Note: This is #25 in my 52 Classic Movies in 52 Weeks challenge for 2009.
I think it’s kind of telling that just a couple of weeks later I can barely remember a dang thing about Eve OR this movie that’s all about her.
There’s something about an aging stage actress who gets eclipsed and outmaneuvered by her outwardly fawning but secretly conniving assistant and inadvertent understudy. I guess what the movie did really well was set up a whole cast of characters and paint a web of relationships between them so that much of the movie’s energy came from watching and keeping track of their relationships. As things develop, for example, there are coalitions and politics and loyalties that come into play, most of which are centered around Bette Davis’s character of Margo Channing.
And that’s fine, especially if you’re into stuff like that –good writing, character development, and so on. The acting was also generally, good, though some of the performances –Davis’s in particular– do have a bit of that overdramatization flare from this period that I find so grating. You’d know what I mean if you saw it.
So, really can’t bring myself to say much more about this one. I know it won a lot of awards and it’s on this list of classics for various reasons, but it just didn’t click with me.
Trailer below.
Also this week: Jeremy Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
I thought it was really interesting how she turns out to be a backstabbing b#*ch, (Eve), but you really don’t see it at first. Very well done, although a little slow at first.