All About Eve

Steyn Online ^ | 11 Jan 2020 | Kathy Shaidle

[Rummyfan]

I posted this on Facebook last year:

"I get over a thousand TV channels if you count my Roku. I have a Criterion Channel subscription, a bunch of DVDs still in their shrink wrap, and a pile of 'to read' books.

"So of course because it's on TCM (again), what I'm doing is watching All About Eve for probably the 30th time. #Loser."

My favorite reply was:

"Kathy, I'd watch All About Eve if my house was on fire."

2020 marks the 70th anniversary – yes, 70th -- of the film's 1950 release.

Is there anything new to say about this record-Oscar-nominated story of female ambition, desire and friendship on mid-century Broadway, widely regarded as the greatest screenplay ever filmed?

[Rummyfan]

[Steely Tom]

[Cecily]

Addison DeWitt - nobody’s fool

Bill Sampson - nobody’s fool

Lloyd Richards - sap

[leaning conservative]

A truly great movie. Bette Davis did the don’t screw with me thing better than anyone!

[John Milner]

One day while taking the trash down to the community dumpster I noticed a box of VHS tapes sitting next to it. All classics from the 30’s-60’s. About half were unopened.

Since I have a combination VHS/DVD player I thought, “Why not? I think I’d like to watch these films.”

One was All About Eve. My oldest brother was visiting (he’s a big movie buff) so I broke the seal on the tape and we settled in to watch.

Damned if about 2/3 of the way through the tape stopped and refused to play. Could not ever get it to finish. Obviously a manufacturing error. So to this day I’ve never seen it all the way through.

What’s stopping me? Nothing, but I just need to get it a priority, I suppose.

[BTerclinger]

I'm more of a "Lady Eve" fan.

[Rummyfan]

That’s a favorite of mine too! Stanwyck and Fonda are great.

[BTerclinger]

I’ll have to watch All About Eve again. Last time I watched it I was very young and didn’t get much of anything.

[Sans-Culotte]

Kathy Shaidle is in error about how the Blu-ray of All About Eve reveals more of Bette Davis' face than was meant to be revealed. A 4K scan of the film elements will only reveal what has always been there in the original film. She is correct that she is seeing more detail than she's seen on early TV broadcasts, VHS and even DVD releases. But the original 35mm film on the silver screen would have had all that detail in 1950. I always thought we were supposed to notice that Margo is a fading star alongside young Eve.

Her comments would be correct if she were commenting on early TV shows (like, say, The Twilight Zone) which, though filmed in 35mm were meant to be seen on a low-def TV screen of the late 50's or early 60's.

[zeugma]

Damned if about 2/3 of the way through the tape stopped and refused to play. Could not ever get it to finish. Obviously a manufacturing error. So to this day I’ve never seen it all the way through.

Back when I had to watch VHS tapes, my standard procedure on a new flick was to FF all the way through to the end, then rewind before the first time I watched it. This will avoid a lot of problems with improperly wound tape. Once you watch the flick, don't rewind when you get to the end. Next time you want to watch, rewind and then watch, and again, stop at the end and don't rewind.

Yeah, it's a pain, but makes the tapes last longer. You can actually visibly see that when you play the tape, that it winds much more cleanly if you look at the tape through the window.