- Overview
From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.
- Release Date
09 November 1950
- DirectingJoseph L. Mankiewicz
- Budget
$1,400,000.00
- Revenue
$8,400,000.00
- Stars
Videos
User Reviews
See moreAndres Gomez
23 June 2021
This classic is a must with great dialogues and script with a great performance from Bette Davis.
JPV852
23 June 2021
Excellent performances by everyone, especially Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and George Sanders, which kept me captivated more so than the story, though the dialogue was amazing. Nothing fantastic all in all but still entertaining. **4.0/5**
Filipe Manuel Neto
15 October 2022
**Fasten your seat belts: this is one of the best films of the 20th century.** There aren't many perfect movies: At least, I don't know many. However, this film is almost certainly one of them. The result of an ideal combination of factors, which harmoniously came together to make it a work of art, it is a timeless film that is as pleasantly watched today as it was fifty years ago. But when we talk about classic films, it's far from being one of the first to come to mind. What is the reason? It's hard to explain, but I feel like the film never really touched the hearts of the general public. The film deserves more attention these days and is worth seeing. I'm not one of those who measure the quality of a film by the awards it receives (although that is always an indicant to consider as to quality)... but the film is one of the most nominated for the Oscars, with fourteen nominations, something that has only rarely been equaled, and six statuettes won, including Best Picture. The film begins by showing us a ceremony in which an actress, Eve, receives an important award for her performance in the theater. Then, the action goes back a year to, in flashback, let us know everything that happened until that moment. And that's how we follow the rise of Eve, an aspiring actress from obscure origins who manages to arouse the pity and sympathy of Margo Channing, then the biggest star of the stages. The film explores the two characters well, and the way they relate to each other. Eve is quite ambiguous for part of the movie, and even after we see the darker side of the character. Margo seems like a very insufferable shrew, but the character has a good heart, hidden under tons of ego and big theater diva tics. Based on a short story and intelligently developed by Joseph Mankiewicz, the director who will ensure the script, the film has an excellent cast and memorable dialogues, full of quotable phrases that we've probably heard somewhere. The cast is powerfully led by Bette Davis, an extremely talented, charismatic and full of personality actress who gave her all in this film, managing to achieve here, in my perspective, her work of glory. The difference between Margo, the character, and Davis, the real person, is so thin that you can almost say that the actress has taken the character and brought it a little bit into her own life. It's a truly superb dramatic exercise, and the same applies to the one given to us by its co-star, Anne Baxter, who plays Eve. The way they both collaborate in their scenes is mesmerizing. I also really liked Celeste Holm, George Sanders and Hugh Marlowe, even though the men in this cast aren't as strong as their female counterparts. Being a black and white film, this might be a bit off-putting to current audiences, but it's not something I see as a problem. On the contrary, I really liked the cinematography and I think the film has a lot of elegance and visual beauty. There are some scenes and camera movements that I found strange, but I think some are really unusual in films from this era. As for the costumes, I really liked the way they fit the story, and some of the actresses' costumes and dresses are pieces worthy of haute couture. The film has some implicit humor, which can escape the most inattentive, like that piano piece that Davis, intoxicated, listens to several times, later calling it “cheap sentimentality”.
More Like This
Jailhouse Rock
After serving time for manslaughter, young Vince Everett becomes a teenage rock star.
See moreLetters to the Man I Love
Set within the aftershocks of South Africa’s Apartheid, a gay farmhand writes letters to his lover.
See moreThe Man with the Golden Arm
A junkie must face his true self to kick his drug addiction. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2005.
See moreBlackmail
London, 1929. Frank Webber, a very busy Scotland Yard detective, seems to be more interested in his work than in Alice White, his girlfriend...
See moreRashomon
Brimming with action while incisively examining the nature of truth, "Rashomon" is perhaps the finest film ever to investigate the philosophy of...
See moreDances with Wolves
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote...
See moreBig Fish
Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge...
See moreTitanic
101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and...
See moreSunset Boulevard
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
See moreOut of Africa
Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The...
See moreSunrise: A Song of Two Humans
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
See moreStalag 17
It's a dreary Christmas 1944 for the American POWs in Stalag 17 and the men in Barracks 4, all sergeants, have to deal with a grave problem—there...
See moreEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his...
See moreMillion Dollar Baby
Despondent over a painful estrangement from his daughter, trainer Frankie Dunn isn't prepared for boxer Maggie Fitzgerald to enter his life. But...
See moreGladiator
In the year 180, the death of emperor Marcus Aurelius throws the Roman Empire into chaos. Maximus is one of the Roman army's most capable and...
See moreAll About My Mother
Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy...
See moreOpen Hearts
Cecilie and Joachim are about to get married when a freak car accident leaves Joachim disabled, throwing their lives into a spin. The driver of the...
See moreMatch Point
Chris, a former tennis player, looks for work as an instructor. He meets Tom Hewett, a wealthy young man whose sister Chloe falls in love with...
See moreAngels and Insects
In Victorian England, wealthy patriarch Sir Harald Alabaster invites an impoverished biologist, William Adamson, into his home. There, William...
See moreCharlie Bartlett
Awkward teenager Charlie Bartlett has trouble fitting in at a new high school. Charlie needs some friends fast, and decides that the best way to...
See more