Barbara Stanwyck Henry Fonda Charles Coburn Eugene Pallette William Demarest Eric Blore Melville Cooper Martha O'Driscoll Janet Beecher Robert Greig
Photography:
Black and White
Cinematography:
Victor Milner
Distributed By:
Paramount Pictures
Release Date:
February 25, 1941
Runtime:
94 minutes
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Budget:
$660,000
The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.
Why It Rocks
The film arose from a story by Irish writer Monckton Hoffe, but it was also partially based on the director's own life.
Sturges had firsthand knowledge of the world he depicted in his scripts as an insider, genuinely liking the vastly constrasting characters in his stories.
While he kept a few plot elements from Hoffe's story, Sturges basically wrote an entirely new script for what became The Lady Eve. Basically all he kept in was the concept of a woman disappointed in love who poses as someone else to get revenge on the man. Here a sassy resourceful con artist is planning to trap a young millionaire.
With Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda as the leads, their powerful performances really make the project shine. Especially with Stanwyck being one of the world's highest-paid actresses at the time. She provides a great sense of joy and spontaneity for her role and Jean Harrington became a signature role of hers.
Charles Coburn and William Demarest also provide memorable performances
Breathless pacing is a key aspect of a lot the film, but it's more also open and accessible to his audience with lowly pratfalls, wispy allusions and convoluted puns. It's more than what Sturges' peers would have done. During a medium shot where a horse threatens to knock Pike out of the frame, the moment's interrupted by a piece from "With The Wind And The Rain In Your Hair", a best-selling pop tune of the time.
There's memorable dialogue, and the director's trademark screwiness. However, the film's jokes are more than jokes, as its snake symbolism is pushed as far as it could, leading to a stateroom scene that pushed the limits of the Production Code.
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