User Reviews

Your number one fan, has finally met you, she's made quite a connection, and now you're paired just like a two, organises your affairs, running up and down the stairs, whatever you need doing, that's exactly what she'll do. It's not too long before the sycophant attempts, to take a little piece, of all that she has dreamt, front and centre of the stage, with an audience engaged, all established on embellishing pretence. But there's a price that success usually requires, after someone has initiated fires, your enabler's a tiger, a cunning, devious backbiter, who'll have you dangle from his strings and walk his wires.

Timeless and enduring with outstanding performances that to this day still take your breath away.

What a movie! It's the cinematic ideal, the standard by which subsequent films are judged, at least in terms of acting and dialogue. Maybe the camera, which does nothing but sit there as the actors act, could have been made a little less static. But the story screams stage play, which implies lots of talk and not much "action". The film doesn't pretend to do all things. But what it does do, it does extremely well.

As Margo, Bette Davis gives what I would consider one of the best performances, if not the best performance, in any film I have ever seen. She truly becomes Margo, that "fixture of the theater", so beloved yet so insecure. And as Eve, "the mousy one, with the trench coat and the funny hat", breathy Anne Baxter proves adept at subtleties that allow her character to change gradually over time.

Then there's George Sanders who effortlessly slips into the role of witty, urbane, pompous Addison DeWitt, columnist magnifico, a man whose high opinion of himself allows him to declare to us, as viewers, that he is "essential to the theater". Celeste Holm and reliable Thelma Ritter give topnotch performances as well.

And the Mankiewicz script, which tells the story of a group of theater people, is heavy on dialogue, but it's totally believable, as characters talk shop and interrelate, by means of suitable verbal conflict and subtle subtext. Even more than that, the dialogue is witty and clever, with tons of theatrical metaphors, like when Bill (Gary Merrill) angrily tells Margo: "And to intimate anything else doesn't spell jealousy to me, it spells a paranoid insecurity that you should be ashamed of." To which Margo just as angrily spits out: "Cut, print it, what happens in the next reel? Do I get dragged off screaming to the snake pits?"

One of my favorite scenes has several people sitting on a stairway at a party. A curvaceous but bird-brained Miss Casswell (Marilyn Monroe), "from the Copacabana school of acting", desires another drink. "Oh waiter!", she yells out. Addison schools her: "That isn't a waiter, my dear; that's a butler." To which she fires back: "Well I can't yell 'Oh butler', can I? Maybe somebody's name is Butler". Addison then concedes: "You have a point, an idiotic one, but a point."

I'm not sure I really like the characters in this film. Generally, they're self-absorbed, vain, haughty, and backbiting. They're not all that likable. And that would be my only serious complaint.

Otherwise, "All About Eve" is a film that excels at great language and great acting. If ever there was a film that deserves the status of "classic", this is surely it.

I had read comments about the quality of the writing in this film but I really had no idea to what extent this would elevate the experience. The fact is, it leaves me with no other choice than to give it a perfect 10. Unless you see this film, I don't think you'll have the necessary frame of reference with which to to base any expectations on. It's an incredibly engrossing, moving and often comedic experience, but time and time again what knocks you over is the absolute finesse with which this script was crafted. The fact that the acting and direction are flawless and surprisingly natural-seeming (most old movies usually seem stiff or people seem to "act" too much) only enhances it that much more. With this film, you can really imagine the *people* the actors are portraying.

"All About Eve" shows some similarity to one of my other favourite 50s films "A Face in the Crowd". Both are studies of fame and celebrity. Eve shows how a person will corrupt themselves in order to attain it, whereas A Face's premise is that fame corrupts those who find themselves in the spotlight. Both have themes that are perhaps even more resonant in our celebrity-obsessed culture now than when they were made. Interestingly, Eve predates A Face by several years.

And possibly most interesting of all is the honest and often raw way in which women are portrayed, the strength of their character and the power they wield. The male contingent is practically relegated to the back seat. One might be hard pressed to find a movie quite so "liberated" today. So what more can I say? If you love movies and you haven't yet seen it, you've suffered long enough; don't wait another day.

As close to perfection as they come. A film than can be viewed again and again without ever getting tired. Bette Davis's Margo Channing is a film icon of major proportions. A point of reference. Her fear of the abyss is as human as it is at the center of this selfish, insecure, sacred cow. She is surrounded by some other sensational women. Thelma Ritter, Celeste Holm, Anne Baxter and in a tiny but telling part, Marilyn Monroe - a graduate from the Copacabana school of dramatic art. Wittily prophetic. George Sanders is another piece of extraordinary casting and writing. "I'm essential to the theater" Indeed. And here is a film that has become essential to anyone who loves movies"

In show business, there is probably an Eve Harrington born every day. Someone who butters up to a performer of note, acting innocently, revealing none of the coldhearted ambition they really have. Anne Baxter plays this type of person to a tee. She looks like a baby-faced fan, but little do we know, there is a fame machine at work in her mind. Bette Davis, as Margo Channing, star of the stage, is a veteran who has seen it all. She is quite the egotist. Margo is a brilliant actress and she knows it. Eve discovers her blind spot and moves in on her like a quiet storm. This is the premise of ALL ABOUT EVE, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's masterpiece of sly wit and subtle manipulation. Mankiewicz also wrote the picture (winner of the Best Picture Oscar of 1950) with such skill, the talented cast need only to memorize the lines and deliver them with the proper technique.

The performances are great, regardless, especially by Bette Davis and the always detested George Sanders, one of my favorite actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood. The film is narrated initially by Sanders, who plays a ruthless swine of a theatre critic, then by Celeste Holm, the wife of Eve and Margo's playwrighter, then Bette Davis in the performance of a lifetime. The movie is about 90% dialogue, much like a play. The words are so crisp and sharp, you never sway or lose interest. These characters are just too interesting. Bette Davis has a cavalcade of unforgettable dialogue. "Fasten your seatbelts. Its going to be a bumpy night!" This is the one everyone remembers, but I would be remiss to get into any others.

The picture runs well over 2 hours, but it doesn't seem like enough. Mankiewicz could've held a seminar of screenwriting by showing this. George Sanders is the only actor of the roster to bring home an Academy Award, and rumor has it Davis and Baxter, who was just 27 at the time, were feuding during much of the shoot and lusted the Oscar. Time has been very good to the film as well. 1950 was a wonderful year for movies and ALL ABOUT EVE's artistic equal that year was the equally well-written SUNSET BOULEVARD, which took us behind the scenes of a tainted Hollywood. EVE takes on theatre and treats Hollywood like an afterthought. There are many references to the film industry, usually involving the scenes with Margo Channing's boyfriend, who is attempting to make a career on the silver screen.

The movie is highly unpredictable, especially the last scenes which tie the ideas of the story up. There is an Eve everywhere and each character gets what he or she deserves. Fasten the belts and listen up. This is screenwriting at its finest.

What a genius Joseph L Manckiewicz was. A literary script that is totally accessible. A melodrama for the thinking man. A film that is as engrossing and entertaining every time you see it. Bette Davis touches all the raw nerves of her mythological career. Anne Baxter never went this far. Thelma Ritter became a sort of icon. Marilyn Monroe gives us a preview of forthcoming attractions as a graduated from the "Copacabana" academy of dramatic arts. Celeste Holm represents us, all of us and George Sanders creates a prototype for a cultured monster that is immediately recognizable. I don't recall another film in which the nature of selfishness is so wittily dissected. A total triumph.

You will see yourself in every character in this very intelligent, entrancing movie. Though set in "the theatre," the story could just as easily have been told in a small town, a corporation – even a religious organization. Being set in the "glamorous" world of entertainment – its seems all the more timely in these days of fame, fortune and the insufficiency (almost shame) of being ordinary. The theatre setting also underscores the reality that the world is a stage, and all its people, players.

So much to study in this movie: the genuine, trusting (and romantic) human; the streetwise, good, hardworking human, who's seen it all and doesn't embrace it; the jaded, heart-hardened, deceitful loser with power, who admires the same and disdains human goodness; the ambitious sociopath who fools so many; the unsuspecting onlookers who see only the façade of success; the inescapable fact that supreme achievement has been had by very low characters; the painful passage of an aging woman into the light of knowing she's loved for being beautiful beyond her appearance, for being HER; the touching portrayal of her lover who remembers his love for her as he passes on a much younger, beautiful, talented actress; the sorrow of a (betraying) friend who discovers the frightened and lonely heart of her successful friend … The dialogue is sharp and clever, barked and growled, smarmy and tender… A truly human movie about being human. Go – find yourself in everyone!

THE definitive saga of backstage brouhaha ever dished out by Hollywood. A triumph of screen-writing, never will one see such ripe, acrid dialogue spewed out like this again -- every indelible scene gloriously stained with classic one-liners. An actress wanna-be looking for her big break carefully worms her way into the glamorous life of a legendary Broadway star, then tries to supplant her privately and professionally.

A sterling, incandescent cast provides the fire and music to this concerto of theatre attitude. Bette Davis knew she was handed a dream role when she was cast as Margo Channing, the indomitable diva caught up in the throes of mid-life crisis both on- and off-stage. Not willing at all to deal with it tactfully, she makes life a living hell for anyone within knife-throwing distance. This juicy, once-in-a-lifetime part turned Davis' own flagging middle-aged career back on its feet, especially coming on the heels of one of her biggest "dumps" ever, "Beyond the Forest." Remarkable as it may seem, Bette was not the first choice here, replacing an injured Claudette Colbert. With all due respect to Colbert, Bette Davis was BORN to play Margo Channing. A mauling lioness one minute, a coy, declawed pussycat the next, Davis relishes every wickedly bitchy scene she gets to tear into. Yet in her more introspective moments, she evokes real sympathy for Margo (as only a true star can) especially when her character missteps. It's a resounding victory for the Queen Bee in every way, shape and form.

Her "supporting cast" also manage to create a buzz of excitement. Gary Merrill and Hugh Marlowe, known for their relative blandness, are splendid here in their respective roles as queen bee's lover and playwright. While Merrill's Bill Sampson tames Margo the woman with gutsy directness and virile passion, Marlowe's Lloyd Richards appeases Margo the star with flattery, great dialogue and a calm resolve. Worth watching, then, are their fireworks scenes with Margo when intelligence and restraint no longer work. Debonair George Sanders gives customary snob appeal and dry cynicism to his waspish, ultimately loathsome columnist Addison DeWitt, who swarms around Broadway's elite knowledgeable in the fact his lack of heart and poison pen yield exclusive rights and power. The most sensitive and sensible one in the collective bunch, the one lacking a true stinger, is Karen Richards (played wonderfully by Celeste Holm), Margo's best friend and confidante, who finds herself caught between the queen and a hard place when she accidentally makes a pact with the devil. Thelma Ritter couldn't be overlooked if she tried. An inveterate scene-stealer, she weathers strong competition this time in a movie crammed with clever conversation and pungent zingers. As coarse but well-meaning Birdie Coonan, a brash ex-vaudevillian now the queen's ever-loyal "drone", Ritter's character properly handles her boss's antics with amusing grit and backbone. On the periphery of this Broadway beehive is mop-faced Gregory Ratoff as an edgy, gullible, thick-accented producer, Marilyn Monroe as a hopelessly vacuous starlet, and Barbara Bates, as a novice schemer with a very bright future, all making their few scenes count -- especially Bates, who is forever enshrined in the film's stunning final shot.

The chief thorn in Margo's (and everybody's) side, and the other real star of this picture, is the queen's titular lady-in-waiting, Eve Harrington. As played by Anne Baxter, this role is probably the most delicate and difficult of all for the weight and believability of this drama falls squarely on her shoulders. Unfairly overlooked all these years by the flashier posturings of Davis, Baxter does a beautiful job of drawing initial pathos then panic as she slowly unveils her own lethal stinger. By film's end, Baxter is directly on par with her scenery-chewing co-star. Killer to killer. Champion to champion.

Six Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director (Joseph L. Mankiewicz), Best Screenplay (also Mankiewicz) and Supporting Actor (George Sanders) went to this cinematic bon mot. Had Bette Davis and Anne Baxter not competed as Best Actress (Baxter refused to place herself in the Supporting Actress category), it would have drummed up two more awards to be sure.

Developing a faithful cult following over the years, this film deserves to be on everybody's "top ten" list.

The ambitious Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) gets close to the great and temperamental stage artist Margo Channing (Bette Davis) and her friends Karen Richards (Celeste Holm) and her husband, the play-writer Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe); her boyfriend and director Bill Sampson (Gary Marrow); and the producer Max Fabian (Gregory Ratoff). Everybody, except the cynical critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders), believe that Eve is only a naive, humble and simple obsessed fan of Margo and they try to help her. However, Eve is indeed a cynical and manipulative snake that uses the lives of Margo and her friends to reach her objectives in the theater business.

"All About Eve" is a magnificent timeless tale of ambition, manipulation and betrayal, and certainly one of the best classics ever. Everything perfectly works in this movie: the direction is very precise and tight; dialogs are very acid and intelligent; Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders and Celeste Holm have awesome performances in very powerful characters; the dramatic story is amazingly good, showing what an evil person can plot to reach fame and success. I believe this movie will always be among my ten favorite movies ever. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "A Malvada" ("The Wicked")

Here's perfect writing if ever a movie ever had it-where did Joseph L. Mankiewicz come up with these people? Who would have thought he could not only revive Bette Davis' career with her greatest-ever role, but actually make her even more fascinating than she ever was before? Davis plays famous and established actress Margo Channing, a self-centred and tough but vulnerable woman who is purused relentlessly by Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), a seemingly innocent woman who worships Channing-she even becomes her personal assistant. However, her devotion soon becomes sinister, and Margo lets her friends know, though they just think she's being selfish and unfair. Celeste Holm is excellent as Margo's best friend, who at first is on Eve's side but eventually sees how conniving Eve can be and how ruthless she is in climbing to the top. The party scene early on in the film features some of the film's best lines (`Fasten your seat belts…it's going to be a bumpy night!'), though my personal favourite is when Davis tells Baxter to put her award `where you heart should be'; Margo Channing is just about the best female character of the fifties. Features Marilyn Monroe in an early role.

I'm afraid I'm not going to join the gush parade for this movie.

The performances are good, Eve and Margo are well-done characters, and the ending is like something out of the Twilight Zone, but the movie also has a number of shortcomings.

It's very talky -- nothing but talk, hardly a moment of silence. The dialogue seems more stagey than natural. The characters don't converse so much as declaim or emote. The dialogue doesn't seem witty as some have claimed, just bitter and cynical (for the most part).

The visuals aren't very visual. The shots are mostly ordinary shots of whoever's talking at the moment. There's little character movement. This could easily have been a radio play.

The relationship between Margo and boyfriend seems contrived. There's no apparent reason why they should be so attached to each other. It doesn't come across. In fact, they seem quite unattached to each other initially, but the movie changes its mind abruptly in midcourse.

I'll confess a bias against actors acting about acting. It's the kind of self-referential, self-reverential stuff that bugs me, like news reporters reporting on each other instead of the news, or playwrights writing plays about plays. It smacks of taking oneself far too seriously. (Okay, it's a pet peeve, but there you go.)

But despite these shortcomings, it's still worth watching to the end.

All About Eve is my idea of a perfect film,(and I am 17) beautiful and brooding at the same time. People consider this as one of the finest films ever made, and I cannot disagree. This and Shawshank Redemption are actually films that deserve to be in the top 250. The black and white cinematography is gorgeous, and the script is sharp and focused with great lines such as "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night". The direction is excellent, and this is further advantaged by a terrific cast, a very good subject matter and sumptuous costumes. I couldn't help being captivated by Bette Davis's performance as Margo Channing, her presence in the film is actually the film's main merit. Davis was an incredible actress, and while not exactly pretty compared to Maaureen O'Hara and Rita Hayworth and not very easy to work with at times, she always brought a sense of command to all her roles, especially in this film. I still think that All About Eve is her best film, I honestly do, and she is well supported by a terrific supporting cast with the likes of the idealistic Anne Baxter and the suave George Sanders. All in all, a beautiful film, that is a must-see, if you haven't seen it already. It is quite long, but it is well worth watching for Davis's performance. 10/10 Bethany Cox

I seldomly rate movies with just the one star. However there's no other way to grade this film. The plot is plain and boring, the acting is quite stale, the script is slow, it's long, uninteresting and has most definitely not stood the test of time. I love films from the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's but this has got to be one of the most hyped films in the history of motion pictures. Naturally it does not deserve a place in the IMDb top 250, but since that list in itself as quite heavy on the Hollywood side, that doesn't surprise me in the least bit. What does surprise me is the amount of people giving the film such a high grade, the whole thing has "the emperors new clothes" feel to it.

All About Eve is simply the perfect film. Fact follows fiction in the casting of Bette Davis, a star who was an incredible actress but fighting the inevitable - the passage of time. First off, Better Davis was always an incredible actress, no matter what part she took and this was the perfect part for her. Anne Baxter is tremendous in the part of Eve - she plays the part well. It's multi-faceted and challenging and she definitely rose to the challenge. Celeste Holm is great, too. She's got a smaller part but does a great job with it. Celeste Holm is an actress who has incredible stature, even in the later years of her career, like when she was in that television show "Promised Land." But Addison DeWitt - takes the cake. I can see why he won the Oscar. I don't want to say much about the story. The film is one that has to be taken in as a whole to be truly appreciated. Enjoy it - it's as tasty as honey! One thing - please never let them make a re-make of this film - it's perfect. It's off limits. It would be painting a new version of the Mona Lisa. This one is perfect!

And you really don't need to know about the theater, because it is ultimately about the many facets of human nature.

I absolutely adore this movie. It helps when I love Bette Davis, but this is something altogether different from your run-of-the-mill drama, much less your typical Bette Davis melodrama. First and foremost, the screenplay is quite simply one of the best ever written alongside Network and a few others. Mankiewicz's tremendous knack for biting language is glorious. He had shown shades of this gift in his screenplay for A Letter to Three Wives the previous year, but this screenplay is something else.

A screenplay, nevertheless, can't singlehandedly make a film as brilliant as this. Mankiewicz pairs his writing with superb direction and the performances are splendid. Davis gives almost undoubtedly the best performance of her illustrious career as the aging Margo Channing and Anne Baxter turns in a quite good performance that sneaks up on you before her character, Eve Harrington, falls prey to herself. Celeste Holm is great as the conflicted friend of both Margo and Eve, Karen Richards. Thelma Ritter delivers a funny, yet powerful performance as Birdie, a part that is inconsequential at first glance. My favorite performance, however, is the absolutely magnificent supporting performance given by George Sanders as the cynical, sardonic, conniving journalist Addison DeWitt. His voice is perfect and his cane and cigarette holder are forever etched in my memory. Hugh Marlowe as Lloyd Richards is really a blank, though a better casting choice probably would have resulted in a more complex interpretation of this admittedly bland character.

It's rather ironic when Margo confides to Karen that she wants Bill (Gary Merrill) to love her, the woman, not the actress, because the actress will fade with time. Eve worries over the difference in their ages, Eve being eight years older than Bill. Bette Davis and Gary Merrill did get married, and though it lasted longer than Davis' other unions, it ultimately failed. Davis later said that their mistake was that they thought they were marrying the characters in the film, and when the film faded into the past, there was no basis for a relationship.

Some films mark milestones in the history. "All About Eve" is a combination of rare cases like First ever movie to be nominated for 14 Oscars. Also, it has the highest number of Oscar nominations for the Actress. This makes the movie a must watch for all film lovers.

The movie begins with an award ceremony. The winner is Eve Harrington. The flashback goes through some people who are present at the ceremony. Margo Channing is a super star stage artist. One day she gets a fan visit after the show. It was the young Eve. Soon, Eve works for Margo. Eve becomes all in all for Margo. Eve was more of an observer, how Margo walks, talks, eats, sits etc. The movie has a wonderful ending.

The cast and crew are perfect. There was a competition of acting. Marilyn Monroe's appearance was interesting. I think this movie was made before she became a great celebrity.

A definitely must watch. Highly Recommended.

#KiduMovie

All About Eve is an excellent film in every aspect. The 14 Oscar nominations, and six wins, testify to this. For 47 years EVE held the record for most nominations -- in 1997 Titanic matched the 14 nominations. Bette Davis was awarded the New York Critics Award once in her 58 year career -- and it was for this film. Marilyn Monroe, Thelma Ritter and Celeste Holms gave terrific supporting performances while Anne Baxter kept up with the great Bette every frame of the way. It was Bette's eighth nomination, and sixth loss; Judy Holiday won for Born Yesterday, beating two legends -- Gloria Swanson was also nominated that year for Sunset Blvd. All About Eve was the first film to be released after Bette ended her 18 years with Warner Brothers. For a moment she was back on top of the world, only to find disappointment throughout the 50's with choices and offerings in Hollywood. The writing by Mankiewicz and supporting performance by George Saunders would alone make the film worth viewing -- A NEAR PEFECT FILM!

I had never watched this "Best Picture of 1950" until a couple of years ago because it just looked like one of those 1950s melodramas (translation: soap operas) that I can't stand, and it starred an older Bette Davis, who was only appealing to me in her youth in the 1930s. However, after hearing and reading so many rave reviews of this, especially on the IMDb Classic Board, and the fact it was out on DVD, I decided to check it out.

I was glad I did. I liked it, thought it was entertaining and worth the 138-minute investment. I still didn't find it as good as advertised - at least for my tastes - but it was still a pretty involving story with good acting. How it could have been up for so many Academy Awards - 14, I believe - is beyond me, however.

Neverthess, it's main attribute, as advertised, is the dialog which sparkles with "intelligence," as the Liberal film critic-elitists like to refer to it. It's a "smart" comedy, they say from their ivory towers. Make no mistake: the dialog is good, but I've heard just as good from some film noirs and other movies. Movies put more of a premium on that sort of stuff back in the days before computerized special-effects and limited attention spans took over.

The best dialog came from George Sanders, playing a sharp-tongued theater critic. Davis was next, which is no surprise. Her career, thanks to her own real- life efforts to get good roles, was doted with characters that had good dialog. This role kept her Hollywood career going as it had been fading as she approached 40 years of age. She was beginning to look older than her years and many times that spelled "death" to an actress, but she was not the average actress.

The only character in the film I couldn't stand was "Eve," by Anne Baxter, not for her role but for the way she delivered her lines. Baxter didn't do this at first, but as the film went on she kept finishing sentence after sentence with a whisper. It was extremely annoying and affected. People don't talk like that!

Overall, for a film dominated by dialog for almost two hours and 20 minutes, it did a great job of holding one's interest. I only found one part that really lagged. It's a good movie - a well-crafted story - but putting in almost-mythical status as one of the greatest of all times, as some have, is a bit exaggerated.

"A part in a play. You'd do all that just for a part in a play?"

All About Eve is a sneaky tale about deceit and pure ambition, set within the world of the New York theater scene.

Eve (Anne Baxter) seems to be a sympathetic, helpful young woman, who find herself unexpectedly meeting her idol, the great stage actress Margo Chandler (Bette Midler). She begins to work for the star, seemingly completely content to help her in any way she can. But Eve is much more ambitious than her sweet, helpful demeanor suggests, and she brings all kinds of trouble to Margo and others in her bids for her own personal fame and stardom. 

I can't really find any flaws with the premise of All About Eve, or the acting. It's a well- made movie with a great cast. For some reason, though, my interest in it stayed fairly subdued. I did get more into the story during the second half, but I'm forced to concede that for some reason, I wasn't the primary audience for this one. I did love the ending, though. 

Solid movie, but I believe others will probably have a more enthusiastic reaction to All About Eve than I did.

Check out this cute stalker! You know what would be fun? Let's make her our private secretary! What could go wrong!

Melodrama, pure and simple.