BEFORE: Another film that appears on most "Best of" lists - a film I've heard mentioned many times, but one that I know very little about. And yes, today I send a birthday SHOUT-out to the late Bette Davis. It took a while to come up with the best linking from last night's film, but I think I got it - Robert Downey Jr. was in "Bowfinger" with Steve Martin, who was in "Parenthood" with Mary Steenburgen, who was in "The Whales of August" with Bette Davis.
THE PLOT: An ingenue insinuates herself in to the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends.
AFTER: This is one of those "Behind the Scenes"-type films, with actors playing actors (how do you tell if they're acting, then?) in a stage production. What's oddly missing here is any footage of Bette Davis' character performing on stage - curiously, it's all left to our imagination.
It's a classic story about a young woman becoming an actress' friend, then her assistant, and then her understudy, and ultimately her replacement. What's wrong with just being an actress' assistant? I've always said that every creative person - every actress, musician, artist, filmmaker - needs someone doing the day-to-day tasks, so they can devote more time to their art. In fact, I've built my career on that idea, and I have no desire to replace my boss...
Does it shock you to find out that actresses can be petty, jealous, and cruel to the younger actresses that they perceive as threats? There's a lot here that seems very obvious, including some ridiculous dialogue, like "Acting is hard work - that's work that's very hard!" Duh. Plus, the characters say each other's names over and over, (in case we forgot them?) more even than characters in Japanese animation...
There's some examination of the nature of acting - an egotistical actress is compared to a piano that thinks it wrote the concerto. But mostly, we learn again and again that women get old, and are eventually replaced by younger actresses. Again - duh.
Bette Davis is one of those actresses who always looks old to me, even in an older film when she was technically young(er). Alec Guinness always looks old to me, even when he wasn't. Brando's another one - he was 26 when he was in "Streetcar", but maybe because he was old off-screen my whole life, he always feels older - as opposed to James Dean, who died young and looked young in "Giant", even when his character was old.
And this is another film with a great movie quote, for which I never knew the context - Bette Davis' character saying "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"
The film begins and ends with the same award ceremony, with the young Eve accepting the drama award - and since in-between we learn how manipulative an actress can be, the movie seems to be setting us up, so that the 2nd time we see the ceremony, we realize that everyone she thanks in her speech is on to her B.S., and hates her for one reason or another. Yeah, that seems about right.
Also starring Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, and a cameo from a very young (and young-looking) Marilyn Monroe.
RATING: 4 out of 10 curtain calls
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