LIBRARY RESEARCH PROJECT FOR TA7A(2414)COVERSHEET

NAME:____Heesu Shin________ ____

NAME OF PICTURE:________All About Eve__________

RELEASE DATE/YEAR: ____1950______ _____

Summary
Eve Harrington, played by Anne Baxter, is a young woman, who loves Margo Channing,
played by Bette Davis, a broadway celebrity. She attends every single broadway show that Margo is
in and stays outside of the theater in a trenchcoat, hoping to see Margo face to face one day.
Although she was outside the theater every time she was there, she didn't know anyone who could
lead her to Margo, until she met Karen Richard, played by Celeste Holm, who brings her to Margo's
dressing room. When Margo saw young and beautiful Eve, she instantly likes Eve. As for that, Eve
begins to work as an unofficial secretary for Margo. As time went by, Margo notices Eve's ultimate
goal, which is not to just work for Margo, but to replace Margo's spot. Margo's fear, and Eve's goal
was accomplished when Eve steals and plays Margo's role in the play, written by Karen's husband
Lloyd, played by Hugh Marlowe, and Bill Sampson, Margo's lover, played by Gary Merrill, was in.
Aside from Margo, the only one to see through Eve's faade is theater critic Addison DeWitt, played
by George Sanders, but he has reasons of his own to keep silent. On the day of the Hollywood
award banquet, Eve gives her speech, receives an trophy, and goes back to her apartment since she
was tired. When she does, she finds a young woman, Phoebe, played by Barbara Bates, waiting in
her room. Phoebe tells Eve that she is the president of one of Eve's fan clubs and that she took the
subway from Brooklyn in the hope of meeting Eve. When Eve goes to sleep, Phoebe tries on Eve's
cape and stands before the mirror, posing and bowing.

Comparison
The two reviews that I found were by two different authors, James Berardinelli (Reelviews)
and Abel Green (Variety). Both of the authors of the reviews suggests that this film is well made.
Berardinelli's review about All about Eve was mainly about how this movie was so successful. How
several characters in this film has been lead to. He says, For a number of reasons, some intentional
and some coincidental, All About Eve stands out as one of the best small-scale dramas ever
produced under the Hollywood system. He also says, However, considering how few people in
Hollywood have been involved in a production this good, it's no shame to say they never again
attained this kind of success. All About Eve is one of the '50s gems a worthy holder of the 1951
Best Picture Oscar and a motion picture that, because of its priceless dialogue and unforgettable
lead performance, will never lose its luster. From these quotes we can see that Berardinelli is
greatly uplifting this film. Similar to Berardinelli, Green also uplifts this film. She says, All About
Eve is a literate, adult film of the calibre that will do big league, big town business. In addition it
has all the elements for the general runs. The comparison between these two authors were hard to
find. This was because both of them were having positive comments about the film and had no
negative comments about it. As mentioned that Berardinelli has written about the outcomes of this
movie. For example he emphasizes that the writer of this film, Joseph Mankiewicz was honored by
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with an Oscar, several times throughout the
review. While Green's review contained mainly about how each character in this film has been well
adapted for the film. For example, she says, Miss Baxter plays a starry-eyed would be actress who,
by extraordinary design, finally meets Bette Davis, her histrionic idol.... Other comparison that I
found was from the quotes I've quoted, we can see that Berardinelli is talking about how successful
this film is. While Green is setting a boundary, saying that this film is for adults, have to be literate
to understand this film, and that this film is good for business. Overall, as mentioned over and over,
both of the authors were uplifting the details of this film. They were both positive about the movie
and recommends the movie.

Would I watch the film or no?

Although I am more of a fan of action and science fiction films, I personally think that I
would take my time to watch this film myself if I have the film. I have never seen this film, nor
heard of this film before, but to what I've read through the summary and the reviews from various
authors, I was able to tell that this movie is good and well made. Good and well made, to the point
where the writer of this film, Joseph Mankiewicz got an award in Oscar. Hearing this fact, I want to
see the film myself to discover if the film is really that good. Also I am not really a fan, but I like to
watch comedy films also. Therefore I think I would like this film, if I watch it, for it would contain
a lot of comedy. Before taking Film History 7A class, I thought that all black and white films,
including silent films, were all boring and would not be as interesting as the colored and noisy
films. But after taking this class, I noticed that I was wrong. I noticed that there are a lot of films
that were humorous and interesting films back in the days also. I think I would also recommend this
film to my friends, for all the reviews I found were positive about this film and this film's summary
sounds interesting. Kind of like Shakespeare, where characters hide their identity and replace it with
someone they already know. But overall, I would watch this film.

Bibliographic Information for Reviews

REVIEW #1: ___Reelviews

2014___
http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=838_

REVIEW #2: ___Variety

September, 13, 1950__
http://variety.com/1950/film/reviews/all-about-eve-4-1200416775/