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

Timeless classic gets a wonderful digital restoration. Extra's may be few and far between and claims that this new 'Cinema Reserve' release indicates the 'ultimate' edition ring a little hollow, but with a cast and script this good, the lack of extra's is a minor quibble.

Plot Summary

From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) moves relentlessly towards her goal: taking the reins of power from the great actress Margo Channing (Bette Davis). The cunning Eve manoeuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend (Gary Merrill), her playwright (Hugh Marlowe) and his wife (Celeste Holm). Only the cynical drama critic (Oscar winner George Sanders) sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit. Thelma Ritter and Marilyn Monroe co-star in this acclaimed classic, which won six academy awards and received the most nominations (14) in film history.

Film Review

I'm probably the only film fan on the planet who hadn't seen this oscar-winning movie before now and, to be honest, I expected to find it a bit of a chore: it's black and white, mainly talking heads, runs for over 2 hours, and was made seven years before I was born. But viewing it wasn't a chore at all - it was a real pleasure! The writing is superb and, with a cast this good, each and every witty line is delivered to best effect. Cinematically it could perhaps be criticised for being a bit dull - the camera is often static for long periods of time and the sets 'feel' like sets rather than real life locations. At times the dialogue is SO clever it doesn't feel very 'real, but these are small criticisms when what's on offer is otherwise as pitch-note perfect as this movie is.

Writer and director Joseph L Mankiewicz was, by all accounts, a bit of a psychologist in real life, and it shows here, with wonderful character analysis (some might say assassination!) and dialogue that gives real insight to the characters' inner feelings. Whether it was the best choice to have the writer also act as director is a bit of a moot point, but it's hard for me to judge whether the rather pedestrian direction is just down to the age of the film, or lack of creativity on the part of Mankiewicz. When you coax performances this good from all of your cast members, criticising the director for the static nature of many of the shots seems a little churlish.

In many ways the film was years ahead of its time and when the director does take risks (not very often!) they work eg the opening voice-overs and sudden freeze-frame could have had audiences leaving the theatre in droves, but the gambit paid off. The film never underestimates the intelligence of its audience, and broke several taboos of the time: not only do we see a couple sleeping in the same bed - Lordie me! - but also - shock! horror! - a very clear sign that there may be a lesbian relationship going on.

The role of uber-bitch Margo is a part most actresses would die for, and it's not hard to see why this revived Bette Davis' career. Anne Baxter gives a more subtle performance for the more difficult role of Eve, and delivers the performance of her career. But it's the script that's the real star of this piece. 'Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night' is probably the most oft-quoted line from the movie but there are many, many others that are worth being repeated. Too many oscar contenders (this year's Crash being a prime example) don't live up to the title 'masterpiece', with their flaws being all too visible. This film is the exception to that rule, and lives up to its oscar award promise.

DVD Review

This is one of the first releases in Fox's Cinema Reserve series, allegedly intended to present movie classics in their 'ultimate' format. Titles in the series arrive in a plastic inner sleeve encased in tin, which looks like it will be alarmingly easy for the text to scratch and there's no slipcase to protect it. Two DVDs are included but the extra's on the second disk run to less than half an hour. There's no chapter index - just a single page insert advertising the first titles in the Cinema Reserve series. There is a nicely produced 20 'page' foldout which features a page on each of the movie characters and then a page on the actor/actress playing the role, but annoyingly it's sized half the width of a normal DVD booklet.

Picture and Sound

The picture is 4:3 black and white, but is impeccable given the age of the material. This is a very professional digital restoration and not the 'marketing scam' that the term 'digital restoration' often implies (The Killing Fields being one of the most flagrant examples of just how meaningless this term is!)

Audio Commentaries

There are two commentaries, although annoyingly the most informative one is presented second. The first is not so much a commentary as excerpts from different interviews separated by long silent gaps. The three participants are actress Celeste Holm, scriptwriter's son Christopher Mankiewicz and 'author and film scholar' Kenneth Geist.

Holm has very little to say, aside from one or two remarks about fellow actors and her director. Mankiewicz talks mainly about life with his father, portraying him as a rather selfish manipulator who regarded work as more important than wife and family. Geist is informative, if dry and rather stuffy, and it's somewhat ironic that he introduces himself by telling us rather pompously that he 'disliked a lot' the book "All About 'All About Eve'", given that the second, livelier, and rather more informative audio commentary, is given by that book's author! That author, Sam Staggsmay be slightly gossipy but he's never dull, and he doesn't waste a moment - his commentary is the one to listen to if you don't have time for both.

Featurettes

The packaging boasts 3 featurettes and a trailer - the Advertising Standards Authority should be told about this! What you actually get is a TV documentary (spot the ad fade-outs!) that lasts less than half an hour. The other two so-called featurettes, at less than two minutes each, are very short 'on set interviews' with Bette Davis and Anne Baxter that have already been included as part of the documentary featurette! The 'Original Theatrical Trailer' turns out to be one of the on-set interviews all over again! Ever been had?! There are some short Movietone excerpts from awards ceremonies, which the total completists might enjoy, but which have little value otherwise, unless one counts amateur-looking footage of a clearly embarrassed Joseph L Mankiewicz being made to stand and pose for photographers with his award for what seems like eternity, as essential viewing!