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The Lady Eve (1941)
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Overview
Release Date:
25 February 1941 (USA) moreTagline:
Eve Sure Knows Her Apples ! morePlot:
Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike meets con-artist Jean Harrington on a ship... more | add synopsisAwards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win moreUser Comments:
"Oh Hopsie" moreCast
(Complete credited cast)| Barbara Stanwyck | ... | Jean Harrington | |
| Henry Fonda | ... | Charles Pike | |
| Charles Coburn | ... | 'Colonel' Harrington | |
| Eugene Pallette | ... | Horace Pike | |
| William Demarest | ... | Muggsy | |
| Eric Blore | ... | Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith | |
| Melville Cooper | ... | Gerald | |
| Martha O'Driscoll | ... | Martha | |
| Janet Beecher | ... | Janet Pike | |
| Robert Greig | ... | Burrows | |
| Dora Clement | ... | Gertrude | |
| Luis Alberni | ... | Emile, Pike's chef |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
94 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)Certification:
South Korea:12 (2004) | Sweden:15 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated | UK:UFilming Locations:
Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, California, USAMOVIEmeter: 
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1994. moreGoofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Eve is presented by her Uncle at the party, she is referred to as "Lady Sidwich", but her actual title is "the Lady Eve Sidwich". moreQuotes:
Charles Pike: A girl of sixteen is practically an idiot anyway, so I can't very well blame you for something that was practically done by somebody else. moreSoundtrack:
With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair moreFAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more
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In this period of Henry Fonda's career, most of the good films was stuff he made away from his studio at 20th Century Fox. The Lady Eve is one of the best examples of that,
With the success that Preston Sturges had with Christmas in July and The Great McGinty the year before, Paramount decided now they could trust Sturges with a big budget and an A list pair of leads. In fact they borrowed Henry Fonda from Darryl Zanuck and signed the then freelancing Barbara Stanwyck.
This was a banner year in the career of Barbara Stanwyck. She did Meet John Doe, The Lady Eve and Ball of Fire in the same year, the last one she got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The Lady Eve came first and paved the way for a similar role in Ball of Fire.
She's a street smart dame in both films, in the Lady Eve she's a shill for her conman father Charles Coburn and in Ball of Fire she's a nightclub singer and moll for gangster Dana Andrews. In both films she falls for rather withdrawn, naive, and bookish sort of men who bring out the mother instinct in her. In fact she has similar nicknames for them, Gary Cooper is called Pottsie and Henry Fonda is Hopsie.
Stanwyck, Coburn, and Melville Cooper are a trio of con artists who are looking for a fresh pigeon and they find one in Henry Fonda who is a millionaire's kid. Fonda today would be called a trust fund baby, but he has an interest in science and he's coming back from the Amazon on a boat when meets up with the slick trio.
Of course Stanwyck falls for the shy and bumbling Fonda, but there are many hurdles to overcome before these two find happiness.
This may have been Henry Fonda's best comedy part. And like Joel McCrea in other Preston Sturges films, Fonda does so well in the part because he plays it absolutely straight. No tongue in cheek, no winks at the audience, Fonda plays it straight and sincere.
The usual Preston Sturges stock company is here and prominent in the cast is always William Demarest as the mug that is a kind of bodyguard factotum for Fonda. Hired of course by Eugene Palette in another one of his crotchety millionaire father roles.
Best scene in the film is right at the beginning as Stanwyck analyzes all the moves a lot of the other females on board are using to attract Fonda before she decides on a very direct approach.
The Lady Eve holds up very well as do all of Preston Sturges's work after over 60 years. I do kind of wonder though if Stanwyck can control that streak of larceny in her even though she's marrying a millionaire who can give her anything.