All About Eve (1950)

 

All About Eve: Summary and initial thoughts

What would you do if you realized someone was trying to replace you, not just at your job, but in your whole life? Would you fight it? Give into it? Seek revenge?

These are the questions posed to aging Broadway actress Margo Channing (played by the iconic Bette Davis in one of her most recognizable film roles) when she realizes that the sweet young ingenue actress she has taken under her wing is actually a conniving, devious manipulator who will stop at nothing to take over Margo's life.

The film opens at the reception for an award ceremony, at which rising theatre star Eve Harrington is being honored. Through the memories of other characters, we learn how we got here.

At first, Eve (played completely on point by Anne Baxter) seems innocent enough, even cute, when she is introduced to Margot as her most ardent fan. She spins a harrowing story for the benefit of Margo, her boyfriend Bill, and their friends, playwright Lloyd Richards and his wife Karen: she grew up poor, you know, and her husband died in the war, it was truly awful.

She comes to Margo as a little lost puppy, and Margo falls for it hook, line, and sinker, hiring Eve as her assistant. It all starts to go downhill pretty fast.

Eve pulls out all the stops. 

She sets up Margo so it looks like she forgot Bill's birthday (but sends her own message so Bill knows Eve remembered). She worms her way into becoming Margo's understudy, convincing Karen to arrange for Margo to miss a performance so Eve can have her moment in the light. She tries to seduce Bill. She manipulates theater critic Addison DeWitt to write an unflattering article about Margo. She tries to blackmail Karen into forcing Lloyd to cast her in his next play. Then she tries to seduce Lloyd.

It is this last maneuver that backfires, just a bit. When she tells Addison that she has seduced Lloyd, he decides enough is enough, and that it's time for him to reveal his own secret.

You see, Addison has been doing some checking up on Eve, and he found a few (dozen) holes in her story: Eve Harrington is not her real name, she was never a fan of Margo's, she was never married, and the reason she wound up in New York is that she was paid (that's right, paid) to leave the town she lived in after an illicit affair.

Addison turns the tables on Eve, putting her on the receiving end of a blackmail campaign and forcing her to forget about marrying Lloyd.

Zoom forward: We're back at the award ceremony, and Eve graciously thanks Margo, Bill, Lloyd, and Karen for helping her get where she is. They have their poker faces on and couldn't care less.

Addison takes Eve home, where she finds a strange young woman in her home. This person is Phoebe, a devoted fan of Eve's who just wanted to meet her. Eve asks her to stay over rather than have to travel the long journey home all alone at night.

Phoebe, once Eve leaves her alone, puts on some of her clothes, picks up her award, and poses in front of a mirror.

It never ends.

Why is All About Eve on the National Film Registry?

All About Eve was added to the National Film Registry in 1990. It is one of the most iconic films of Old Hollywood and is largely considered one of the greatest American films of all time.

While it didn't win more than half of the awards it was nominated for at the Oscars (though it did win Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Costume Design, and Sound), it remains the only film in Oscar history to have four (yes, that's FOUR) female acting nominations (two for Best Actress, two for Best Supporting Actress). Dang. 

It has ranked on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies lists twice. Additionally, AFI named Eve Harrington its 23rd greatest villain and awarded a #9 spot on 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes to "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." (Tell me you haven't heard some variation of that line at some point in your life—go on. I dare you).

It has also been parodied and paid homage to ad infinitum (anyone who's seen Magic Mike should find the broad strokes of this story familiar).

But apart from its accolades and impact on media, All About Eve is significant for its thematic content. As the stars of the 1930s began to age (particularly the women, because in America, as we know, a woman's social worth is determined by her youth and beauty), more and more movies about this subject started to be made.

In fact, All About Eve came out in 1950, the same year that a very famous film about an aging silent film star (and played by an aging silent film star) was released: Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard. 

The primary differences between the films are in age (Norma Desmond is older than Margo Channing) and context (while Sunset Boulevard is a film about a film star, All About Eve focuses on the world of Broadway theatre). But thematically they are quite similar.

At the beginning of this post I asked what you would do if you were Margo Channing, and I gave you three options. Margo kind of tried all three. At first she fights it, seeking to distance herself from Eve. Then she tries to get revenge on Eve for attempting to seduce Bill by hiring Eve out to someone else. 

In the end, though, she has to come to terms with her reality. She is aging, and she is aging in an industry where youth is a premium asset. She ultimately decides not to seek any more young roles from Lloyd's plays.

I'd like to say she leans into the benefits of getting older, but it doesn't appear that way. Instead, there's a definite sense of loss on Margo's part, even as she prepares to marry Bill and diversify her life's makeup.

This is highly poignant. It was in 1950, and it is in 2026. People saw it then, and I hope people see it now.

Think what you want about the the implications of the ending or the (intentionally) campy quality of the film. It still highlights something significant in our culture, something that pokes at our values and asks us to look deeper. For that alone, I think it's worth a Registry slot.

Final thoughts on All About Eve

I really enjoyed this movie as both a commentary and just an interesting story. I know the full-circle ending may be a bit much for some people, but I like it. It doesn't come across as cloying or forced or over the top. It just feels like the only logical way the story could resolve itself.

For lovers of Old Hollywood or just an all-around great story, I'd recommend you give this one a watch.