All About Eve, perhaps the most extraordinary film of 1950, remains one of the great Hollywood movies of all time. The winner of six Academy Awards, All About Eve claimed Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director and Screenplay (Joseph L. Mankiewicz) and Best Supporting Actor (George Sanders). It’s out now with special features in an elaborate Blu-ray package bound in a hardcover booklet with text and photos. (The Cary Grant romance An Affair to Remember has been issued in a similar format.)
Although nominated, Bette Davis was edged out for the Best Actress Oscar. She gave, nonetheless, a pitch perfect performance. Davis played Margo Channing, an aging theater star with the sharpest tongue on Broadway (delivering one of the most acid-laced scripts from Hollywood’s classic years). She is rambunctious and headstrong, but vulnerable in her fear of losing everything, including her much younger director-boyfriend, to the relentless march of time. Her unease increases with the arrival of Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). Eve comes across as annoyingly earnest in her fandom for Margo, and then a bit weird in her desire to emulate the star’s every move. Everyone adores the seemingly idealistic Eveexcept Margo, who eyes her warily with jealousy and envy. As the story unfolds, Margo’s fears are justified.
The acting is wonderful throughout, especially George Sanders, who deserved his Oscar for playing Addison DeWitt, an erudite and venomously arrogant theater critic in an era when New York critics were masters in the universe of culture.
