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The Lady Eve
My first exposure to the genius that was Preston Sturges was a delicious comic romance called The Lady Eve that features a sharp screenplay and a cast of pros at the top of their game.
Henry Fonda plays Charles, a milquetoast who has a passion for studying snakes and is also the heir apparent to a brewery empire, who is targeted by a trio of card sharks and con artists who plan to bilk the guy out of as much money as he can. The plan gets messy when the female member of the trio, Jean (Barbara Stanwyck) falls for Charles and he falls just as hard as she does. Unfortunately, Charles learns who Jean really is and they decide to part ways. Jean feels burned and wants revenge on Charles and shows up at the home of Charles' family pretending to be a titled English aristocrat named Lady Eve in an attempt to torment Charles, but he just falls in love with her all over again.
Sturges has constructed a slapstick comic romance that hearkens back to comedies like Bringing up Baby where the lady is holding all the cards (so to speak) and easily manipulates the man into one embarrassing situation after another. Of course, there is a plot point here and there that I found it difficult to reconcile. I had a hard time accepting that once Jean arrives at Charles' home pretending to be Lady Eve, that he actually believes lady Eve is who she says she is. The only difference between Jean and Eve is an English accent and it made no sense that Charles didn't recognize her. I was sure he was just pretending not to recognize her but that turned out not to be the case. Eve's confession scene to Charles on their honeymoon train was absolutely hysterical.
The chemistry between Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda is a big plus here and loved the way Fonda played the comedy with such a straight face, which made everything he did even funnier. I loved his pratfalls during the dinner party that caused him to change clothes three times. Charles Coburn and Eugene Pallette steal every scene they're in as Jean and Charles' fathers. The film also features first rate set direction and Stanwyck is draped in some gorgeous drop dead gowns by the one and only Edith Head. Despite some minor plot holes and some dated elements, this one still holds up.
My first exposure to the genius that was Preston Sturges was a delicious comic romance called The Lady Eve that features a sharp screenplay and a cast of pros at the top of their game.
Henry Fonda plays Charles, a milquetoast who has a passion for studying snakes and is also the heir apparent to a brewery empire, who is targeted by a trio of card sharks and con artists who plan to bilk the guy out of as much money as he can. The plan gets messy when the female member of the trio, Jean (Barbara Stanwyck) falls for Charles and he falls just as hard as she does. Unfortunately, Charles learns who Jean really is and they decide to part ways. Jean feels burned and wants revenge on Charles and shows up at the home of Charles' family pretending to be a titled English aristocrat named Lady Eve in an attempt to torment Charles, but he just falls in love with her all over again.
Sturges has constructed a slapstick comic romance that hearkens back to comedies like Bringing up Baby where the lady is holding all the cards (so to speak) and easily manipulates the man into one embarrassing situation after another. Of course, there is a plot point here and there that I found it difficult to reconcile. I had a hard time accepting that once Jean arrives at Charles' home pretending to be Lady Eve, that he actually believes lady Eve is who she says she is. The only difference between Jean and Eve is an English accent and it made no sense that Charles didn't recognize her. I was sure he was just pretending not to recognize her but that turned out not to be the case. Eve's confession scene to Charles on their honeymoon train was absolutely hysterical.
The chemistry between Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda is a big plus here and loved the way Fonda played the comedy with such a straight face, which made everything he did even funnier. I loved his pratfalls during the dinner party that caused him to change clothes three times. Charles Coburn and Eugene Pallette steal every scene they're in as Jean and Charles' fathers. The film also features first rate set direction and Stanwyck is draped in some gorgeous drop dead gowns by the one and only Edith Head. Despite some minor plot holes and some dated elements, this one still holds up.