All About Eve [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Overview

"Based on the story The Wisdom of Eve by Mary Orr, All About Eve is an elegantly bitchy backstage story revolving around aspiring actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). Tattered and forlorn, Eve shows up in the dressing room of Broadway mega-star Margo Channing (Bette Davis), weaving a melancholy life story to Margo and her friends. Taking pity on the girl, Margo takes Eve as her personal assistant. Before long, it becomes apparent that naïve Eve is a Machiavellian conniver who cold-bloodedly uses Margo, her director Bill Sampson (Gary Merill), Lloyd's wife Karen (Celeste Holm), and waspish critic Addison De Witt (George Sanders) to rise to the top of the theatrical heap. Also appearing in All About Eve is Marilyn Monroe, introduced by Addison De Witt as ""a graduate of the Copacabana school of dramatic art."" This is but one of the hundreds of unforgettable lines penned by writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the most famous of which is Margo Channing's lip-sneering admonition, ""Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night."" All About Eve received 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture."

Product Details

Release Date:	11/26/2019
UPC:	0715515237710
Original Release:	1950
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Language:	English
Time:	2:18:00

Special Features

4k digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack; Two Audio Commentaries from 2010, one featuring actor Celeste Holm, Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's on Christopher Mankiewicz, and author Kenneth L. Geist; the other featuring author Sam Staggs; All About Mankiewicz, a feature-length documentary from 1983 about the director; Episodes of the Dick Cavett Show from 1969 to 1980 featuring actors Bette Davis and Gary Merrill; New interview with costume historian Larry McQueen; Hollywood Backstories: "All About Eve," a 2001 documentary featuring interviews with Davis and others about the making of the film; Documentaries from 2010 about Mankiewicz's life and career; "The Wisdom of Eve," the 1946 short story on which the film is based, and its real-world inspiration; and a real-life Sarah Siddons Society based on the film's fictional organization; Radio adaptation of the film from 1951; Promotion for the film featuring Davis; Plus: An essay by critic Terrence Rafferty and "The Wisdom of Eve

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Bette Davis	Margo Channing
Anne Baxter	Eve Harrington
Gary Merrill	Bill Sampson
George Sanders	Addison De Witt
Celeste Holm	Karen Richards
Hugh Marlowe	Lloyd Richards
Thelma Ritter	Birdie Coonan
Marilyn Monroe	Miss Casswell
Gregory Ratoff	Max Fabian
Barbara Bates	Phoebe
Walter Hampden	Aged Actor
Randy Stuart	Girl
Craig Hill	Leading Man
Leland Harris	Doorman
Barbara White	Autograph Seeker
Eddie Fisher	Stage Manager
William Pullen	Clerk
Claude Stroud	Pianist
Eugene Borden	Frenchman
Helen Mowery	Reporter
Steven Geray	Captain of Waiters,Actor
Bess Flowers	Well-Wisher
Ed Fisher	Stage Manager
Alfred Newman	Composer

Technical Credits

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Joseph L. Mankiewicz	Director,Screenwriter
Fred Sersen	Special Effects
Darryl F. Zanuck	Producer
W.D. Flick	Sound/Sound Designer
Roger Heman	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

A skewering satire of the theatre world, All About Eve entertains while it eviscerates. This is a film that really does have it all: Joseph L. Mankiewicz's sure-handed direction and gloriously poisonous screenplay, celluloid diva Bette Davis at her disdainful best, uniformly excellent performances from the supporting cast, and costumes that further demonstrate that designer Edith Head did indeed give good wardrobe. The fact that All About Eve swept the 1950 Academy Awards speaks to all of these qualities, but a great deal of the film's historical and cinematic importance lies in its content. For years, Broadway had taken aim at Hollywood, and now the tables were turned with considerable venom. Mankiewicz's script summoned into existence a whole array of painfully recognizable theatre types, from the aging, egomaniacal grand dame to the outwardly docile, inwardly scheming ingenue to the powerful critic who reeks of malignant charm. The fact that the film succeeds in delivering such a wallop without descending into bitchy tirade makes it an enduring testament to the powers of elegant satire, further proof that there is no more dangerous combination than wit and a typewriter.