I'll take ABE by a fraction of an inch.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 16 October 2006 23:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 16 October 2006 23:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 16 October 2006 23:31 (seventeen years ago) link
― Edward III (edward iii), Monday, 16 October 2006 23:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 00:20 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 00:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 02:24 (seventeen years ago) link
Only because Sunset Boulevard is the correct answer to this question. All About Eve is an incredible performance by Bette Davis, and Boy George do I love that movie, but Sunset Boulevard is still better. Norma Desmond is a not-exactly-fictional character that could have been created by no one but Gloria Swanson, but it's still not a biography of Gloria Swanson; it's a performance. Her greatest. Her caricature of herself is one of the bravest things ever put on film, and sometimes one of the funniest. And to boot, the movie surrounding her is also great.
― gonna be a bright bright sunshiny day (kenan), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 02:56 (seventeen years ago) link
Me now says "All About Eve, but must I choose?"
― Eric H. (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 03:59 (seventeen years ago) link
― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 07:20 (seventeen years ago) link
All About Eve is a strange one, because by rights it should be too literary, too stagey, too much of its period, too in-jokey and not cinematic enough for me. But I've sat through it twice in the last few months and been totally engrossed each time, even though I've seen it often enough to hear the dialogue before the actors say it.
― frankiemachine (frankiemachine), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 09:52 (seventeen years ago) link
NETFLIX STAT
― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:04 (seventeen years ago) link
OTM. In addition to the cameos by Keaton, DeMille, and Hopper, Stroheim's incarnation as Max is great. It's the ultimate Hollywood Gothic tale, I'd say.
However, I love AAE. Davis is great. Ratoff and Baxter give some of their best performances. Even Gary Merrill and Hugh Marlowe can't drag this film down. Sander's Addison DeWitt is one of my alltime favorite characters, managing to be both arch and louche at the same time ("Sit down Eve. You're too short for that gesture.") and Monroe as Miss Caswell feels painfully true to life.
I have a suspicion that, in addition to their show-biz insider interest, both of these films appealed to a certain generation of women who may have felt that the war (work, rationing, men away or sometimes dead) had stolen their youth or at least some of its sparkling promise. Released in '50 when the backlash against women in the workplace was in full swing, and the cultural ideal was for women to be housewives, there's a wistfulness in both movies about lost time and squandered youth and a certain bitterness about the generational divide. Eve is a manipulative bitch and Joe Gillis is forced to choose between his contemporaries and Swanson.
even though I've seen it often enough to hear the dialogue before the actors say it.
Ha ha. OTM.
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:33 (seventeen years ago) link
Both films are rather too clever for their own good (Sweet Smell of Success has the same problem). I give Eve the edge for its gallery of performances (no one's praised Celeste Holm much; she plays the tricky part of the goody-goody backstabbing best friend with vinegary wit), whereas Nancy Olson and whoever played Holden's boss at the studio are just disgraceful.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:41 (seventeen years ago) link
But I think In a Lonely Place might be the best American movie of '50.
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:47 (seventeen years ago) link
-- gonna be a bright bright sunshiny day (fluxion2...), October 16th, 2006 11:56 PM.
The movie surrounding her is good, not quite great, which is its weakness. Swanson's performance is arguably top 5 of all time, but she sucks all the air out of the room, not to mention out of 5 other movies in adjoining theaters. All About Eve is more consistent, Davis is great but she's not burning a hole in the floor.
TS: Last Tango In Paris vs. Chinatown
― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:50 (seventeen years ago) link
Definitely Bogart's best performance, and (unconsciously) the best film about Scott Fitzgerald's tenure in Hollywood.
Swanson's performance is arguably top 5 of all time, but she sucks all the air out of the room
What about William Holden!? He probably should have won the Oscar.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:55 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 13:57 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:00 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:03 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:04 (seventeen years ago) link
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:08 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:09 (seventeen years ago) link
Maybe I'm downplaying his performance? I can't recall anything notable about it - he's certainly serviceable in the conflicted noir-patsy role. Am I failing to give the straight guy a banana?
What a grudge match for best actress that year. Davis and Swanson may have canceled each other out.
Anne Baxter, All About Eve Bette Davis, All About Eve Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday Eleanor Parker, Caged Gloria Swanson, Sunset Boulevard
Holden, incidentally, also in Born Yesterday.
― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:30 (seventeen years ago) link
Network was the last time he used his snark, self-contempt, and intelligence to such moving ends.
Baxter later admitted that she should have allowed to studio to promote her as a supporting actress. Davis' response: "Yeah, she should have."
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:34 (seventeen years ago) link
― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 14:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― cosmo vitelli (cosmo vitelli), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 17:22 (seventeen years ago) link
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 17:25 (seventeen years ago) link
Davis' scripts were apparently filled with copious notes mapping her character's every movement, and even rewriting dialogue. Her AAE script was practically blank.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 17:33 (seventeen years ago) link
haha True. But isn't that the point? She doesn't know how to do anything else. I mean, neither the character or the actress know how to do anything else.
― this, however, is the crucial moment from the libertine's point of view (kenan), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 18:56 (seventeen years ago) link
Who can name another Swanson talkie besides Airport 1975?
― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 17 October 2006 19:24 (seventeen years ago) link
The Odienator deconstructs AAE:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2010/10/eve-of-destruction-60-years-of-all-about-eve/
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 18 October 2010 17:53 (thirteen years ago) link
You're too short for that gesture.
― raging hetero lifechill (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 October 2010 18:23 (thirteen years ago) link
Celeste Holm has passed away
― Don't Feel Like Santana, But Oye Como Va To Them (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 15 July 2012 17:01 (eleven years ago) link
Very Academy of Dramatic Arts!
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 15 July 2012 17:10 (eleven years ago) link
RIP Celeste. I knew her first for this (w/ Lesley Anne Warren):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27K6nlVEdSc
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 15 July 2012 17:45 (eleven years ago) link
In the segment of "The Clock" I saw last night, Rex Harrison has a cruel/funny monologue about time, adapted by Mankiewicz from a play (and Jonson's Volpone) as The Honey Pot (1967).
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 15 July 2012 21:27 (eleven years ago) link
"My agent didn't want me to do 'Eve.' Can you imagine?" Holm told the Associated Press in 1997. "He was afraid 'Miss Normal' would get caught between two cats, Bette Davis and [co-star] Anne Baxter."
Holm, in fact, didn't get along with the legendary Davis.
As Holm often recalled, when she walked on to the set the first day of shooting and said, "Good morning," Davis responded by saying, "Oh … good manners."
"I never spoke to her again — ever," Holm said.
― buzza, Monday, 16 July 2012 02:51 (eleven years ago) link
good acting, ladies and gentleman
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 July 2012 05:44 (eleven years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/nyregion/love-and-inheritance-celeste-holms-family-feud.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 July 2012 12:49 (eleven years ago) link
Kind of side with Davis based on the reaction.
― the new dire homonomoreboobsativity (Eric H.), Monday, 16 July 2012 12:52 (eleven years ago) link
Based on others' accounts of Davis, it doesn't seem like an isolated incident.
C.H. does a mean hog call in this interview:
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/15/156810156/oklahoma-actress-celeste-holm-dies-at-95
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 July 2012 13:45 (eleven years ago) link
and yeah, that legal fiasco is a wowzer. (tho hardly unique it seems)
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Monday, 16 July 2012 13:53 (eleven years ago) link
I have yet to hear a story about Davis where she's doesn't come across as an insufferable bitch.
Anyway, RIP CH.
― Et tant pis pour Byzance puisque que j´ai vu Pigalle (Michael White), Monday, 16 July 2012 14:11 (eleven years ago) link
wow, sunset boulevard
― first u get the flower, then u get the honey, then u get the stamen (darraghmac), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 22:31 (eleven years ago) link
like a nylon lemon peel
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 11 December 2012 22:35 (eleven years ago) link
so I went to this queer experimental film fest yesterday and saw 3 shorts, made across 39 years, that spun off of AAE:
http://nyulocal.com/city/2013/11/18/local-went-there-mixnyc-film-festival-gowanus/
get the titles? Aged in Wood, Remembrance, Footsteps on the Ceiling?
I wish Sotosyn and Eric had been there.
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Monday, 18 November 2013 20:51 (ten years ago) link
What post has or is about to get flagged?
― midnight outdoor nude frolic up north goes south (Eric H.), Tuesday, 19 November 2013 17:20 (ten years ago) link
alternate NYC Pride Sunday activity for ... somebody
http://www.movingimage.us/programs/2018/06/24/detail/all-about-evil-all-about-eve-and-showgirls/
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 14:43 (five years ago) link
Everybody has a heart. Except some people.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 14:50 (five years ago) link
me. you’re talking about me morbs
― flamenco blorf (BradNelson), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:07 (five years ago) link
Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of a stripper.
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:16 (five years ago) link
Also, the choice between Showgirls and All About Eve would be a whole lot harder than the choice between Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve.
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:17 (five years ago) link
or the choice between Miss Caswell and Phoebe.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:19 (five years ago) link
damn, Eric sort of incorrect twice in one post.
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:32 (five years ago) link
I've re-watched Sunset Boulevard in the last year and major sections of it just don't hold up against its admitted peaks.
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:47 (five years ago) link
yep
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 15:54 (five years ago) link
All About Eve def a more tightly plotted/constructed film
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:11 (five years ago) link
as KJB sez "story is for boys"
we all know the Nancy Olson passages in SB are unbearable
sort of like the whole of Showgirls
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:13 (five years ago) link
as KJB says, All About Eve is superior
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:16 (five years ago) link
The voice-over on SB numbs me after forty-five minutes. Stop talking and use the fucking camera.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:17 (five years ago) link
depends what you're shopping for. SB is messier and that's compelling. I like AAE a lot too. xp
Mankiewicz basically used the camera to record actors talking.
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:18 (five years ago) link
Lots of images stick in Sunset Blvd! The chimp funeral, the leering shop assistant, Norma under the projector beam in her screening room...
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:21 (five years ago) link
I like SB too but it's a film requiring Gothic corn but stuck with a director who remains a writer at heart, and a writer whose cynicism is, as usual with cynics, a hard-boiled kind of sentimentality.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:23 (five years ago) link
and Holden looks beautiful in it! you want an image that sticks? The camera following Holden pulling himself out of Norma's pool. I think Wilder himself had a hard-on.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:24 (five years ago) link
"It was all very queer. But queerer things were yet to come..."
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:24 (five years ago) link
Wilder is not a cynic.
Mankiewicz is also a writer at heart for God's sake.
it's a film requiring Gothic corn
so, Andrew Lloyd Webber?
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:27 (five years ago) link
I can accept Mankiewicz's almost as limited range as a filmmaker because he's directing a film about The Thee-a-thuh. As you wrote, put the camera down and let the actors run with their awesome lines.
The one bit of visual eloquence I remember in AAE takes place in the third act: when Addison follows Eve into her hotel bedroom to yell at her some more while the camera discreetly lingers by the door. Tarantino must have seen it and approved.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:33 (five years ago) link
You don't think the last shot of the movie was at least aiming for visual eloquence?
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:34 (five years ago) link
Sure! No doubt we can find others.
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:36 (five years ago) link
I wouldn't call the last shot eloquent so much as "apt" but that's a quibble.
we must mention that AAE was also turned into a Broadway musical (starring Lauren Bacall) circa 1970
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:41 (five years ago) link
el·o·quentˈeləkwənt/Submitadjectiveclearly expressing or indicating something.
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:41 (five years ago) link
Charles Strouse vs. Andrew Lloyd Webber
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:42 (five years ago) link
Nobody answer that.
Kinda intriguing that the musical's producers could only buy the "Eve" short story rights, until Fox changed their mind very late in the game. Applause! has no Addison DeWitt, but a producer (played by the newly dead Robert Mandan) and a gay hairdresser.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applause_(musical)
― the ignatius rock of ignorance (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 16:46 (five years ago) link
― I Never Promised You A Hose Harden (Eric H.)
salted peanut vs cocktail
― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 17:17 (five years ago) link
you're all braver people than me as i cannot choose between either of these movies
― Slippage (Ross), Wednesday, 13 June 2018 21:37 (five years ago) link
noted
https://variety.com/2019/legit/reviews/all-about-eve-review-gillian-anderson-lily-james-1203139714/
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 7 March 2019 21:04 (five years ago) link
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6709-all-about-mankiewicz
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Friday, 13 December 2019 03:02 (four years ago) link
my main problem with Eve is... Eve.
It takes way too long for these theatre sophistos to wake up to her agenda, Thelma Ritter aside.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 23 February 2020 06:51 (four years ago) link
Marilyn doesn't quite nail her "unhappy rabbits" line, but it's still a good one.
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 23 February 2020 06:56 (four years ago) link
there's a CC supplement on "the real Eve" in which the fur really flies via audio tape
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 23 February 2020 17:45 (four years ago) link
Often I ask if Anne Baxter plays Eve as a lousy actress who persuades people who wanted persuasion.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 23 February 2020 17:59 (four years ago) link
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/sunset-blvd-star-nancy-olson-wilder-holden-why-she-walked-away-stardom-1290825
― flappy bird, Monday, 20 April 2020 18:01 (three years ago) link
91!
I watched All About Eve for the first time last night and, alarmingly, did not like it very much. I'm not at all happy about this.
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Sunday, 13 September 2020 23:11 (three years ago) link
yeah examine your values
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 14 September 2020 00:23 (three years ago) link
do better
― flappy bird, Monday, 14 September 2020 01:07 (three years ago) link
Sunset Blvd is definitely the winner with the sound off.
(it's a MOVie after all)
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Monday, 14 September 2020 01:59 (three years ago) link
haha!
In my defence, I did watch Sullivan's Travels for the first time tonight and was moved by it.
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Monday, 14 September 2020 02:07 (three years ago) link
as in the late husband's portrait's moving eyes
― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Monday, 14 September 2020 02:10 (three years ago) link
you don't know me.
― Gerneten-flüken cake (jed_), Monday, 14 September 2020 02:12 (three years ago) link
I'm not sure I've ever seen "All About Eve," tbh, for no particular reason, but it's been on my short list of movies to watch with my daughter. In this case I'm wondering what we will *both* think, in real time.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 14 September 2020 02:30 (three years ago) link
Sunset Blvd obv but I love the packed cast of Eve. Monroe is very funny. Though whenever I see George Sanders now I just think of Psychomania. He didn't have to die! They're both good!
― flappy bird, Monday, 14 September 2020 04:28 (three years ago) link
i suspect film-y types are required by law to prefer sunset blvd, and it probably is the better movie, but i'd rather watch all about eve again, it's just a blast.― J.D., Tuesday, October 17, 2006 2:24 AM (thirteen years ago)
i still feel this way!
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 14 September 2020 04:53 (three years ago) link
I like morbs' post that "Sunset is the most fun vampire film of its era."
― Dan S, Thursday, 22 October 2020 23:38 (three years ago) link