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All About Eve is a 1950 American drama film, written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on the short story "The Wisdom of Eve," by Mary Orr.
The film stars Bette Davis as Margo Channing, a highly regarded but aging Broadway star. Anne Baxter plays Eve Harrington, a willingly helpful young fan who insinuates herself into Channing's life, ultimately threatening Channing's career and her personal relationships. George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill and Thelma Ritter also appear, and the film provided one of Marilyn Monroe's earliest important roles.
Praised by critics at the time of its release, All About Eve was nominated for 14 Academy Awards (a feat that was unmatched until the 1997 film, Titanic) and won six, including Best Picture. All About Eve was selected in 1990 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry and was among the first 50 films to be registered. All About Eve appeared at #16 on AFI's 1998 list of the 100 best American films.
PlotThe film begins at an awards dinner, where the newest and brightest star on Broadway, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), is being presented the Sarah Siddons award for her breakout performance as Cora in Footsteps on the Ceiling. The droll newspaper critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) observes the proceedings and, in a sardonic voice over, recalls how Eve's star rose as quickly as it did.
The film flashes back a year. Margo Channing (Bette Davis) is one of the biggest stars on Broadway, but despite her unmatched success, she is beginning to show her age
. After a performance one night, Margo's close friend Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), the wife of the play's author Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), meets a besotted fan, Eve Harrington, in the cold alley outside the stage door. Recognizing her from standing room (Eve claims to have seen every performance), Karen takes her backstage to meet Margo. Eve claims to be Margo's biggest fan who tells the group gathered in Margo's dressing room—Karen and Lloyd, Margo's lover Bill Sampson (Gary Merrill), and Margo's maid Birdie (Thelma Ritter)—that she followed Margo's theatrical tour to New York after seeing her in a play in San Francisco. Margo quickly befriends Eve, who willingly offers to assist Margo in small ways. Margo soon offers Eve a job as assistant, leaving Birdie, who dislikes Eve, feeling put out.
Eve begins working to supplant Margo, scheming to become her understudy and tricks Karen into sabotaging Margo's car, forcing her to miss a performance. Eve, knowing in advance she will go on, invites the city's theatre critics to the theatre that night. The night is a triumph. Eve makes a pass at Bill, but he rejects her. She then schemes to secure the role of Cora—despite the fact that Lloyd has written this new character for Margo—through blackmail, threatening to tell Margo of Karen's role in the car sabotage. Before she can put this plan in action, however, Margo announces to everyone's surprise that she will retire from the stage. Eve secures the role, and attempts to climb higher by using theater critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders). Just before the out-of-town opening of her play Eve faces DeWitt with her next plan—to marry Lloyd after he divorces his wife. DeWitt is infuriated that Eve has attempted to use him and reveals that he knows her back story is all lies. He blackmails her, forcing her to become his mistress in exchange for his silence.
Eve becomes a Broadway star and is presented with an award for her performance in the role of Cora. She arrives home and encounters an apparently besotted young fan Phoebe who had sneaked into her apartment. Phoebe begins to attend to Eve's needs. Phoebe answers the door to Addison who has returned with Eve's forgotten award. While Eve rests in the other room Phoebe tries on Eve's gown and poses in front of the mirror with her award, brilliantly foreshadowing Eve's own demise. When Phoebe steps up to the mirrors, they are average, several-faced mirrors that you would find in a well-appointed hotel room. But as the scene concludes, we find the mirrors have multiplied a thousand-fold to reveal endless reflections of Phoebe's future, a striking cinematographic achievement.
ProductionOriginThe story of All About Eve originated in an anecdote related to Mary Orr by actress Elisabeth Bergner. While performing in The Two Mrs. Carrolls during 1943 and 1944, Bergner allowed a young fan to become part of her household and employed her as an assistant, but later regretted her generosity when the woman attempted to undermine her. Referring to her only as "the terrible girl," Bergner related the events to Orr, who used it as the basis for her short story "The Wisdom of Eve." In the story, Orr gives the girl a more ruthless character and allows her to succeed in stealing the career of the older actress. Bergner later confirmed the basis of the story in her autobiography Bewundert viel, und viel gescholten (Greatly Admired and Greatly Scolded).
In 1949, Mankiewicz was considering a story about an aging actress and, upon reading "The Wisdom of Eve," felt the conniving girl would be a useful added element. He sent a memo to Darryl F. Zanuck saying it "fits in with an original idea mine and can be combined. Superb starring role for Susan Hayward." Mankiewicz presented a film treatment of the combined stories under the title Best Performance. He changed the
Zanuck was enthusiastic and provided numerous suggestions for improving the screenplay. In some sections he felt Mankiewicz's writing lacked subtlety or provided excessive detail. He suggested diluting Birdie Coonan's jealousy of Eve so the audience would not recognize Eve as a villain until much later in the story. Zanuck reduced the screenplay by about 50 pages and chose the title All About Eve from the opening scenes in which Addison DeWitt says he will soon tell "more of Eve ... All about Eve, in fact."[Staggs, Sam: All About "All About Eve". St Martin's Press, 2001. ISBN 0-312-27315-0]
Casting and characters.
Bette Davis was cast as Margo Channing after Claudette Colbert severely injured her back and was forced to withdraw shortly before filming began.[TCM
]Copyright Citations
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