The Lady Eve (1941)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Preston Sturges

Writers:

Monckton Hoffe (story) and
Preston Sturges (writer)

Release Date:

25 February 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Eve Sure Knows Her Apples !

Plot:

Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike meets con-artist Jean Harrington on a ship...

Plot Keywords:

Con Artist | Snake | Lady | Ship | Professor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Eugenia 'Jean' Harrington
Henry Fonda	...	Charles 'Charlie' Poncefort Pike
Charles Coburn	...	'Colonel' Harry Harrington
Eugene Pallette	...	Horace Pike
William Demarest	...	Ambrose 'Muggsy' Murgatroyd
Eric Blore	...	Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith
Melville Cooper	...	Gerald
Martha O'Driscoll	...	Martha - the Maid
Janet Beecher	...	Janet Pike
Robert Greig	...	Burrows - Pike's Butler
Dora Clement	...	Gertrude
Luis Alberni	...	Emile, Pike's chef
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Abdullah Abbas	...	Man With Potted Palm (uncredited)
Norman Ainsley	...	Sir Alfred's Servant (uncredited)
Mary Akin	...	Passenger on Boat (uncredited)
Sam Ash	...	Husband on Boat (uncredited)
Harry A. Bailey	...	Lawyer (uncredited)
Bobby Barber	...	Ship's Waiter with Toupee (uncredited)
Ambrose Barker	...	Mac (uncredited)
Wilson Benge	...	First Butler at Party (uncredited)
Wilda Bennett	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Evelyn Beresford	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Al Bridge	...	First Steward (uncredited)
Jan Buckingham	...	Passenger on Boat (uncredited)
Marcelle Christopher	...	Daughter on Boat (uncredited)
Jimmy Conlin	...	Third Steward (uncredited)
Georgie Cooper	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Nell Craig	...	Boat Passenger at Railing (uncredited)
Mrs. Gardner Crane	...	Passenger on Boat (uncredited)
Eva Dennison	...	Mother on Boat (uncredited)
Harry Depp	...	Man With Glasses on Boat (uncredited)
Helen Dickson	...	Mother on Boat (uncredited)
Pauline Drake	...	Social Secretary (uncredited)
Robert Dudley	...	Husband on boat (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Tailor in Montage (uncredited)
Betty Farrington	...	Mother on Boat (uncredited)
Bess Flowers	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Ray Flynn	...	Lawyer (uncredited)
Almeda Fowler	...	Mother on Boat (uncredited)
Kenneth Gibson	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Alfred Hall	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Eddie Hall	...	Chauffeur (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
John Hartley	...	Young Man on Boat (uncredited)
Arthur Hoyt	...	Lawyer at Phone in Pike's Office (uncredited)
Arthur Stuart Hull	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Mitchell Ingraham	...	Passenger on Boat (uncredited)
Sheldon Jett	...	Sunbatheron Ship (uncredited)
Jack W. Johnston	...	Lawyer (uncredited)
Richard Kipling	...	Father on Boat (uncredited)
Bertram Marburgh	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Wanda McKay	...	Daughter on Boat (uncredited)
George Melford	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Torben Meyer	...	Mr. Clink, Purser (uncredited)
Esther Michelson	...	Wife on Boat (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Diner on Ship (uncredited)
Frank Moran	...	Bartender at Pike's Party (uncredited)
Ella Neal	...	Daughter on Boat (uncredited)
Joseph North	...	Second Butler at Party (uncredited)
Barbara Pepper	...	Lady Wrestler Type on Ship (uncredited)
Jean Phillips	...	Sweetie (uncredited)
Victor Potel	...	Second Steward (uncredited)
Frances Raymond	...	Old Lady on Boat (uncredited)
Jack Richardson	...	Father of Girl on Board (uncredited)
Suzanne Ridgeway	...	Diner on Ship (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Husband on Boat (uncredited)
Ronald R. Rondell	...	Diner on Ship (uncredited)
Harry Rosenthal	...	Piano Tuner (uncredited)
Reginald Sheffield	...	Professor Jones (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Ship's Officer (uncredited)
Julius Tannen	...	Lawyer (uncredited)
Dorothy Vernon	...	One of Pike's Cooks (uncredited)
Walter Walker	...	Sparky (uncredited)
Robert Warwick	...	Passenger on Boat (uncredited)
Pat West	...	Ship's Bartender (uncredited)
Gayne Whitman	...	Party Guest (uncredited)

Directed by
Preston Sturges

Writing credits
Monckton Hoffe		(story)
Preston Sturges		writer

Produced by
Paul Jones	....	producer
Buddy G. DeSylva	....	producer (uncredited)
Albert Lewin	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Phil Boutelje		(uncredited)
Charles Bradshaw		(uncredited)
Gil Grau		(uncredited)
Sigmund Krumgold		(uncredited)
John Leipold		(uncredited)
Leo Shuken		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Victor Milner

Film Editing by
Stuart Gilmore

Art Direction by
Hans Dreier
Ernst Fegté

Costume Design by
Edith Head

Makeup Department
Wally Westmore	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Don Johnson	....	sound
Harry Lindgren	....	sound

Animation Department
Leon Schlesinger	....	producer: title sequence (uncredited)

Music Department
Sigmund Krumgold	....	musical director

Other crew
Edwin Gillette	....	secretary: Mr. Sturges (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1941) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• Criterion Collection, The (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• 4 Front Video (2005) (UK) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• M.P.E.A. (1949) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Paramount (1946) (France) (theatrical)

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Sweden:15 | South Korea:12 (2004) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Preston Sturges wrote the script in Reno, Nevada, while awaiting his third divorce.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Eve is presented by her Uncle at the party, she is referred to as "Lady Sidwich", but her actual title is "the Lady Eve Sidwich".

Quotes:

Charles Pike: You're certainly a funny girl for anybody to meet who's just been up the Amazon for a year.
Jean Harrington: Good thing you weren't up there two years.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Thunderstorm Music

Clever Sturges comedy and very, very funny...

I don't know how I missed seeing this until now, but tonight I watched THE LADY EVE unfurl on TCM and took notice of how great the chemistry was between BARBARA STANWYCK and HENRY FONDA. And even more so, how fantastic their ability with screwball comedy had to be in order to make their characters as believable as they are.

Fonda, especially, impressed me with his honestly naive interpretation of a man without guile. He seemed totally hoodwinked by Stanwyck's con artist, even in those relentless close-ups that captured every expression on his Honest Abe face. Stanwyck, of course, had a role tailored to her abilities and was at the top of her form as an actress.

I would have liked a better role for Melville Cooper who is somewhat wasted in his rather thankless supporting role but Charles Coburn, William Demarest and Eric Blore have no such trouble with full-bodied character parts.

Sturgess obviously is a master of long takes--and proves it again in his seduction scene where Stanwyck toys with Fonda's hair as she drapes herself across him, a spider spinning her web. Her best moment is the scene in the dining room where she uses her make-up mirror to make a running commentary on all the women who are ogling the rich catch (Fonda) while he becomes aware of the female attention. Although Fonda's pratfalls are painfully real, Sturges lets them occur a little too frequently. Demarest too has his share of falls--as he did in that other Sturges masterpiece, THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK.

Fonda's performance ranks with his mild professor in THE MALE ANIMAL. As for Stanwyck, her professionalism has never been more solid. She was nominated in 1941 for Best Actress in BALL OF FIRE but she is equally impressive in her dual role assignment here.