Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Production Company: Twentieth Century Fox
"There comes a time that the piano realizes that it has not written the concerto!" - Lloyd Richards
Setting
New York City, USA
The Plot
Margo Channing [Davis] is the current star of the New York theatre scene, when a wannabe under the guise of a fan-cum-secretary-cum-wingwoman called Eve Harrington [Baxter] appears at the theatre. The women seem instantly to like each other, but soon things unravel as multiple characters start to manipulate each other for their own agendas and struggle to know whom to trust.
The Review
They make use of narration during an extensive analysis of an awards scene, as Eve Harrington [Baxter] receives the prestigious Sarah Siddons Award (fictitious at the time of the film). The narrator, famed journalist Addison DeWitt [Sanders], introduces the main characters including Margo who has a face like thunder. Why? We'll soon find out!
Most of the film is in retrospect but only narrated at the start by Addison, Karen Richards [Celeste Holm] and Margo, we see a seemingly innocent and gushing Eve enter the scene. Let the games begin! The love-hate relationship rotates throughout.
The film paints a double-angled picture of the theatre scene; on one hand glitzy and glamorous, on the other manipulative and shrewd. Trust no one. Except me 😇. Snaps to Margo's BFF and handmaiden Birdie Coonan [Thelma Ritter], she had Eve pinned from the get-go; as the film progresses, the characters' (and audience's) opinions of each character change throughout as everyone seems to be up to something!
The famed battle between playwright and player is also well-covered as they throw analogies at each other; I liked the simplistic desire of Margo for him to write her a play about "a nice normal woman who just shoots her husband". I'd probably go see that actually!
The fairly new up-and-coming star Marilyn Monroe makes an early appearance as Miss Casswell, it's interesting seeing a big name before they were a big name. She carries the role of a starlet very well so it's hardly surprising she became one in real life.
Margo's monologue about the role of a woman vs a career was probably widely-accepted at the time but these days? Ouch! She feared her man Bill [Gary Merrill] wanted to marry Margo the famous actress and not Margo the woman; as life often imitates art, the two actors married after the film's release but later divorced feeling Bill had married Margo Channing and not Bette Davis herself. Sad.
Now I'm not one to gossip but...Anne Baxter lobbied hard to be submitted for the Best Actress Oscar® rather than Best Supporting Actress. This placed both her and Bette Davis in the running which split the vote and they both lost out to Judy Holliday. Oh Anne...
The film remains of of the Top 100 Films of All Time, a wonderfully-written and engaging script and a fantastic cast...they even got on with Bette Davis off -camera, aside from Celeste Holm but there's always one.
Most of the film is in retrospect but only narrated at the start by Addison, Karen Richards [Celeste Holm] and Margo, we see a seemingly innocent and gushing Eve enter the scene. Let the games begin! The love-hate relationship rotates throughout.
The film paints a double-angled picture of the theatre scene; on one hand glitzy and glamorous, on the other manipulative and shrewd. Trust no one. Except me 😇. Snaps to Margo's BFF and handmaiden Birdie Coonan [Thelma Ritter], she had Eve pinned from the get-go; as the film progresses, the characters' (and audience's) opinions of each character change throughout as everyone seems to be up to something!
The famed battle between playwright and player is also well-covered as they throw analogies at each other; I liked the simplistic desire of Margo for him to write her a play about "a nice normal woman who just shoots her husband". I'd probably go see that actually!
The fairly new up-and-coming star Marilyn Monroe makes an early appearance as Miss Casswell, it's interesting seeing a big name before they were a big name. She carries the role of a starlet very well so it's hardly surprising she became one in real life.
Margo's monologue about the role of a woman vs a career was probably widely-accepted at the time but these days? Ouch! She feared her man Bill [Gary Merrill] wanted to marry Margo the famous actress and not Margo the woman; as life often imitates art, the two actors married after the film's release but later divorced feeling Bill had married Margo Channing and not Bette Davis herself. Sad.
Now I'm not one to gossip but...Anne Baxter lobbied hard to be submitted for the Best Actress Oscar® rather than Best Supporting Actress. This placed both her and Bette Davis in the running which split the vote and they both lost out to Judy Holliday. Oh Anne...
The film remains of of the Top 100 Films of All Time, a wonderfully-written and engaging script and a fantastic cast...they even got on with Bette Davis off -camera, aside from Celeste Holm but there's always one.
The Slap
Well this was tricky, every time I wrote down a nominee they either didn't deserve it or were trumped by somebody else! Most of the leads were manipulating each other so the Slap, for the first time in my blog so far, goes to the entire lead cast. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!
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