Given that she throws tantrums, gets intoxicated, and pushes people away when she needs them the most, it's a wonder New York theater star Margo Channing has any true friends. But when Eve Harrington, Margo's young and innocent-seeming protégée, schemes to gain both the affection of Margo's friends and a starring role originally written for Margo, the actress discovers just who is in her corner--and who is not. Released in 1950, ALL ABOUT EVE's power radiates undimmed through the years. The role of aging stage star Margo Channing is considered by many to be the best of Bette Davis's career, as Davis reveals and conceals Margo's vulnerabilities with a skill seldom seen onscreen. Anne Baxter is also marvelous as the subtle Eve, whose glowing enthusiasm masks a cold, calculated ambition. Both actresses garnered Best Actress Oscar nominations, and the film in its entirety took 14 nominations, winning seven of them, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. George Sanders was awarded Best Supporting Actor for his biting portrayal of potent, nasty theater critic Addison DeWitt. Consistently listed among the best films of all time, director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ALL ABOUT EVE shouldn't be missed; the acting, writing, and directing are unequivocally brilliant.
An unforgettable, acerbic look behind the scenes of New York theater, ALL ABOUT EVE depicts the glory days, even as it reveals its denizens' naked ambition as they stand always-in-the-ready to topple the current talent and step into the limelight. Bette Davis mesmerizes as Margo Channing, leading dame of the New York stage until she is pushed aside by a fresh-faced fan who becomes her understudy, the duplicitous Eve (Anne Baxter). Eve's humble background and eager innocence fools all while she subtly digs in her claws, tearing Margo from her friends and colleagues as she desperately grasps her chance for stardom. Wit and sarcasm, though touched with pathos, reign supreme as the determined diva and diva-in-training duke it out. George Sanders as the viperish theater columnist is oily perfection, winning an Oscar for his portrayal. The film won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and Best Director and Best Screenplay prizes for director-writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Both Davis and Baxter were nominated for Best Actress Oscars for their superb
performances.
ALL ABOUT EVE is number 16 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies.
ALL ABOUT EVE was nominated for a record-setting 14 Academy Awards; it won seven.
ALL ABOUT EVE was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1990.
Excerpt: "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night."--Margo Channing (Bette Davis).
"That's all television is, dear--just auditions."--Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) to Miss Casswell (Marilyn Monroe)
"That I should want you at all suddenly strikes me as the height of improbability... you're an improbable person, Eve, but so am I. We have that in common. Also a contempt for humanity, an inability to love or be loved, insatiable ambition--and talent. We deserve each other." --DeWitt to Eve (Anne Baxter)
"The bed looks like a dead animal act."--Birdie (Thelma Ritter)
"What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end!"--Birdie
"I have lived in the theater as a Trappist monk lives in his faith. In it I toil not, nor do I spin. I am a critic and a commentator. I am essential to the theater--as ants to a picnic, as the boll weevil to a cotton field."--DeWitt
"Everybody has a heart--except for some people."--Channing
DVD Features:
2-Disc Set
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Mono - English, Spanish, French
Stereo - English
Disc 1: ALL ABOUT EVE - Theatrical Presentation
Additional Release Material:
Isolated Audio Track: Musical Score
Audio Commentary:
1. Celeste Holm - Star; Joseph L. Mankiewicz - Director; Ken Geist - Author/Film Biographer; Christopher Mankiewicz - Director's Son
2. Sam Staggs - Author/Film Historian
Disc 2: ALL ABOUT EVE - Supplemental Material
Additional Release Material:
Behind the Scenes: "AMC Backstory: ALL ABOUT EVE"
Bonus Footage: "MovieTone News: 1951 Academy Awards Honor Best Film Achievements, 1951 Hollywood Attends Gala Premiere of "All About Eve," Holiday Magazine Awards, Look Magazine Awards"
Comparisons: Restoration Comparison
Featurette:
1. "Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz"
2. "The Secret of Sarah Siddons"
Documentary:
1. "Joseph L. Mankiewicz: A Personal Journey"
2. "The Real Eve"
Trailers:
1. Bette Davis Promotion
2. Ann Baxter Promotion
3. Theatrical Trailer
Text/Photo Galleries:
Stills/Photos
Galleries:
1. Theatrical Pressbook Gallery
2. Advertising Gallery
Stars
Bette Davis: Oscar winning american actress, JEZEBEL, DANGEROUS
Anne Baxter: Oscar-winning actress, ALL ABOUT EVE
George Sanders: Oscar-winning actor, ALL ABOUT EVE
Celeste Holm: Oscar-winning American actress; GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT
Gary Merrill: American actor, ALL ABOUT EVE
Hugh Marlowe: American actor
Thelma Ritter: American actress, PILLOW TALK, ALL ABOUT EVE
Marilyn Monroe: American actress, GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES
Gregory Ratoff: Director/Actor
Barbara Bates: American Actress
Walter Hampden: American actor
Randy Stuart: American actress
Craig Hill: American Actor
Eddie Fisher: Crooner, married Debbie Reynolds, Liz Taylor; Carrie's Dad
Eugene Borden:
Steven Geray:
Director
Joseph L. Mankiewicz: American director
Producer
Darryl F. Zanuck: Studio Head, Producer, Source Writer, Director
Screenwriter
Joseph L. Mankiewicz: American director
Composer
Alfred Newman: Composer/Conductor/D.1970
Production Designer
Thomas Little:
Walter M. Scott: American Set Decorator
Editor
Barbara McLean: Editor, prestige pics for 20th Century Fox, late '30s-'50s
Costume Designer
Charles LeMaire: Costume Designer/Wardrobe Director, mid '30s-late '50s
Costume Designer
Edith Head: Oscar winning costume designer, THE STING
Director of Photography
Milton R. Krasner: American Director Of Photography, GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN
Production Designer
George Davis:
Production Designer
Lyle Wheeler: Art Director
Special Effects
Fred Sersen:
Makeup
Ben Nye: Makeup Artist
Review 1:
"...One of Hollywood's ultimate valentines to the Great White Way --...a valentine laced with poison..." -- Rating: A
Source: Entertainment Weekly
pp.68-70 05/12/1995
Review 2:
"[I]t's witty, literate, cruel, devastating."
Source: Uncut
p.139 05/01/2005
Review 3:
"It's hard to think of a more celebrated backstage drama in Hollywood history, and the script bristles with acerbic wit."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.86 04/01/2006
Review 4:
"...Davis was a character, an icon with a grand style..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.32 01/19/2001
Review 5:
"This acid-tongued grande dame of the theatah gave us our first glimpse of malignant narcissism and neediness run amok..."
Source: Premiere
p.71 04/01/2004
Review 6:
"...Line for quotable line, quite simply the best-written Hollywood movie ever..."
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.80 01/24/2003
Review 7:
5 stars out of 5 -- "[R]ousing and endlessly amusing....Acutely relevant in these days of transient celebrity."
Source: Empire
p.93 12/01/2007