12 Movies Challenge: 'All About Eve' (1950)

by Julian Spivey

Photo: 20th Century-Fox

It’s been more than 20 years since I fell in love with the art form of film, especially classic films. I can chalk it up to a slow summer during high school and Turner Classic Movies being on my television at home. But despite my love of classic films, there have still been some major blind spots in my film-watching resume—and one of the most unbelievable ones is that, after all these years, I had never seen a single Bette Davis movie. Yes, the Bette Davis that the American Film Institute had ranked as the second greatest Hollywood actress ever.

I knew I would be correcting that mistake this year when I set out to watch the 10 highest films on the AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films list, because perhaps Davis’s most famous performance ever as Margo Channing in writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “All About Eve” would be on my to-watch list.

“All About Eve” was ranked No. 16 on the AFI’s original list in 1998 and somehow fell a dozen spots to No. 28 on its 2007 list.

I’m not sure if “All About Eve” was the first of the “young ingénue attempts to take the star's spot” story, but it’s likely the greatest there has ever been or ever will be.

What’s unique about “All About Eve,” at least from my perspective as a classic film viewer who has mostly seen classics as led by men, is how great Mankiewicz was at writing female characters as Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter (to a lesser extent in a lesser role the film kind of forgets about) are all incredible, and all were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances.

Baxter plays the young ingénue, Eve Harrington, who makes both Margo and the audience believe that she genuinely loves Margo’s performances so much that she wants to help out in any way possible. Only Ritter’s Birdie, Margo’s maid, sees through this charade. The way Baxter plays the role so sweetly before eventually going full villain was truly fun to watch, as was Davis’s turn when she finally begins to catch on to what Eve is doing – especially her drunken party antics.

Davis and Baxter truly were both leads of the film and rightfully both nominated for Best Actress for the Oscars, which likely split the vote, leading to Judy Holliday winning for “Born Yesterday,” though Gloria Swanson, another nominee for “Sunset Boulevard,” not winning is a head-scratcher to me all these years later.

Another great aspect of “All About Eve,” probably due to Mankiewicz’s smart and snappy dialogue, is that it doesn’t feel as dated as many films of its era. It’s pleasant to watch, and all of the performers are at the top of their game.