All About Eve, and Stage Door

Yep, it's another movie entry. Debbi and I went to the Stanford Theatre tonight to see a couple of films.

First was a film I've been intending to see for a couple of years: All About Eve (1950). This is the second Bette Davis film I've seen, the first being Now, Voyager, and she's still an unlikely-looking leading lady, although it's clear that it's her acting, not her appearance, that created her career.

Davis plays Broadway star Margo Channing, who stars in the great plays of Lloyd Richards (Hugh Marlowe), and is in love with director Bill Sampson (Gary Merrill). One night, Richards' wife Karen (Celeste Holm) befriends a hanger-on outside the theatre named Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), whom she introduces to Margo. Margo is charmed by Eve, and hires her as her personal assistant. Eve seems perfect: Kind, intelligent, competent. But Margo's old friend Birdie doesn't trust Eve; she thinks Eve is studying Margo to learn how to become an actress herself, and Margo soon becomes jealous of Eve, and thinks she's trying to steal Bill from her. Things become explosive when, in a practical joke to take Margo's ego down a notch, Eve ends up as Margo's understudy for her latest play, and ends up catching the eye of critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders).

Although Margo gets most of the best lines, and it's Davis' incendiary fire in the role which keeps the film moving, it's Anne Baxter as Eve who really makes the film work, when the film comes down to the end. Her cute looks and good-girl behavior are artfully morphed into something considerably different as the story progresses, which - even though we know it's coming, somehow (the film opens with a scene near the end of the story) - seems to sneak up on us, as we're glued to Margo's tirades and her friends' efforts to deal with her.

The film is well-acted all around, especially in Gary Merrill's earnestness as Bill, and George Sanders' affected upper-crust accent and snide manner. It's hard to envision the film better-cast than this. It even features a cameo by Marilyn Monroe, foreshadowing her comic turns in later films.

I admit I didn't enjoy the film quite as much as I might have. It seems like it's a bit too long, and Margo is conveniently shuffled off-stage as the film reaches its climax. Worse, a heart-wrenching dilemma for one of the major characters is conveniently solved with neither muss nor fuss. Still, it's quite good and well worth seeing.

The back half of the double-feature was another theatre film, the earlier Stage Door (1937). It focuses on a boarding house for young Broadway actresses seeking jobs in a dwindling market, and the intrusion into their life of the rich girl Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn) who wants to try her hand at acting. She ends up rooming with the sharp-tongued Jean Maitland (Ginger Rogers). The story is really a series of vignettes revolving around these two girls and a powerful but unscrupulous producer Anthony Powell (Adolphe Menjou) who tries to seduce more than one of them with offers of starring roles, to the detriment of the young Kaye (Andrea Leeds), who fervently dreams of starring in his latest play.

The film is classic Hepburn, as she portrays her usual part of the intelligent and independent woman who manages to bend everyone around her to her (fortunately benevolent) will. All smiles and good-natured wit, I'll admit I love watching Hepburn in a good script. She's worth the price of admission all by herself.

Ginger Rogers is an interesting counterpoint to Hepburn, as her style tends to be more acerbic; she's cute as a button, but also strong-willed and a bit sour in her outlook. The two of them make an entertaining pair, but their characters don't really effectively dovetail to allow for much interplay, which seems like a missed opportunity.

Andrea Leeds completes the main trio, and she's also rather disconnected from her two co-stars, playing the role of the downtrodden Kaye dreamily and serving more as an important motivation for Hepburn's character late in the film, rather than having a solid story arc all her own.

Phyllis Kennedy's (uncredited) turn as the housekeeper at the boarding house, Hattie, is also notable for her sheer enthusiasm, as is the presence of a very young Lucille Ball among the girls of the house.

So Stage Door isn't a great film, but as I said, I enjoy watching Hepburn, and the script crackles with non-stop humor for much of its running time (sometimes a little too much humor; the dialogue is occasionally hard to keep up with!). Worth a look if you're looking for a comedy to watch one evening.