|
Post by Techguy on Jun 12, 2006 2:50:02 GMT -5
It's the wee small hours of Monday morning where I am, so I suppose I'll launch the discussion thread.
My first observation is the common link with our movie from last year "Some Like It Hot" and that's the appearance of Marilyn Monroe, albeit in an earlier shorter role as Miss Casswell here in AAE.
Second, Addison DeWitt gets the ball rolling with his voice-over commentary of the opening scene, setting the stage for viewers as to why we're here watching Eve Harrington get her award. His droll comment about the earlier "minor" awards for writing and directing really struck a chord, as is his observation that the function of writers and directors is to merely construct the tower so that audiences could applaud--and worship?--the brightest lights that shine on top of it. What a thing for Joseph Mankiewicz to have Addison say, perhaps remarking about the perception of his (Mankiewicz's) own role as screenwriter and director of AAE?
Later in the film, Mankiewicz has Lloyd Richards rage against this perception with his outburst to Margo Channing: "It's time the piano realized it didn't write the concerto!" and other statements about longing to be able to write a play with the actors saying the words the way he, the playwright, intended them to be said.
I also caught the Shakespearean references this time around, to "Macbeth" with the "strutting and fretting about the stage" line and also to "Julius Caesar" with the "evil that men do" remark.
Viewing AAE this time around, I became firmly convinced Addison wanted Eve to belong to him because he wanted to be able to control someone who was intelligent as well as cold and ambitous as he was. I think he had grown tired of the vapid trophy wannabe starlets like Miss Casswell, and decided to use Eve's own guile and manipulations against her to get the upper hand. Addison is absolutely correct when he confronts Eve in the New Haven CT suite, telling her they were alike, contemptuous of humanity, incapable of loving or being loved. Addison wanted to be able to control someone like Eve, someone so unlike Miss Casswell, and so he did, brilliantly and completely in a tour-de-force performance by George Sanders.
One more thought before I hand the ball over to others for their comments. Prior to this viewing, I felt Margo's giving up the role of Cora so it could be played more appropriately by a younger woman was an act of surrender to age but now I feel differently. Now I believe Margo was finally able and willing to give up her obsession with age and not look to playing young women roles as a way of escaping or denying where she had arrived at in her personal and professional life. Now I feel Margo is finally liberated, and I felt good about her moment of self-discovery and also for finally being able to recognize it.
ETA: My local Borders store has AAE on DVD in stock, priced at $12.99. I bought my copy there (there are bonus extras on it, including a "Making of..." documentary originally shown on AMC). With my Borders membership discount, I think I paid something like $9 for it, which beats going the eBay route and getting a used copy for about the same amount.
|
|
|
Post by Sirenna on Jun 12, 2006 8:22:59 GMT -5
Interesting points, Techguy!
I think Eve never realised until Addison blackmails her that the fame and adulation she so desparately sought was going to be as much her prison as her poverty-stricken, abusive childhood was.
I absolutely loved watching Marilyn Monroe here. Even in this, one of her earliest roles, where she is essentially playing herself, a 'starlet' to use a term of the time period, she is mesmerizing and so approachable and humourous, even though she is such a raving beauty. Bette Davis and Anne Baxter are also beauties but, especailly, Bette, they would scare me, at first, if I had to talk to them! She played herself with grace and wit.
|
|
|
Post by janetcatbird on Jun 13, 2006 9:15:58 GMT -5
I watched this with Mom, and whenever Eve went into her schpiel we would roll our eyes and make retching noises! Mom picked up on stuff I missed, like the piano playing "Stormy Weather" during the dinner party. I personally loved "The Devil's Disciple" as the play marquee right before the audition. Of all the characters I really stuck with Karen, Lloyd's wife. Addison's narration at the beginning ("should never have been any closer to the stage than center seat, row E") made me expect a manipulative, ambitious woman who didn't know her limits. But actually, she seemed to have a level head on her shoulders. Sure, she loved the theatre and her husband was a playwright, but she certainly didn't have the Lady Macbeth thing going on. She was a loyal friend to Margo, a supportive wife for Lloyd, but not in a wimpy pushover way; she also seemed to have a grip on reality ("Don't run out of adjectives, dear."). I had trouble understanding her near melting for Eve during the ladies' room chat (for whatever reason it seemed as if she was softening before Eve went into blackmail mode), but everybody makes mistakes. Oh well, maybe I just feel for the character, since I can relate pretty well to "that helplessness you feel when you have no talent to offer." Oh, the snark. Did anyone else think that the whole "music and fire...kazoos and sparklers" thing is just a perfect line for Eames to whip out at some point? I thought of our own CI episode "Unrequited" a couple times. Favorite lines, and some of the responses my Mom and I had: - Bertie: "Next to a tenor, a wardrobe lady is the touchiest figure in showbusiness."
Hee! So I'm an alto who's been in choir too long, this was just funny.
- Bertie: "What a story...everything except the bloodhounds snapping at her hind end."
Thelma Ritter was terrific as Bertie, though I wish they'd had her around more. Check out "Rear Window", she's great.
- Eve: "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Crawl up my ass and die!" (That was Mom.) At the party when Margo is getting annoyed.
- Eve: "Say something, Addison! 'Good job' or 'Attagirl Eve' but say something!"
" 'Skanky B***h' comes to mind!" (That was me, sorry!)
Bill was a good guy--loyal, loving, but not too terribly self absorbed. He knew when to let Margot fuss, but he also knew when to give her that "kick in the pants". Maybe my family is just terribly unsentimental, but we know the importance of staying grounded. The highest form of praise my Dad gave my aunt's husband back when they were dating was : "He's a good guy, I like him a lot. Plus, he won't put up with my sister's crap." Even the best of us have our faults. Yes, I figure when I get a significant relationship I need someone who won't put up with my crap--ain't I romantic? I think Bill started see through Eve earlier than he let on, but he did think Margot was overreacting. I got a kick out of the brush-off he gave Eve: "Score it as an incomplete forward pass." While I'm not sure he meant it to be Meaningful and Symbolic, it does get across the idea of scheming, strategy, that competitive drive, not sappy sensibility. --Catbird PS: For a completely different side of Anne Baxter, check out "The Ten Commandments". She plays the Egyptian princess who loves Moses but winds up married to Ramses; reviewers have pointed out that she's the only one who seems to realize how silly and pompous the production is. It's so funny watching her with a smirk on her face, apparently trying not to laugh at it all. She and Yul Brynner are my two top reasons to watch that film!
|
|
|
Post by Techguy on Jun 14, 2006 17:27:53 GMT -5
I would have liked to have seen more of Thelma Ritter's Birdie. She is a hot pistol, never backing down from going toe-to-toe with Margo in the snark department or resisting the urge to apply a well placed verbal kick to Margo's rear when appropriate. I especially enjoyed Birdie's back-and-forth remark about Tyrone Power with Bill just before he leaves for Hollywood.
I also just now remembered one of my favorite Addison DeWitt quotes about Miss Casswell, referring to her as "a graduate of the Copacabana School of the Dramatic Arts."
Two other things I noticed about habits and topics now considered non-PC: one, how much SMOKING went on in these early movies. Not that I condone or endorse the habit, but some of these classic film stars really knew how to hold a ciggie and use it for effect. One of the best at it was Robert Mitchum, especially in his film noir appearances.
The second thing I noticed is that there is--or was--an apparent hierarchy in the world of fur coats. Based on the dialogue in AAE, most every fur is like a worn out housecoat when compared to sable. Which reminds me of another favorite Birdie-ism referrring to said furs: "The bed looks like a dead animal act."
|
|
|
Post by filmnoir5 on Jun 14, 2006 17:42:11 GMT -5
This was an excellent movie. If anyone watched this movie on DVD, I recommend listening to the commentary. I believe Celeste Holm participates. This is one of my favorite movies in black and white (others include The Hustler and Laura)
I just hope they don't make a remake of this great movie.
|
|
|
Post by madger on Jun 27, 2006 8:49:02 GMT -5
I watched this a couple of weeks ago, then watched it this weekend with commentary, which I found boring since it seemed to center around Joe Mankiewicz, I found myself trying to listen to the movie's dialogue over the commentary, so now I want to watch it again, they just don't write dialogue like that anymore, you can watch this movie a hundred times and still find something new and refreshing about it. You don't even have to watch it, just listen, it's beautiful. Berdie, of course, is my favorite, just imagine her and Eames! Ms Davis was magnificent, as herself, some people's personality is so strong, they can't really get away from it, Bette's seems to always seep through, somehow. I have to watch it again. madger
|
|
|
Post by Techguy on Jul 6, 2006 17:31:59 GMT -5
This thread seems to have quietly wound down. Is it possible we are done discussing AAE when we haven't even heard from some people who expressed an interest in it?
|
|
|
Post by SarahIvy on Jul 6, 2006 18:25:01 GMT -5
I duck my head in shame, Techguy! I have had a crazy hectic few weeks right in a row, and I don't think I've managed to watch a single movie. I'm off on a weekend trip tomorrow, but it's sitting right next to the tv and I'll get it watched when I get home, honest
|
|
|
Post by NikkiGreen on Jul 6, 2006 18:56:32 GMT -5
Sorry, man! Haven't had time to watch anything. Not even the last 3 or 4 episodes of CI.
|
|
|
Post by SarahIvy on Jul 17, 2006 4:04:52 GMT -5
Phew, not that this thread is all that lively anymore, but I FINALLY got to sit myself down with a cocktail (because it's just a movie that requires a cocktail on the rocks) and peacefully watch the whole thing. I also just read through all the great comments so far, so tomorrow when I'm a little more bright eyed and bushy tailed, I'll come and play
|
|
|
Post by SarahIvy on Jul 18, 2006 2:23:11 GMT -5
First I just have to say- this is such a wonderful and witty movie, I just love it. I hadn't seen it in years, not since I was a highschool drama student and we all would hang out and watch anything and everything about The Theatre and take ourselves much too seriously I adore Margot Channing. She is one of my alltime favorite characters, and Bette Davis' portrayal of her is so perfect. I think I adore her so much because she's so talented and clever and has so many people who care about her but her own self-destructive low self-esteem beats her down. I think many of us are a little like Margot, or know a Margot in our personal lives. I love watching her battle her demons and fail the whole first 3/4 of the movie...when she's turning on everyone after missing Claudia's audotion it's just painful to watch her play right into Eve's hands. Then to see her finally come to understand that she is more than just an aging actress and has worth and the potential for a much broader life than she had allowed herself to ever enjoy is so rewarding. It is absolutely chilling and at the same time so deeply satisfying when Eve gets her comeuppance from Addison. Watching her realize after all her manipulations that she's been had and that she's trapped is delicious. Oh, and all that wonderful dialogue! Birdie was so honest and hilarious, tossing the straight dope to Margot and cutting right through all Margot's BS. I loved how well those two knew and understood one another. Also LOVED Max the producer quipping dryly to Bill after Margot suggestively calls him to the pantry, "She loves me like a father....also, she's loaded." In part because I fear I've perhaps given people cause to say much the same thing about me Oh, another favorite was also Margot (though really I could just quote almost every line she had, they're all so fantastic)- "I admit I may have seen better days, but I'm still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut!" Hah! Today I looked over at Rufus, one of our dogs, who was looking overly woeful and grandly stated, "You're maudlin and filled with self-pity....you're MAGNIFICENT!" So what I'm trying to say is- excellent movie. I think I'll watch it again in a couple of weeks and just really lush out with all that witty banter.
|
|
|
Post by Sirenna on Sept 9, 2006 8:04:27 GMT -5
I've watched this movie several times now and I love it every time I see it.. I bought the DVD, you see. I just don't know where to take the discussion.
I still get a lot out of our movie nights even if we don't discuss. It makes me take a look at movies I don't get to rent often and because I take these things a bit too seriously, I only watch when there are minimal distractions so I really get to watch and absorb. It makes me realise how much I love a good story.
I hope we have another one soon.
|
|
|
Post by NikkiGreen on Sept 18, 2008 10:05:31 GMT -5
'This undated handout photo provided by the U.S. Postal Service shows the 42-cent commemorative postage stamp honoring screen legend Bette Davis featuring a portrait as she appeared in the 1950 film "All About Eve." The stamp will be released, Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008, in Boston. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/USPS'www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/article.en.do?pn=arts&articleID=2997494
|
|
|
Post by Patcat on Sept 18, 2008 11:47:23 GMT -5
So, does she have a cigarette or not?(g)
I love Bette Davis, and I love ALL ABOUT EVE. When I was a kid, I hoped I was adopted and actually belonged to someone like Margo Channing. I now realize that would've been it's own hell.
NPR broadcast a report on anniversary celebrations of Warner Brothers studios this morning, and the critic Richard Shickel commented that Bette Davis may not have been beautiful, but she knew how to act beautiful. (Personally, I think her looks went far beyond any conventional definition of beautiful.)
Patcat
|
|
|
Post by Sirenna on Sept 18, 2008 17:49:34 GMT -5
Margo Channings kid, eh - thatwould have been Whatever happened to Baby Jane
I say it's certainly a cigarette - airbrushed so non-cancerous. Ciggies in long holders are cool I have to admit and I'm a rampant anti-smoker.
She looks like she had serious game. The only person I can think of today who looks like that when they look into a camera is Madonna. Full-on like that with frank attitude. Most of the 'celebrity' women of today camouflage that look. They don't look full into the camera -usually a three quarter pose and they definitely hide that 'I dare you' look that Bette is famous for with some other, more benign expression - like coquesttishness.
|
|