The Lady Eve

Fruitman Reviews: Top 52 Movies of all Time. #52: The Lady Eve Date: 17-01-2021 Author: Tim Yeend Genre: Comedy, Romance Metacritic Score: 96 Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes Original Release: March 21st 1941 General Review: Being only the second black and white film I have ever seen I wasn’t sure what the expect. Romance films are not normally my cup of tea but I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. I found myself genuinely interested in the characters. Throughout the movie I was enthralled with finding out how it would end, however the ending was somewhat of a letdown. The Good: The acting by both the main actors (Barbara Stanwyck as the titular lady eve and Henry Fonda as the love interest Charles) was fantastic. The rest of the cast was also good but the main two were superb in their ability to portray emotions both in their voice, facial expressions and body language all throughout the movie. The story, a very well written story that kept me entertained from start to finish, there were never any dull or boring parts. The Bad: Charles the naïve fool, for someone who is supposedly a scientist he is very naïve and lacks critical thinking. But I guess a pretty lady supposedly makes even the smartest man a fool. The ending, without spoiling the storyline I cannot go into much detail as to why I didn’t like the ending but it seemed a little bit rushed and unbelievable. Being spoilt growing up in the current era of films with modern technology made this film difficult to watch at certain times, mostly in the scenes with more rapid movement, or the zoomed-out scenes. It feels a bit harsh to bring this up but it did detract from the overall experience for myself Final Thoughts: A romance, come revenge story line with superb acting and an enthralling story with interesting characters, with some scenes that truly made me laugh. I was pleasantly surprised that a movie from the 40s portrayed a woman as an intelligent, interesting and lead character. If you are a fan of romance movies I highly recommend giving it a watch. Score: 7.5 out of 10 pineapples!

After spending a year in isolation, studying snakes(?!), the handsome young heir of a brewing fortune (Henry Fonda) boards a ritzy ocean liner and immediately becomes a target for every available woman onboard. Included amongst these lascivious lasses is a real black widow: Jean (Barbara Stanwyck), the daughter of a notorious hustler and con man, whose apple doesn’t fall far from her father’s tree. Though she easily nets her target, Jean soon becomes the victim, won over by the gent’s earnest demeanor and then dumped when he learns of her duplicity. You know what they say about hell’s fury and a woman’s scorn? That goes double when the gal has no ethics to start with. I thought we were really cooking when the couple sat down for a gimmicked game of cards with dear ol’ dad, midway through the first act. By this time, Jean has fallen head over heels, and while nice guy Charles is completely oblivious to the shady goings-on, the two seasoned scam artists work to constantly one-up and out-trick each other. The old man still wants to milk this **** dry, but the daughter has pity, so they each use every trick in the book to get their way in a crafty, entertaining series of palmed aces and trick decks. That’s really the only time we see the core of these characters - essences of black, white and sorta-grey - plain as day, in a playful, unique, interesting conundrum. It’s soon left behind in favor of simpler tricks and strained conceits. I don’t know if it was the soft storyline, the unconvincing romance(s) or the outdated humor, but this just wasn’t for me. Judging by the film’s rich array of accolades, clearly I’m in the minority. I’m not immune to comedies of this era - His Girl Friday arrived a year earlier, and I love its rapid repertoire of sharp zingers - but about 95% of these punchlines land flat, and the few that do register are merely enough to merit a light scoff or brow-furrowing. Not only do the laughs come up short, so does the romantic chemistry. We don’t really see this couple fall in love, per se, they just blink and become devoted to one another. This happens several times as their paths cross, mingle, collide and split apart, before finally reaching a measure of unmerited accord at the last stop. Love can be a funny thing, cooking despite a clash of ingredients, but this one is almost impossible to comprehend. Is this guy really such a sap? Does this girl have selective amnesia? Why are they suddenly a hot ticket again? Some (most) might see this as a comedy classic. I couldn’t get past the washy cast, whiffed gags and wasted potential.