Day 134: All About Eve (1950)

Movie #85 – All About Eve (1950) - 138 min, cert PG.

Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) is spotted hanging round a theatre after a performance. She says she is a huge fan of Margo Channing (Bette Davis) and watches every one of her performances. She is invited backstage to meet her idol and quickly becomes part of her entourage. Before long she is using her new position to acquire important contacts in the theatre business and understudies her idol in her latest play. Margo’s friends feel she needs bringing down a peg or two, so they deliberately stage an incident that keeps her away from a performance, allowing Eve to go on in her place. They also make sure several critics get invites for the performance, and they all love Eve. Before long it becomes apparent that Eve is quite a bit more scheming than anyone thought and she is trampling on all the people who helped her to further her own career.

I was quite tired when I watched this, and found it quite difficult to concentrate on the plot. I think this was my fault rather than the movies’, and actually found it quite enjoyable. More so than I was expecting. I thought the ending was clever, and wished I’d been a little more alert when I ‘d been watching the rest of it.

Score – 7/10. It may have been a little better than this, but it failed to properly grab me until quite near the end.

Next up is another Chaplin movie, The Great Dictator. Judging by the previous Chaplin movies I’ve had to endure, I’m dreading this one!