The gist of THE LADY EVE is ably summed up by Barbara Stanwyck’s character in the first half of the film: “The trustworthy girls are never as fine as they seem to be, and the poor ones never as terrible.” In this movie, Barbara plays Jean Harrington, a “unpleasant girl” who is not as awful as she seems to be, who later pretends to be Eve Sidgwick, a “valid girl” who isn’t as suited.

In my plan, this is the greatest romantic comedy ever made. Other films may be more romantic, others funnier, but not a single one combines both elements so perfectly. Everything about this film sparkles. Preston Sturges, one of the finest screenwriters in the history of cinema, turned out one of his most perfect scripts.. The details, the transitions between scenes, the wit, the lightning tear, the suitable oneliners, the cascading dialog, absolutely everything marks this as a Preston Sturges production. The cast is utterly beyond reproach. Absolutely no one in the history of film could have been more perfect in the central role as Barbara Stanwyck. Other men could have played the Henry Fonda fraction, but he was nonetheless sterling in his role, one of the very few comedic parts he managed in his career. Charles Coburn sparkles as “Radiant” Harry Harrington, unprejudiced as he excelled in a dozen or so other big films from the thirties, forties, and fifties. Eugene Palette, the finest Friar Tuck there ever was or ever could be, is palatable as Henry Fonda’s beleaguered father. William Demarest is a fixture in nearly all of Preston Sturges’s films, and while his role is not as big here as in some of the others (like HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, or THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK), he nonetheless manages to retract nearly every scene he is in.

THE LADY EVE is easily one of the most sexual films of the Hays era. There is a substantial deal of barely concealed sexual innuendo, beginning with the title (“Eve”, the temptress), to the moment when Henry Fonda first climbs up the ladder onto the ocean liner that picks him up at the beginning of the movie (Barbara Stanwyck drops an apple that hits him on the head), to the unbelievable seduction scene (no sex, but at the raze of the scene you know Henry Fonda goes help to his cabin for a long, frosty shower) . I am not determined that the forties ever pictured a man filled with greater sexual desire than when Henry was holding Barbara’s leg while putting on her shoes, lost in her perfume. Indeed, the entire segment extending from the second when Barbara Stanwyck initiates meeting Henry by tripping him (one of six pratfalls he will lift in the film, if one includes his falling in the mud upon disembarking from his “honeymoon” roar) to her sending him out of her cabin in a plot of intensely heightened sexual awareness, is utterly incredible. As someone who grew up watching Barbara Stanwyck on THE Large VALLEY, seeing that sequence for the first time was a revelation. I had no understanding that the woman was that sexy.

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The greatest thing about THE LADY EVE is that it gets better with each viewing. I have to strongly disagreee with the editorial review of this film, when he says that it is hard to say whether BALL OF FIRE or THE LADY EVE is funnier: I have seen BALL OF FIRE and THE LADY EVE approximately four times and nine times respectively. The brand of a really astronomical film is how it stands up to reviewing. BALL OF FIRE is sizable the first time but lessens somewhat upon reviewing (Howard Hawks is splendid, but it is not one of his stronger films), but THE LADY EVE improves each time in every plot. Like I said, in my concept, one of the best romantic comedies ever made.

Preston Sturges’ “The Lady Eve” is one of the best romantic comedies ever made, partly because while it’s very comical, it’s also hits a very deep nerve. It’s painful to be in worship, as both Charles Pike (a wonderfully gullible and naive Henry Fonda) and Jean Harrington (tough/tender Barbara Stanwyck at her very best) salvage out, the hard device. Stanwyck plays a card shark who along with her father (Charles Coburn) are on a flee ship, with the screech purpose of fleecing the other passengers. Charles Pike is a rich heir to a brewery fortune who’s honest spent the last year studying snakes in the Amazon. In the notorious scene at the beginning of the film, Jean spots Charles in her compact mirror and then gives a running commentary of how every woman in the room is trying to attract the attention of this young, blooming, completely oblivious bachelor. When Charles walks by, Jean trips him. Her heel breaks off, and she browbeats Charles into accompanying her attend to her cabin for a unusual pair of shoes. Thus begins one of the most sexually charged romances ever filmed.

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While Jean’s recent intentions were malicious, she soon falls for Charles (whom she affectionately calls Flopsy) in a astronomical map. Despite her husky philosophize and revealing dresses, there’s something rather virginal and tender about Jean. Unlike many screwball comedy heroines, Jean doesn’t keep Flopsy down or try to outwit him. She idolizes him. When he discovers her occupation, he dumps her, and she’s reduced to a titanic puddle of tears. But … hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. To give away any more of the situation would be criminal. Stanwyck and Fonda have fabulous chemistry, and while both of them are playing stereotyped, stock characters, they infuse their roles with so considerable heart and humanity. Barbara Stanwyck has a husky state and a worldly personality, but she’s also a wide-eyed romantic, which makes this movie so inviting. It’s one of the movie’s endearing aspects that both Flopsy and Jean are kinda … nutty. It’s a match made in heaven.

The Criterion Collection has less extras than usual, perhaps because all the participants of the film are long slow. There’s an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, a commentary track with Marion Keane, a 1942 radio broadcast (with Ray Milland subbing for Honda), and some publicity stills. The audio and video transfer are grand. Marion Keane’s commentary track is very exquisite. Unlike many commentary tracks, Keane doesn’t expend an endless amount of time analyzing shots and angles and lighting. She comments more about the emotions and sexual innuendo in this movie. The Lady Eve is such a expansive film that the lack of a boatload of extras didn’t bother me at all. I’m unbiased grateful that this extraordinary film is released on DVD.

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The Lady Eve is titanic because at heart it’s a really touching fancy legend. When I watched the film the second time, I was surprised at how miniature “laugh out loud” comic moments there were. It’s more romance than comedy, but therein lies it’s strength. There are no cheap laughs. The Lady Eve is one of the few romantic comedies that also depicts favorable heartbreak. And it only gets better upon repeated viewings.
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