FilmSkool — a free film school
All About Eve
From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.
1950 · Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz · 139 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 16 frames
Tagline
It's all about women... and their men!
Plot
At the Sarah Siddons Award ceremony honoring rising actress Eve Harrington, narration from acerbic theatre critic Addison DeWitt introduces the attendees and hints that there is more to Eve's story.
The narration switches to Karen Richards, wife of playwright Lloyd Richards. She recalls the previous October, when she introduced Eve to aging Broadway star Margo Channing, who was starring in a play written by Lloyd. Eve tells Karen, Lloyd, and Margo's maid Birdie that she followed Margo's last theatrical tour to New York City after seeing her perform in San Francisco. She tells of her impoverished childhood and losing her husband in the South Pacific during World War II, and, moved by Eve's story, Margo takes her into her home as her assistant. Eve quickly manipulates her way into Margo's life as both secretary and adoring fan.
Margo is also concerned about her romantic relationship with Bill Simpson, eight years her junior, who is directing a film in California. Without telling Margo, Eve arranges a midnight long-distance phone call from Margo to Bill on his birthday. Eve hopes the unexpected late call will show Bill that Margo forgot his birthday and also sends her own greeting. Margo realizes that Eve set her up and asks producer Max Fabian to hire Eve at his office to get her away from Bill; instead, Eve has Karen convince Fabian to make Eve Margo's understudy without Margo's knowledge.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Cinematography: Milton Krasner
- Edited by: Barbara McLean
- Music: Alfred Newman
- Produced by: Darryl F. Zanuck
Cast
- Bette Davis as Margo Channing
- Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington
- George Sanders as Addison DeWitt
- Celeste Holm as Karen Richards
- Gary Merrill as Bill Sampson
- Hugh Marlowe as Lloyd Richards
- Thelma Ritter as Birdie Coonan
- Gregory Ratoff as Max Fabian
- Marilyn Monroe as Miss Caswell
- Barbara Bates as Phoebe
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, French
- Studios: 20th Century Fox
- Budget: $1,400,000
- Box office: $8,402,553
- Themes: playwright, hollywood, black and white, relationship, insecurity, broadway, based on short story, broadway star, manipulative woman, stage struck
Own the film
FilmSkool earns a small commission from qualifying Amazon purchases, at no cost to you.
More by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
On this film
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.