, EVE marks a high point; it's all about sexual gamesmanship, and its tone is both matter-of-fact and dizzyingly playful at the same time.) But hopefully, they're coming for the sizzle and staying for the steak. Like all Sturges' Paramount films, EVE is an embarrassment of riches - a boudoir farce, a slapstick clinic, a cynical dialogue comedy AND a love story of great, soulful heart. It's especially recommended to anyone beset by misery and tribulation as a guaranteed restorative and cure-all. When a movie from any era can so completely take you out of yourself and lift the blackest of clouds without resorting to any cheapjack plot-gimmicks or trite manipulation of an audience's emotions, all you can do is be grateful. Though the unfailingly superb Sturges Players are on hand, in fine form (including of course his human rabbit's foot, Wm Demarest) EVE features a number of actors making their first and only appearances in a Sturges-directed film: Stanwyck, Fonda, Eric Blore, Melville Cooper and perennial Fonda cohort Eugene Pallette. All of them take to the material like catnip, making one long for an alternate reality in which Preston Sturges could have remained unmolested at Paramount for 20 years and a dozen more films than he actually made, not only to see this cast reunited, but to see what might have resulted from any number of quality actors being exposed to the hothouse atmosphere of his screenplays. That it never worked out that way is one more reason to treasure THE LADY EVE.

Eve, the temptress

[jotix100 · 10/10 · 7 April 2005]

This is another Preston Sturges masterpiece! With "The Lady Eve", Mr. Sturges proves he was at the pinnacle of his career. Rarely do all elements mesh together into films that are pleasing as well as showing intelligence to the viewer. This comedy has its heart in the right place.

Mr. Sturges assembled an amazing cast to appear in the movie. Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda make the ideal players for Jean Harrington aka Lady Eve Sidwish, and Charles Pike. The saying that opposites attract is well demonstrated in the film when we watch these two different characters fall for one another. Ms. Stanwyck shows in this film her great timing; she is seen at her most attractive as the devious Jane/Eve. Henry Fonda is excellent playing comedy. Under Sturges' tight direction both these actors show why they were about the best in the business.

The strength with Mr. Sturges' films are the fantastic group of actors that follow him from movie to movie. Thus, we see William Demarest, one of the best character actors of the time, playing Mugssie. Eric Blore, another impressive English actor does amazing work as Pearlie. Charles Coburn is perfect as the gambling father. Eugene Palette plays Charlie's father. There are many more that make contributions to the success of this film.

Preston Sturges shows with this film he was one of the best auteurs in Hollywood, even when the term had not been coined.

A brilliant comedy - from script to acting

[mdmphd · 10/10 · 21 December 2001]

One of my favorite films of the forties and, I believe, one of Barbara Stanwyck's best. Fonda also gets a chance to show some comedic chops as well as the foil for her Eve. It's apparent everyone involved knows they're in something good and enjoys it - Eugene Palette as Fonda's wealthy Father, William Demarest(think Uncle Charlie in My Three Sons)in one of his best supporting roles as Fonda's crusty valet, and Charles Coburn and Eric Blore doing brilliant comic character turns as card sharks on Eve's side. Stanwyck hadn't really cared about clothes before(see Mad Miss Manton) but this time Edith Head came up with some innovations that suddenly made her a fashion hit as well. Her bolero jackets, evening dresses, wedding gown and cap hats were big fashion successes, tailored to Stanwyck's tiny form. But the real star is the sparkling dialogue, delivered flawlessly by everyone. Plenty of one liners, double entendres and an incredibly sexy seduction in one long take where Stanwyck simply toys with Fonda's hair as he reclines, uncomfortably, on the floor beside her. There are other scenes - Stanwyck sizing up the room with commentary as seen thru her makeup mirror...the dinner party where Fonda can't get over how much Eve looks like the girl he left on the ship...a sequence where Fonda's horse started to move in on a romantic scene so Sturges rewrote and reshot other parts, making Fonda the foil of the intrusive horse. See if you can spot the take where the horse actually nibbles on Fonda and watch Stanwyck glide thru it all like a pro. BRILLIANT film -- can't recommend it highly enough - five stars of five - MDMPHD:>

The Snake-Lover and the Seductress

[moonspinner55 · 7/10 · 7 April 2017]

Fast-talking, quick-thinking, altogether delightful comedy from Preston Sturges, who also adapted the screenplay from Monckton Hoffe's original story. An elderly cardsharp and his equally crooked daughter, traveling in style by cruise ship from South America, zero in on their next victim--a handsome but somewhat unsteady ale-heir--but the daughter mixes business with pleasure and ends up falling for the lug. Barbara Stanwyck, with her crafty stare and sexy smirk, surprisingly doesn't run roughshod over articulate Henry Fonda, and they make a winning combination. Sturges' script blends grown-up jokes and conversation with pratfalls while never losing the filmmaker's graceful touch and innate sophistication. The results are amusingly frisky, prickly and unpredictable. *** from ****

hilarious tour de force for two stars

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 15 January 2006]

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck light up the delightful Preston Sturges comedy, "The Lady Eve." Stanwyck plays a dual role as a con artist who falls for a mark, Henry Fonda, on board a ship and then, angry with his rejection of her, reappears in his life later as a member of the British upper class - you got it, the Lady Eve.

Fonda is hilarious as a clueless child of privilege. Always the most subtle, internalized of actors, his facial expressions are priceless, as is his slapstick. The funniest scene takes place on a train when, as the train races along the tracks, Eve recounts her various love affairs while Fonda becomes more and more flummoxed.

Betty Grable got a lot of publicity for her legs, but Stanwyck's were the best, shown to great advantage here, as is the rest of her gorgeous figure. She's fantastic in this and has great chemistry with Fonda. Stanwyck always creates a whole character, and she does here as well (in fact, two of them) as a woman who is smart, independent, vulnerable in love, and conniving when angry.

A great comedy, not to be missed.

First-class romantic comedy which was brilliantly written and directed by the great Preston Sturges

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 16 September 2020]

Hilarious comedy , positively to be the funniest love and laugh show of 1941 , stars Charles Pike ('clod' Henry Fonda) , heir to the Pike brewing fortune, he is a timid and rather simple-minded millionaire who can handle money but not brides and with extreme passion for reptiles , as he states : ¨Snakes are my life ¨. While returning home from a scientific expedition in the Amazon , Brazil , he meets the lovely Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwick) . Unbeknownst to him however is the fact that Jean is part of a trio of cardsharps seeking to snare wealthy people while travelling on ocean liners looking for men just like him to give up his money . And then the conniving trio formed by Jean (Stanwick) , her father 'Colonel' Harrington (Charles Coburn) an their friend Gerald (Melville Cooper) scheme a confidence trick on Charlie . As Jean and Charles spend time together they soon fall in love and she is determined to protect him from her pals . Along the way , Charles' bodyguard (William Demarest) smells a rat and tells it Charles's father (Eugene Palette) and when he gets proof that Jean is a con artist , Charles breaks off the relationship. Jean now sets her sights on vengeance and once back home , poses as the English Lady Eve and starts her own strategy to "conquer" him once again . Eve Sure Knows Her Apples !Positively the richest entertainment you'll give your patrons in a long time!Boy, does Eve know her apples... when it comes to getting a man! The funniest comedy in years!.Mother Eve had nothing on her! Barbara Stanwyck has Henry Fonda Bewitched and Bewildered.Another Preston Sturges Hit! When you deal a fast shuffle... Love is in the cards. Paramount's vexiest picture! .

Amusing first-rate comedy, sporadically fun, and including enjoyable performances . Good for a few laughs , based on a story by Monckton Hoffe with attractive screenplay by Preston Sturges himself . Adding some scenes justifying Preston Sturges' reputation for his famous ¨Touch¨ similar to Ernest Lubitsch with results really hilarious , along with evocative musical score and adequate cinematography in black and white by Victor Milner . This Preston Sturges romp contains a very good main and support cast . Henry Fonda is fine as a shy man who would much rather read a book than interact with people , as he is nice as the millionaire who ultimately turns the tables on the swindlers . Barbara Stanwick is perfect as the sneaky woman tries to take him again by posing as a Brit aristocrat and confuse and confound the innocent Charles. Both of whom , Fonda and Stanwick , are bemusing rivals for sheer crazy fun . There's astringent and typecast secondary cast from sympathetic roles such as : Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest , Martha O'Driscoll and Melville Cooper .

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Preston Sturges. Preston was Hollywood's wonder boy of the wartime years . Being at the top of his sparkling form with this splendid comedy Lady Eve . He was awarded an Oscar for his script of 'The Great McGinty' in 1940 and was nominated twice in 1944 for 'The Miracle of Morgan's Creek' and 'Hail the Conquering Hero', both for writer. His directorial style depended more on the pacing of action and dialogue rather on visual texture and composition. He employed long, uncut single take scenes to establish the premises of his elaborate scripts but when he moved to slapstick he often cut to reactions before the action had finished. Sturges' breathless pacing steers the capers through riotous ending . His instinct for timing comedy montage made his films the funniest of their era in terms of audience laughter . He has directed four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant : Sullivan's travels (1941), The miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) and Hail, the conqueror hero (1944) and , of course , this Lady Eve (1941). He wrote all of those films in addition to The power and the glory (1933), which is also in the registry. Rating : 7/10 . Better than average.

Exquisite comedy

[funkyfry · 10/10 · 15 October 2002]

A stunningly beautiful film -- and very funny, too, with 2 of the strongest leads in film paired memorably. Some moments, like Fonda slouching on the floor and Stanwyck drooping onto him in a wry parody of Hollywood lovemaking, actually achieve the grace and beauty of the best silent films. The story takes some fairly predictable turns, and the script and direction by Sturges are first rate. Fonda is very broad but miraculously pulls it off, and Stanwyck revels in the excellent role she plays (two roles in one, no less, an actor's dream!). One of the best comedies of the "classic" Hollywood era.

Didn't Do It for Me

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 27 February 2006]

Maybe I wasn't in the right mood, but I just didn't think this film was that special. I can't say anything bad about it exactly, because there was nothing wrong with it. It just didn't have that spark that other movies of its type have.

Maybe the problem lies with Henry Fonda, who I never thought had much chemistry as a romantic leading man. Barbara Stanwyck is great and sexy, so the fault doesn't lie with her.

I almost feel bad about not liking this movie, because all of the elements for a good movie are there, and I can't give any rationale for my opinion. But for me it doesn't even come close to matching the allure of other screwball comedies from the 30s and 40s.

Grade: B-

Wonderful Romantic Comedy

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 18 May 2013]

After one year in Amazon researching snakes, the naive ophidiologist Charles Pike (Henry Fonda) returns to the United States in a transatlantic. Charles is the son of the Connecticut's brewery millionaire Mr. Pike (Eugene Palette) and disputed by gold diggers. The swindlers Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), her father "Colonel" Harrington (Charles Coburn) and their friend Gerald (Melville Cooper) plan a confidence trick on Charles, but unexpectedly Jean falls in love with Charles and she calls off the scheme. However Charles's bodyguard Muggsy (William Demarest) discovers that Jean is a con-artist and the disappointed Charles leaves Jean.

Sometime later, in New York, the trio of con-artists meets their friend "Sir" Alfred McGlennan Keith (Eric Blore) in the horse races and they learn that "Sir" Alfred belonged to the high-society of Connecticut based on the reputation he had built. Jean sees the opportunity to take revenge at Charles, and she travels to the house of her "aunt" pretending to be the British noble Lady Eve. Mr. Pike promotes a party for Lady Eve and she seduces Charles that proposes her. But her intention is to get even with Charles.

"The Lady Eve" is a wonderful romantic comedy by Preston Sturges. The lovely Barbara Stanwyck has a witty performance in the role of a swindler that falls in love with a naive heir. The best moments of the movie belongs to her and I laughed when she tells her adventure in the tube in New York; or when she discloses her love affairs to Charles in their honeymoon. Henry Fonda is funny in the role of a simple and credulous son of a millionaire. The result is a movie that makes laugh and feels nostalgia for a time when the society could buy a story so delightfully unbelievable and witty. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "As Três Noites de Eva" ("The Three Nights of Eve")

Innocent era adds some difference to the normal rom-com

[tonypeacock-1 · 6/10 · 26 May 2019]

1941 romantic screwball 'comedy' although no laughs in the traditional knock knock sense.

It follows a gang of three card sharps who 'rob' unsuspecting passengers on ocean liners. In this film the target is Charles Pike (Henry Fonda). Pike is the rich son of a brewery owner.

One of the trio of con artists is Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) who actually develops a relationship with Charles beyond ripping him off and ending in marriage before following the story arc seen in so many of these rom coms.

1. Boy meets girl. 2. Boy loses girl. 3. Boy wins girl back. 4. The end.

The card sharp storyline allows some slight deviation from the 'normal' story arc. 2. Boy loses girl after finding out she is trying to rip him off. 3. Girl wins boy back in this film when Jean meets Charles again in the form of an English aristocrat act and causes Charles great confusion when he thinks it is Jean...it is!

I found this film a little overrated if I am being honest. It has a certain innocence about it. I suppose that is partly from the era it was made. Some comedy is added in Charles Pike being a bit of a geek. In the form of a snake expert.

Fun but nonsensical

[jbirks106 · 5/10 · 23 September 2014]

I realize that the screwball comedy genre has its own kind of logic, but "The Lady Eve" strikes me as having no logic at all. Though well written, which one expects from a Sturges film, I came away with the unsettling sense that the audience was being played for suckers.

The turning point in the film appears to be the moment when Hopsie was presented with a photo of Jean and her father as evidence of their swindling career. This can come as no surprise to the audience, which has already seen how the Colonel can turn a five-card nothing into four kings, then four aces. But can a supposed scientist (I forget the proper name for "snake hunter") be so gullible as to fall for his blatant card-sharpery? And when he confronts Jean with the photo, can his sense of betrayal and humiliation really be so shocking to her?

Yet this event sends Jean on a completely preposterous crusade of revenge. What exactly is her trick? To pose as an upper-class Brit who, by coincidence, looks exactly like Jean. And though Muggsy, Hopsie's dimwit ward, sees though the imposture immediately, our scientist falls for it, literally and figuratively, in no time.

Jean/Eve finally delivers the coup de grace while on their honeymoon -- in a train, of course. As she divulges her numerous supposed dalliances, Sturges intercuts shots of train whistles, lightning and the obligatory tunnel. Maybe this Freudian stuff was novel back in 1941; today it verges on self- parody. Watching Hopsie detrain with a muddy pratfall (one of literally dozens in the film), Eve/Jean seems to have an attack of conscience, as though she's just now realizing he "the only man I ever loved."

Stanwyck is sensational, even if her character(s) make no sense at all. William Demarest is very good, and occasionally hilarious, as Muggsy. The whole case, in fact, is first-rate. But Fonda's character is impossible to sympathize with, let alone root for, so improbably clueless and clumsy is Hopsie. Is he really surprised that an English aristocrat is not a virgin (the whole point of the setup)? Is he really so stupid as to fall for a grifter not once, but twice? Yes, evidently he is. It's clear to me that his real element is with the snakes of the Amazon, not those of Connecticut.

An Interesting Combination That Works Very Well

[Snow Leopard · 14 October 2004]

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.

Rich in love and laughter

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 2 January 2019]

Preston Sturges had for me one of the best "golden years"/prime period for any director, which started with his debut film 'The Great McGinty' (which is very good). My definition of this is when a director makes 5 or more great films in a row. From this period, even when the film was one of the weaker ones it still managed to be good and more, which is testament to how great and more his best golden years/"prime period" films were.

One of his best is 'The Lady Eve', one of my top 2 Sturges films. The other being 'Sullivan's Travels'. 'The Lady Eve' is one of the finest examples of how to combine romance and screwball comedy and how to balance both elements, if one is ever wondering how to combine and balance these two elements and how to do them well individually 'The Lady Eve' is one of the films to look to. One that sparkles wonderfully in its wit and charms in the more romantic elements, as well seeing some of the best work of all involved. For me, that 'The Lady Eve' is a must see is not and never be in any form of doubt.

Sturges directs impeccably, always accomplished and not once with a heavy hand. Instead a light sophisticated touch that never wavers, always getting the best out of the cast and allowing both the comedy and romance to sparkle. 'The Lady Eve' is beautifully filmed and never looks less than pleasing, the camera clearly loved Barbara Stanwyck because she looks luminous.

The cast are all on top form, with Melville Cooper's underuse being my sole extremely minor nit-pick that can be overlooked with everything so brilliantly done. Henry Fonda was seldom funnier than in this film and he shares a sizzling chemistry with the magnificent in all regards Stanwyck (have yet to see a bad performance from her, something that she seemed incapable of). Of the supporting cast, the standout is Charles Coburn providing one of the best examples of shifty and crusty being hilarious. A very funny William Demarest is close behind.

And then there is the script, again from subjective opinion it was one of the best of that year. The wit is so sharp and the big laughs come frequently, the romantic element always charming and never schmaltzy and the sophistication so incredibly tight and polished without being heavy-handed. The story is always compelling with sprightly pacing and doesn't become over-complicated, too silly or over-stuffed.

Overall, brilliant. 10/10 Bethany Cox

The Two Faces Of Eve

[writers_reign · 8/10 · 13 July 2006]

The one about the naive, unworldly guy falling for the fast-talking cynical gal who starts out by using him and winds up loving him is hardly new indeed Stanwyck herself played virtually the same role in Ball Of Fire whilst Gary Cooper, her 'victim' in Fire did something similar in Mr Deeds Goes To Town where Jean Arthur came to laugh and stayed to love and so on. Nevertheless Sturges is able to give a hackneyed plot a fresh coat of paint with some fine writing and direction and it does no harm to have a first-rate cast from the two leads, Fonda and Stanwyck through Eric Blore, Eugene Palette, Charles Coburn, Melville Cooper and fully paid-up member of the Preston Sturges Repertory Company William Deamarest. This is the one where virtually all the main characters have two names and Stanwyck comes complete with two personas; there should really be a sub-genre for films like this and others like Easy Living (written but not directed by Sturgis) Sophisticated Screwball but call it what you will it's still great.

Wickedly clever and heartwarming screwball...not the very best, but who cares? Good for your health.

[secondtake · 7/10 · 5 October 2009]

The Lady Eve (1941)

Wickedly clever and heartwarming screwball...not the very best, but who cares?

I'm not sure either Fonda or Stanwyck make the best comedic actors (compare to Grant and Hepburn or, for something more apples to apples, Gable and Colbert), but Preston Sturges makes this silly and smart enough to work anyway. You might say Fonda's deadpan role, surely intentional, is what makes him so funny, but he does sometimes seem wooden (and I love Fonda in general). Stanwyck is wicked and wickedly sharp, so she pulls off her role as a conflicted card shark, with her father-figure humorously (and with good nature) always in the background to back her up.

I found Eric Blore absolutely hilarious, however (see him in Top Hat and The Gay Divorcée). And the story is really funny and fast, depending on everyone being a little confused about what's really happening, not just us. The very end is a kind of raspberry to the Hays Code because it is as close to all out adultery as you can get (Fonda thinks so, at least), and yet it's all okay due to the trick of the plot.

Oh, the key trick of the plot is inconceivable in real life, at least to me. I say no more, but that you have to go with the farce and picture Fonda's character (a befuddled, young naturalist) as really daft. Which is part of the point in the end.

Preston Sturges? Witty and a little effete (I've been waiting for a chance to use that word). Another director might have milked the romance differently, and drawn out the comedy with more snap (it often pauses for Fonda's delayed reactions). But his own madcapness is at work, and the movie is fun if nothing else. Lots of fun.

The Suckersapiens and the Grifters

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 30 May 2006]

"The Lady Eve" marked an important milestone in the career of Preston Sturgis. Unlike his first two directed films ("Christmas In July" and "The Great McGinty"), Sturgis got a bigger film budget from Paramount and had two leading stars in his lead parts. "Christmas In July" had Dick Powell and Ella Raines in the lead roles. "The Great McGinty" starred Brian Donleavy and Akim Tamiroff. Now he had Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwick. The success of the first two films convinced the studio to trust him.

Are snakes necessary? That question is one of the double entendres that bedeck this story of a young innocent millionaire who finds love the hard way. Charles Pike (Fonda) is a "Candide" type, coming out of the Amazon Jungle with his factotum aide Muggsy (William Demerest) where he has been studying his passion - snakes. He is an available bachelor, and all the woman on the ocean liner that picks him up aim for him. The one who makes the least effort is Jean Harrington (the daughter of one "Colonel" Harrington - Charles Coburn). Jean does not smile or order Pike's Ale ("The Ale that won for Yale"), which Charles father (Eugene Palette) brews. She gets straight to the point - she trips him. His accidental falling over Jean's foot is symbolic of his eventually falling for Jean.

Jean's motive is not love - she and her father and their "valet" Gerald (Melvin Cooper) are professional card sharks, and they plan to pluck Charles. But Charles and Jean fall in love, and she starts revolting against her father's view of the saps he cons whom he refers to as "suckersapiens". The scene where she uses her wiles to thwart her father's attempts to make a killing at poker is quite funny, especially with Coburn's sudden reactions ("What wonderful cards you've given to me.", he mutters when she gives him an impossibly bad hand).

The romance falls apart when Charles learns of Jean's card-sharping career. Later she meets an old con-artist friend, Sir Alfred MacGlennon Keith (Eric Blore) who knows the Pikes. Introducing Jean as his niece, "Lady Eve Sidgewick" , she enchants the society of the Pike family's town, and only gains the suspicions of two people: Charles who does not know what to make at "Lady Eve"'s great resemblance to Jean, and Muggsy, who is sure they are the same woman.

You will enjoy the disastrous dinner party for Eve, where Charles changes clothes more frequently than a female model at a fashion show. You will enjoy Charles' attempt to propose to Eve, and the silent commentary of a horse who butt's in. You will also find out how Charles and Eve spent the most memorable railroad honeymoon in film comedy.

Are snakes necessary? Yes, but so are card sharks and suckersapiens too.

Romantic Whimsy.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 14 April 2010]

Henry Fonda is Charles Pike, scion of the Pike's Ale Company, "the Ale that made Yale." He and his father, Eugene Pallettr, are rich as Croesus. Fonda, however, has no interest in anything other than snakes. He's now coming home from a year-long expedition to the Amazon collecting the creatures for Dr. Marsdits. (This is a contemporary joke. In 1941 the most prominent popular scientist was herpetologist Raymond Ditmars, the Carl Sagan of his time.) Barbara Stanwyck and her father, Charles Coburn, are also on board the ship that is returning from South America. They spot Fonda at dinner and immediately thrust themselves upon him. They're a team of cynical card sharks and intend to fleece him.

The problem is that Fonda and Stanwyck fall in love. Evidently they spend the night together. Just after he proposes he discovers their identity and pretends to have known all along. The couple part bitterly.

Stanwyck and Coburn run into another grifter, Eric Blore, and they arrange to get even with what they see as Fonda's exploitation of Stanwyck. Blore will assume the identity of an English nobleman and Stanwyck will adopt the role of his daughter. It takes some doing to convince Fonda that she isn't the same woman he met on the ship but eventually Fonda marries the phony English woman.

On the night of their honeymoon, Stanwyck sinks in the barbs by confessing that she's had so many lover she can't keep their names straight. The offended Fonda storms out, steps off the train, and slips into a mud puddle.

Later, once again aboard ship, they meet with Stanwyck adopting her original identity and, since they're already married to each other, retreat to his cabin.

The acting is fine. Henry Fonda makes an exceptionally good dope and Stanwyck is sexier and softer than most of us who knew her screen image only from her later movies might imagine. William Demarest is present to provide yet more lowbrow comedy -- "I'm telling you dat's da same dame!" And the dialog has its felicities. When Stanwyck asks Blore if he knows the Pike family: "Do I know them? Why, I positively swill in their ale." I've tried more than once to get into this, partly because people whose opinions I respect keep recommending it, yet I've never found it exactly enthralling.

Fonda's falling for the pose of "Lady Eve" is unbelievable. And their final meeting, when they fall into each other's arms, with all those complications still hanging murkily in the air, is hard to swallow.

But most of all, this isn't a very funny movie despite the gags and the good performances. It's two steps away from a romantic drama. Take out a few pratfalls and wisecracks and you've got a Joan Crawford weeper or, at best, one of the less light-hearted efforts of Fred and Ginger.

Preston Sturges was a sophisticated and talented guy in almost every respect. He could do better than this -- and he did.

"There's as fine a specimen of the sucker sapiens as I've have ever seen."

[classicsoncall · 8/10 · 22 January 2019]

For a film made during the first decade of the Production Code being in effect, I was shocked out of complacency when Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) said to Charlie Pike (Henry Fonda) - "Don't you think we ought to go to bed?" That didn't really leave anything up to the imagination, did it? And that was before The Lady Eve (also Stanwyck) came on the scene. I don't know, I had to really register a substantial suspension of belief to accept Stanwyck's transition into the niece of Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith (Eric Blore) in order to put the jinx on Charlie. That was a nice attempt by Sir Alfred/Pearlie to spin the connection between Jean and Eve, but it didn't work for me or Muggsy (William Demarest). For his part, Charlie was a bit much more of a bonehead than I expected him to be, coming from such a wealthy family. Tripping over himself repeatedly during the reception for Sir Alfred and The Lady Eve was somewhat unconvincing, even if his social skills weren't as well polished as they could have been. But overall this is a fun kind of movie, with a talented cast of secondary players led by the irascible Charles Coburn in the role of Colonel Harrington, and I thought Eric Blore was outrageous as the glib con man Pearlie. This was almost like a caper movie if you think about it, with Jean/Eve winning the prize she was after even if it took a second try. One thing that was never resolved though, do you think the Colonel ever cashed that check for thirty two grand?

The world seen backwards in a cosmetics mirror

[tomquick · 7/10 · 20 July 2003]

On paper this film has everything to be the best of all screwball comedies. But it required a lot of patience and concentration to sit through....much more convoluted than something like Christmas in July, and in a lot of ways more contrived. Also a lot of gratuitous slapstick..... But certainly a showcase for the supporting actors Demarest, Pallette, Greig, and Coburn; and a wonderful role for Barbara Stanwyck. The world seem backwards in a cosmetics mirror is an interesting place, but a very complex one.

An absolute wonder!

[MerryArtist · 10/10 · 9 December 2006]

One of the most delightful and remarkable traits of this movie is the perfect chemistry between Stanwyck and Fonda. As characters with completely opposing characteristics, the two act side by side with fantastic expressions - Fonda's bewildered acting is most hilarious - and great timing.

Though many consider DOUBLE INDEMNITY to be Barbara Stanwyck's best film, I personally prefer THE LADY EVE because this role has a wider range. Stanwyck is the daughter of a professional gambler and is a pro when it comes to bewitching men for the purpose of cheating their money out of poker games. But she is also pure at heart and wants to come clean when she finally falls for a man probably unlike any she had ever encountered before. Then things go wrong, but the best part of the film starts right here, when Stanwyck becomes an actress playing an actress. It is simply amazing how perfect her acting is, to such a degree that Fonda's character doubts himself as to whether the lady in front of him is the woman he once knew or a different woman altogether.

The film is very adept at making the audience feel slightly bewildered, like Fonda's character Charles Pike. It makes the viewers dazzled, leaving them feeling like Charles, while marveling at Jean Harrington's (Stanwyck) tactics. Full of witticisms and brilliant performances, THE LADY EVE is undoubtedly one of the best comedies of the flourishing year of 1941.

Barbara Stanwyck was utterly captivating

[smatysia · 7/10 · 13 May 2020]

Well, it was kind of fun. But one of the main occurrences is just too much. No one would fall for that. I understand that comedies, and movies in general, get some leeway from logic. But this one went too far. Having said that, though, Barbara Stanwyck was utterly captivating as one of the predatory card sharps on board an ocean liner. See it for Stanwyck, and don't expect much of anything else.

Why is this a classic?

[Zoopansick · 5/10 · 11 August 2004]

I have heard a lot about this movie from various critics and in books, and after seeing it I'm not too impressed. To me it just seemed like a routine studio romantic comedy from the 30s or 40s. It didn't have a unique storyline or great ending. Even the "famous scene" was just Fonda lying on the floor looking stupid while Stanwyck tricks him into loving her. In fact I can barely remember the context of her speech let alone any funny/memorable lines from it (and i just watched the movie). Now I realize that modern taste in comedy is a lot different from what was considered funny back then; but movies like "Bringing up Baby" most of the Marx Bros. films and Abbott and Costello are all funnier to me then this. Fonda is especially bland and unfunny (oh wait, he's always bland and unfunny) in his role as the overly stupid wealthy bachelor. He trips over stuff but has no funny lines and is vanilla as per usual. Stanwyck is much better, and keeps things lively on her end. Also to the films credit the pace is quick and things move along. The movie wasn't horrible or anything like that, but I don't see why this particular movie became as famous as it did in front of any of the hundreds and hundreds of other studio releases from the same time period. If your video store still caries old vhs tapes why don't you try out this experiment...Rent The Lady Eve, and then rent like 3 other old comedies from the late 30s and early 40s. Then ask yourself, does this movie standout from the others; and if so why? If you answer "yes", come back here and explain it to me, I'd love to know why.



Zoopansick