THE LADY EVE [1941 / 2021] [The Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray] [USA Release]
Director Preston Sturges gives you the year’s HOTTEST screwball comedy picture!
Barbara Stanwyck sizzles, Henry Fonda bumbles, and Preston Sturges runs riot in one of the all-time great screwballs, a pitch-perfect blend of comic zing and swoon worthy romance. Aboard a cruise liner sailing up the coast of South America, Barbara Stanwyck’s conniving card sharp sets her sights on Henry Fonda’s nerdy snake researcher, who happens to be the heir to a brewery fortune. But when the con artist falls for her mark, her grift becomes a game of hearts — and she is determined to win it all. One in a string of matchless comedic marvels that Preston Sturges wrote and directed as part of a dazzling 1940’s run, this gender-flipped battle-of-wits farce is perhaps his most emotionally satisfying work, tempering its sparkling humour with a streak of tender poignancy supplied by the sensational Barbara Stanwyck at her peak.
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FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1941 National Board of Review, USA: Win: NBR Award for Top Ten Films. 1942 Academy Awards®: Nominated: Best Writing for an Original Story for Monckton Hoffe. 1994 National Film Preservation Board, USA: Win: National Film Registry for the film ‘THE LADY EVE.’
FILM FACT No.2: In 1956, the plot of ‘THE LADY EVE’ was recycled for the film ‘The Birds and the Bees’ starring George Gobel, Mitzi Gaynor and David Niven. Preston Sturges received a co-writer credit for the film, although he did not actually participate in the project. The plot was also employed as the model for Corrupting Dr. Nice, a 1997 science fiction novel by John Kessel involving time travel. ‘THE LADY EVE’ was presented as a Radio adaptation on the “Hollywood Star Time” on the 21st September, 1946, with Joan Blondell and John Lund in the starring roles.
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, Eric Blore, Melville Cooper, Martha O'Driscoll, Janet Beecher, Robert Greig, Dora Clement, Luis Alberni, Abdullah Abbas (uncredited), Norman Ainsley (uncredited), Mary Akin (uncredited), Sam Ash (uncredited), Harry A. Bailey (uncredited), Bobby Barber (uncredited), Ambrose Barker (uncredited), Wilson Benge (uncredited), Wilda Bennett (uncredited), Evelyn Beresford (uncredited), Al Bridge (uncredited), Tex Brodus (uncredited), Jane Buckingham (uncredited), Ken Carpenter (Trailer Narrator voice) (uncredited), (uncredited), (uncredited), (uncredited), (uncredited), Marcelle Christopher (uncredited), Jimmy Conlin (uncredited), Georgie Cooper (uncredited), Nell Craig (uncredited), Madge Crane (uncredited), Eva Dennison (uncredited), Harry Depp (uncredited), Helen Dickson (uncredited), Pauline Drake (uncredited), Robert Dudley (uncredited), Franklyn Farnum (uncredited), Betty Farrington (uncredited), Bess Flowers (uncredited), Ray Flynn (uncredited), Almeda Fowler (uncredited), Kenneth Gibson (uncredited), Laura Gile (uncredited), Alfred Hall (uncredited), Eddie Hall (uncredited), Sam Harris (uncredited), John Hartley (uncredited), Arthur Hoyt (uncredited), Arthur Stuart Hull (uncredited), Mitchell Ingraham (uncredited), Sheldon Jett (uncredited), Jack W. Johnston (uncredited), Richard Kipling (uncredited), Kay Koury (uncredited), Mary MacLaren (uncredited), Bertram Marburgh (uncredited), Wanda McKay (uncredited), George Melford (uncredited), Torben Meyer (uncredited), Esther Michelson (uncredited), Harold Miller (uncredited), Bert Moorhouse (uncredited), Frank Moran (uncredited), Ella Neal (uncredited), Joseph North (uncredited), Barry Norton (uncredited), Ernesto Palmese (uncredited), Jean Phillips (uncredited), Victor Potel (uncredited), Frances Raymond (uncredited), Jack Richardson (uncredited), Suzanne Ridgway (uncredited), Cyril Ring (uncredited), Ronald R. Rondell (uncredited), Harry Rosenthal (uncredited), Reginald Sheffield (uncredited), Larry Steers (uncredited), Count Stefenelli (uncredited), Bert Stevens (uncredited), Julius Tannen (uncredited), Dorothy Vernon (uncredited), Wally Walker (uncredited), Robert Warwick (uncredited), Pat West (uncredited), Gayne Whitman (uncredited) and Florence Wix (uncredited),
Director: Preston Sturges
Producers: Albert Lewin (uncredited), Buddy G. DeSylva (uncredited), Paul Jones and William LeBaron (uncredited)
Screenplay: Monckton Hoffe (screenplay based on a story) and Preston Sturges (written)
Composers: Charles Bradshaw (music score) (uncredited), Gil Grau (uncredited), John Leipold (uncredited), Leo Shuken (music score) (uncredited), Phil Boutelje (uncredited) and Sigmund Krumgold (uncredited)
Costume Design: Edith Head
Cinematography: Victor Milner, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 1.0 Dolby Digital Mono Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 94 minutes
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Universal Pictures / The Criterion Collection
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE LADY EVE’ [1941] is an uncanny blend of romantic comedy and slapstick chicanery that weaves its ardour and its farce together with a sinewy brilliance.
Jean Harrington [Barbara Stanwyck] is a con artist travelling on a luxury liner with her even-more-expert card sharp father “Colonel” Harrington [Charles Coburn] with their sights set on one of America’s wealthiest heirs, Charles Pike [Henry Fonda]. Things get complicated when Jean Harrington starts falling for her mark and Charles Pike for her. When Charles Pike is presented with evidence that Jean Harrington is a con woman, and with Charles Pike’s disillusionment forces him to end their engagement. Jean Harrington, fixated on revenge and yet still secretly pining for the millionaire, devises a plan to get back into Charles Pike’s life. Jean Harrington re-introduces herself to Charles Pike as an aristocrat named Lady Eve Sidwich, but her strong resemblance to the woman Charles Pike had given his heart to keep and Charles Pike is in a perpetual state of disarray and discombobulation.
Director Preston Sturges clever script is neatly planned to emphasize the romance in the film’s first part and leave most of the slapstick antics and much of it with Henry Fonda’s Charles Pike as the inevitable victim in the second half of the film. Spread throughout, however, are a stunning series of set pieces that make for delicious viewing: a wonderfully witty game of poker where father and daughter play a cunning game of one-upmanship, the rousingly funny slapstick dinner party for Lady Eve Sidwich, the proposal with a nudging horse as an interloper with all of these antics and much more, is punctuated with some of the cleverest and most literate dialogue Preston Sturges ever dreamed up.
In his director’s guise, Preston Sturges stages a wonderful introduction to Charles Pike’s study of snakes, one of whom seems to get loose at the most inopportune moments with the hilarious moments when the butler played by Robert Greig claims not to have seen the escaped serpent only to walk away unknowingly with it wrapped around his ankle and mounts a glorious montage of the preparations for the wedding filled with wonderful sights that don’t require a word of dialogue to make us completely engaged in the upcoming festivities.
Barbara Stanwyck has never been better handling the screwball comedy, the drama, and the romance than she is here. Barbara Stanwyck may have earned her 1941 Oscar nomination for ‘Ball of Fire,’ but she could have just as easily been nominated for her work in this picture so spot-on is she with her devotion to Charles Pike, her believable distress with his desertion of her Jean Harrington, and her masquerade as Lady Eve Sidwich, and even if she can’t quite remove the Brooklyn twang accent from her English accent, but it’s funny because it wouldn’t fool any of the audience but fools everyone in the film. Henry Fonda plays preoccupation better than just about anyone whether it’s with his snakes or his budding romance, and he manoeuvres a series of pratfalls sensationally.
Charles Coburn as Jean Harrington’s father and Eugene Palette as Charles Pike’s father both manage their characters’ bluster and boldness with just the right comic finesse. Eric Blore has some marvellous comical moments as a fellow con artist, but William Demarest really steals the picture right out from under everyone’s noses as Charles Pike’s Man Friday Muggsy who is amusingly grouchy and crass throughout the film, and he has a genius moment where he grabs a brush and mimics Adolf Hitler in trying to make a point to his ward about the ease with which someone can impersonate someone else. It’s only one of dozens of genius moments in this Preston Sturges sterling slapstick romance film.
It's the crowning moment of a film that seems like it can do anything: run at full steam and then slow down for a scene of tenderness without letting us see the downshift; play with verbal dexterity, broad farce, and gaudy slapstick, and make all of them seem equally airy and effortless; and allow Barbara Stanwyck to create an enormously vivid and deep character of self-aware desire, professional acumen, and buried wounds out of the stock material of a daffy romantic lead in a comedy. It is one of the most triumphant delights of pre-World War II Hollywood, the comedy upon which Preston Sturges' great and well-earned reputation most securely resides, and there is not a single frame of it I would change, move, or take away.
THE LADY EVE MUSIC TRACK LIST
ISN’T IT ROMANTIC (1932) (uncredited) (Music by Richard Rodgers) [Played often in the score]
WITH THE WIND AND THE RAIN IN YOUR HAIR (1940) (uncredited) (Music by Jack Lawrence and Clara Edwards) [Played during the opening credits an often in the score]
LOVER (1932) (uncredited) (Music by Richard Rodgers) [Played in the score at the party]
COCKTAILS FOR TWO (1934) (uncredited) (Music by Arthur Johnston and Sam Coslow) [Played in the score at the party]
Thunderstorm Music (1816) (uncredited) from “Il Barbiere de Sevillia” (uncredited) Music by Gioachino Rossini) [Played in the score at the party]
Pilgrims Chorus (1845) (uncredited) from the opera “Tannhäuser” (Written by Richard Wagner) [Background music while Charles forgives Eve on their nuptial night train ride]
LANDLORD, FILL THE FLOWING BOWL (uncredited) (Traditional) [Sung and Whistled by Eugene Pallette]
BLAYDON RACES (1862) (uncredited) (Written by Geordie Ridley) [Whistled by Henry Fonda]
Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride) (1850) (uncredited) from “Lohengrin” (Written by Richard Wagner) [Variations played at the wedding]
GIVE ME A MOMENT PLEASE (uncredited) (Music by Richard A. Whiting and W. Franke Harling) [Lyrics by Leo Robin]
LOUISE (uncredited) (Music by Richard A. Whiting) [Lyrics by Leo Robin]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Universal Pictures and The Criterion Collection has once again given us a very professional looking ‘THE LADY EVE’ Blu-ray disc, with a superb and stunning black-and-white 1080p image and of course shown in the 1.37:1 aspect ratio, and is a vast improvement over the inferior DVD release, to now give you something that is now enormously impressive, especially with the massive upgrade in quality visual splendour with this Blu-ray release. After the world's film archives were combed, and multiple third-and fourth-generation copies held at the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Library of Congress were reviewed, a 35mm fine-grain master positive from Universal Studios was determined to be the best element to scan for this film. This new digital transfer was created in 16-bit 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director Film scanner at EFILM Hollywood from that fine-grain. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management. Transfer supervisor and colourist was Lee Kline from The Criterion Collection.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Universal Pictures and The Criterion Collection has once again given us a very professional audio experience and generally speaking, and of course when the film ‘THE LADY EVE’ that was released in 1941, and the technology we get today was not available at that time, so that is why we only get a 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio experience. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm fine grain master positive using the Avid’s Pro Tools and iZotope RX. There are no distortions or other such distracting anomalies, but it is quite clear that time has left its mark and there was only so much the restorers could to minimize its impact.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Audio Commentary featuring Marian Keane [2001] [1080i] [1.37:1] [94:25] With this featurette, we are informed this was recorded for The Criterion Collection in 2001, and this audio commentary featured film scholar Marian Keane. To listen to the audio commentary while viewing the movie ‘THE LADY EVE,’ press the AUDIO button on your remote control and select 1.0 Dolby Digital Audio experience. As the movie ‘THE LADY EVE’ begins, we are welcomed by Marian Keane and her audio commentary and informs us that she has thought about and talked about films for many years, and wants to be your guide in talking in-depth about the film ‘THE LADY EVE,’ which was directed by Preston Sturges, and this is one of Marian Keane’s favourite film, and loves its pace, its style, its characters, its events, its whit, its beginning, its middle and of course the end of the film. The actress Barbara Stanwyck may never have been lovely in a film and the depth of her intelligence, may never have been thoroughly acknowledged by a film, and henry Fonda delivers his greatest screen performance. This film ‘THE LADY EVE’ participates in a major Hollywood genre that has been called “screwball,” “madcap,” 1romatic comedy,” and a “comedy of re-marriage,” and it is such a deep genre, which means it provides a deep subject for the film, filmmakers and audiences, but it is still alive today, like films per example, ‘Moonstruck,’ ‘When Harry Met Sally’ and ‘Sleepless in Seattle,’ are all recent screwball comedies of re-marriage. Comedies of re-marriage were born so to speak with the “talking picture,” partly because these films are full of talking and about talking, and the genre is like the opening credit sequence is characteristic in this film and it is about the fall, the moment when women and men became women and men, that is, they came to understand their morality, their humanist, their dependences and their wish for knowledge, which is tied up with their wish for love and love binds them together. From then on as the film progresses, Marian Keane goes into an in-depth analysis of the movie ‘THE LADY EVE,’ especially focuses completely on the plot and themes of this particular movie, and also delves so deeply into this seemingly innocuous screwball comedy, I found her observations enlightening and fascinating. Marian Keane calls ‘THE LADY EVE’ a real “tour de force,” then proceeds to back up that claim by denoting the myriad ways in which director Preston Sturges examines the complexities of male-female relationships within a madcap framework. Marian Keane cites several Garden of Eden references, and explains how the con game is a metaphor for romance, where Marian Keane also says that humans need to be duped to fall in love, and even proves all those pratfalls and silly gags possess a purpose beyond provoking uncontrollable guffaws. Marian Keane also points out several instances where Preston Sturges makes self-conscious acknowledgments about Hollywood and moviemaking while telling his story. Keane shows us subtext is everywhere and there's far more depth to ‘THE LADY EVE’ than initially meets the eye, and by the time she ends her engrossing dissertation, we gain an even greater appreciation for Preston Sturges brilliant script and storytelling technique. If you're looking for production info, actor and crew bios, anecdotes about the stars, or other trivia, you won't that find that here with this audio commentary, but what you will get hear is an involving and substantive analysis of one of the all-time great screenplays and the artistry that brings it so gloriously to life. Unfortunately, with this audio commentary by Marian Keane, some of her interpretations are, well, questionable. It can be forgiven when Marian Keane reads sex into everything in 1930’s or 1940’s film, innuendo being the best way to get around the production code restrictions in that time period. Marian Keane gets a little into framing and camerawork, even pointing to how the two “versions” of Barbara Stanwyck’s character is presented, though to be fair camerawork isn’t what Preston Sturges is usually concerned with, Marian Keane tends to analysis around the visuals of the film are a bit limited. Marian Keane also does an okay job talking about some of the film’s gags, admiring their construction. But there is very little of this, and very little about the actual production, which would have probably changed up things enough to have a positive effect. But to sum up Marian Keane, is how natural is at delivering her audio comments and this one is more than likely scripted, but Marian Keane does inject a nice, confident energy into them that I never noticed prior to this. Marian Keane has a knack for this type of format. Unfortunately, it doesn't make the content itself any better. Please Note: due the lack of space with my Blu-ray Reviews web page, I can only give a sample of these audio commentaries, and I hope it will not spoil your enjoyment of what you have read so far.
Special Feature: Peter Bogdanovich Introduction [2001] [1080p] [1.78:1] [8:08] With this featurette, we have the esteemed director Peter Bogdanovich applauds director Preston Sturges and his script, and does an in-depth analyses of the story and Preston Sturges style, and discusses his screwball comedy in this introduction and it is quite obvious Peter Bogdanovich really adores the director Preston Sturges and of course as well as the director of the film ‘THE LADY EVE.’
Special Feature: Tom Sturges and Friends [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1] [42:12] With this featurette, we have a brand new ZOOM video conference conversation on the 17th April, 2020 with Tom Sturges the son of legendary writer/director Preston Sturges who discusses his father’s legacy with his friends Susan King [Journalist and Film Historian], Ron Shelton [American Film Director], James L. Brooks [American Director], Leonard Maltin [American Film Critic and Historian] and Peter Bogdanovich [American Film Director]. The lively group discusses a number of topics, including the truthfulness of the screenplay, the timelessness of screwball comedy, the impeccable casting and performances, the Preston Sturges stock company, they also talk about their favourite lines and scenes, censorship issues, and the ahead-of-its-time feminism that often creeped into Preston Sturges' work. Tom Sturges also reveals the secret of the hysterical horse nudging scene (peanut butter) and Preston Sturges' hidden agenda behind a key speech delivered by Barbara Stanwyck. As an added bonus, we get to view lots of clips from the film ‘THE LADY EVE,’ and we also get to view some clips from the Preston Sturges film ‘Sullivan Travels.’
Special Feature: The Lady Deceives [2021] [1080p] [1.78:1] [21:30] With this featurette, we get to view a brand new in-depth video essay by Film Critic and Filmmaker David Cairns and relates to the plot of ‘THE LADY EVE’ to episodes in director Preston Sturges own life, espouses the theory of “comic distance,” discusses abandoned concepts and deletions, analysis the characters, and salutes the Preston Sturges stock company in this clever and perceptive dissection of the film that's punctuated with rare photos and some film clips from the movie ‘THE LADY EVE.’
Special Costumes Designs by Edith Head [2020] [1080p] [1.78:1 / 1.37:1] [6:21] With this featurette, which is entitled Edith Heads Costume Designs for ‘THE LADY EVE’ and we are informed that Edith Head was one of the most prolific and acclaimed costume designers in Hollywood, with a career that spanned five decades. Nominated for thirty-five Academy Awards® and winner of eight Oscars, and Edith head remains the most honoured costume designer, and especially women in Academy history. The legendary designer Edith Head lets us see in her own printed words with excerpts from Edith Head and Paddy Calistro’s 1983 book entitled “Edith head’s Hollywood,” and for us to read at our leisure, so enjoy folks! On top of all that, we get to view sketches of the gowns that Edith Head designed for Barbara Stanwyck. The quotes addresses Barbara Stanwyck's figure, the Latin-themed wardrobe, working with Preston Sturges, and Edith Head's aborted attempts to fashion a necklace and hat for the slithery snake that briefly appears in the film.
Special Feature: LUX Radio Theatre [Audio only] [1942] [1080p] [1.78:1] [44:46] With this featurette, we get to hear the original radio broadcast of this adaptation of the film ‘THE LADY EVE’ that was broadcast on the 9th March, 1942 as part of the Lux Radio Theatre series. Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Coburn reprise their film roles, but Ray Milland steps into Henry Fonda's part. Hosted by Cecil B. DeMille and presented here in its entirety, including the original radio commercials. Cecil B. DeMille announces that this edition of the radio program will will be curtailed to just under 45 minutes, to clear the airwaves for a wartime briefing by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Vice President Wallace and Secretary of Agriculture. Ray Milland does a nice job, but he's no Henry Fonda, and the nuances of Barbara Stanwyck brought to her role on film can't be replicated in the audio medium, which doesn't really suit a movie that draws much of its humour from visual gags and facial expressions. A bit of scripted banter between the stars follows their radio broadcast performance.
Special Feature: “Up The Amazon” [Audio only] [2013] [1080p] [1.78:1] [5:00] With this featurette, we are informed that Grammy nominated producer and songwriter Rick Chertoff teamed up with David J. Forman to compose “Up The Amazon” as the opening number for the theatrical musical that the two were developing and was based on the film ‘THE LADY EVE.’ The song tracks Hoppie’s departure from a South American jungle to his fatal meeting with Jean Harrington aboard the cruise ship. We get to hear the actual audio recording of the song “Up The Amazon” with Vince Gordon and The Nighthaus who created the arrangement and performs it for our listening pleasure. While we hear the song, we get one single image of the cartoon snake we get to see at the start of the film ‘THE LADY EVE.’
Special Feature: Theatrical Trailer [1941] [1080p] [1.37:1] [1:28] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE LADY EVE’ and this is the re-release trailer.
BONUS: New cover by Maurice Vellekoop who is a Canadian artist and illustrator. His work has appeared in publications such as Drawn & Quarterly, Time, GQ, Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Wallpaper, as well as in the books ABC Book: A Homoerotic Primer, Sex Tips from a Dominatrix, Mensroom Reader and Vellevision.
PLUS: We have a beautiful printed designed 38-page printed booklet entitled THE LADY EVE that includes an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien entitled SWEET REVENGE. A 1946 profile of Preston Sturges from Life magazine by Norl F. Busch and is about the brilliant producer of eccentric movie comedies has led and eccentric implausible life. ABOUT THE TRANSFER and the AUDIO. Plus lots of black-and-white images from the film and also rare promotional images.
Finally, ‘THE LADY EVE’ is just one of those films that works. It has everything required to make one of the best examples of a screwball romantic comedy. Director Preston Sturges is in peak form with this film, and Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck bring precisely what’s needed for the film’s witty screenplay. Very much of its time, and this classic screwball comedy has all the hallmarks of writer-director Preston Sturges most famous works. With its snappy dialogue, frantic pace, and characters that appear oblivious to the absurdity of their situation, it's easy to see why ‘THE LADY EVE’ is fondly remembered by fans of the genre. How much modern audiences will buy into some of its more far-fetched plot twists and goofy turns is open to question, while the way the central relationship plays out will raise an eyebrow by today's standards. However, there remains an innocence and sense of playfulness throughout. The Criterion Collection Blu-ray release will not be a disappointed in terms of this release. The restored picture and audio is terrific, and there are plenty of extras to dig into as well. For fans of screwball comedies or those in need of something that flies by and is a lot of fun, ‘THE LADY EVE’ is a great one to add to your other screwball comedy classic film collection. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
